No, no, no, no!

Rating: 4/10 (22 March 2004)

For anyone who has played throught the videogames in the series (especially the GameCube remakes) will know that it was the immense tension, slow build up, film noir-like lighting and the gritty characterisations that made the zombie action so brilliantly scary.
However, it seems that Paul 'Mortal Kombat' WS Anderson spent his time watching Kerrang! on cable in the run up to over seeing the design of the film. Resident Evil, although catering mainly for the 'teen - rockers' faternity could also have appealed to a broader horror fan, or even been a more mainstream sucess (in the same way that 'The Others' was 'Poltergeist' for thesps).
The entire thing plays like a two hour rock video. Why is the installation so clean and new? It was housed in a rotting mansion in the games (with its decrepid grounds and gothic architecture) and merely placing a mansion in the film does not a plot point make.
The zombies had CGI eczema and the amount of cast was OTT - why not have a few specific deaths instead of popcorn cannon fodder? The music was terrible - just because it is horror and was made in the new millenium we had to put up with thrash metal. Hmmm.
Paul's sequel will be just as crap, im sure. God, I hated this film, as I'm sure you can tell - and you will too if you're a fan of serious and genuinely frightening horror. This is just a media franchise film I'm afraid, and very unsatisfying.
I gave it a 4 just because it had a vague resemblance to the game, but the potential that the game held, cinematically, has been devoured by this actually very poor film.
This style was great in 'Mortal Kombat' - it was a good, fun, meaningless film (like the game) but in the case of 'Resident Evil', a narrative that holds deep emotioal and social meaning (and is subtly scary) it is as useful as a spoon.