Good movie, shame about the music...

Rating: Null/10 (21 March 2002)

A film based on a video game would understandably make one skeptic considering the nature of such films made in the past. However, unlike those films that shall not be named, Resident Evil remains to focus on its plot rather then any over-the-top-effects, cheap stand-out gimmicks or even mindless violence... and for something based around the idea of zombies, that is saying quite a lot. My only gripe comes in that there is really no gore, something I touched upon in the none-mindless-violence aspect, but seeing as how this is a film about zombies, you would expect some. If this film was overtly creepy, then it could get away with it with no such complaints. But perhaps I have seen Dawn of the Dead too much and it has spoiled me for anything less. The plot is very suffice, as it is really interesting. None of the characters are hollow and there really is no cheap dialogue. This film really gave me no regrets except one: the God-awful music. But seeing as how that is very limited and the film really pushes pass that, it really never becomes too huge of a problem. I just hate to have to sit through Slipknot as I stay afterwards whilst the credits go by. Now, like most people, I was skeptical when I had heard that Romero was knocked off from the job, but I think his absence really never feels like a loss. Because the film was done so properly anyway, that nagging question as to what he would have done with it is only out of the mere idea that he was working on a zombie film for the first time since the last one, which was in 1985. Speaking of which, I was amused when I caught a headline seen in the film that is a duplicate out of the previously mentioned film. I will not spoil it, but I will say that Living Dead fans will spot it in a second. In all, the film really never lets you down. It slows in some parts in the beginning, but it does picks up when you understand what is going on, as it is a bit confusing for a good while, but that becomes another great plot element and that is one of the wonderful ways this film works. The most recognizably positive thing that stands out in this film is that it keeps its nature as a film rather then just another game turned movie. It never falls on that fact at all and sticks to be an entertaining film all alone that works at a well organized pace. The great story could be due in part to the creators of the video game, but its loyalty to it without rendering it at all feebleminded says a lot about the respect it was given and shows that someone was really paying attention for once. Looking back, I cannot help but think that Romero may have tainted it because I have heard that he focused on the living dead. The magic behind this film is that it does not do that. The backbone of the film is about a greedy, humanity-less, global corporation. In the wake of the Enron scandal, the film really has you wondering more about what such real large corporations are up to and what some could and are very well capable of then that of the living dead. The fact that these people can create a physical incarnation of their soulless mentality (i.e. zombies) is merely a horrible example of their power as well as being more terrifying then the zombies themselves.