At Last.An Unironical Horror Movie

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 2002)

Too long we fans of horror have been suffering the slings and arrows of post-`Scream' crappy, irony-laden, pseudo horror fare. `Resident Evil' is a straight up, no nonsense sci-fi/horror actioner that delivers the goods without tongue firmly (or loosely) in cheek. The film starts briskly, setting up the plot and situation. From the moment the toxin is loosed on the interior of the Umbrella Corp HQ, the flick kicks into a steadily building overdrive, tension mounting all the way.
The cast, headlined by Milla Jovovich, is uniformly good, though most of the roles themselves are pretty much generically familiar constructs (tough, gravel voiced CO, hard-as-nails tough chick with chip on shoulder, slightly skittish techno guy; you get the gist). This, however, is not a criticism. In this kind of down-in-the-trenches-type film it works. Though I'm a big George Romero fan, I'm kind of glad the directorial torch ended up being passed to Paul Anderson. Anderson, whose previous films `Soldier', `Event Horizon' (another fine, straight-faced, sci-fi/horror motion picture), and of course, `Mortal Combat', is a deft hand at pacing, building atmos' and showy, edge-of-your-seat cinematic pyrotechnics, and has done a commendable job translating the Capcom computer game to the big screen. Much as I love Romero's work, I think he would have made a more bogged down film. Anderson's is lean, hungry and relentless, but gives ample and obvious props to Romero, which I think is quite suitable. (Note the newspaper at the film's conclusion that boasts the identical headline as the one shown in the opening of Romero's `Day of the Dead'.)
Writing as someone who's played the game (why doesn't that sound as impressive as, `.as someone who's read the book?), I appreciated the film's fealty to its source material; spooky game, spooky movie. Really good ending, too.
Technically, the effects are all top-drawer, as is the set design and cinematography. My only beef is that at times the thrashing soundtrack (which I otherwise enjoyed and found entirely suited to the material) overwhelmed the dialogue track. But maybe that was just a fault of the sound system in the screening room in which I saw it.
All around, `Resident Evil' deserves high marks, and if you've played the game you won't be disappointed.