Zombies and mutants and monsters, oh my!

Rating: 4/10 (10 August 2005)

After a deadly virus escapes from a lab, a secret underground facility becomes a living hell as the staff is turned into undead zombies. To make matters worse, there are mutant creatures on the loose. Alice, a security operative for the subterranean lab, with the aid of a group of soldiers, enter the lab to see what happenedonly to discover escape seems impossible. This film is understandably hated by many people for various reasons, some of which I agree with and some of which I don't. The biggest problem with the film is writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson. He clearly is capable of making a good and enjoyable film, which he proved with 1997's underrated Event Horizon. However, his direction here is unfortunately MTV-style in naturethat is, there are lots of slow-motion shots during the action sequences and even a bullet-time shot or two. I do, however, really like the general atmosphere he gives the filmthe scene near the beginning of the film with Alice walking through the giant mansion is decidedly atmospheric and creepy. Unfortunately, the actors are all wooden, and most of the characters are easily recognizable as creature/zombie fodder from the second they enter the screen. While I really liked the main theme music for the film, the rock music employed for the action scenes is terrible and obnoxious as hell. While there are a couple of good bloody bits here and there, most of the gore is computer-generated and looks absolutely awful. On the topic of bad CG, the first stage of "The Licker", one of the mutant creatures, looks HORENDOUS!!! I'm talking sci-fi-channel-original-movie level CG. It must be seen to be believed! Fans of old-school horror will be happy to know that once the licker eats it's first victim it mutates into a predominantly animatronic creature, which looked great. I also really liked the ending (though, granted, it rips off John Carpenter's underrated 1995 flick In the Mouth of Madness pretty badly).
In conclusion, Resident Evil may be flawed and relatively brainless at times, but it's entertaining and way, way better than its terrible sequel.
4/10.