Bloody fantastic!

Rating: Null/10 (25 February 2002)

This has to be the best zombie-mutant-shoot-'em-up-splatter-film I've seen in years! It rocks, it rolls, it's lock and load entertainment of the finest kind! And certainly not for the faint of heart or even weak of stomach!
Not having played the game, I can't comment on the film's accuracy. But Resident Evil, unlike previous attempts to transfer video games to the big screen, is a great action film in its own right.
The plot is very simple: A team of elite commandos is sent into an underground laboratory to find out what caused the death of several thousand employees. Of course, an evil corporation has been evilly getting up to evil tricks and nasty things are lurking in dark corners.
Now forget the plot and fasten your seat belts as the elite team is not only taken apart by some cool special effects but also finds itself on the menu as hors d'oeurvres, entrée and dessert for a horde of ravening zombies, mutated Dobermanns with attitude and a giant...thingy!
Writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson pulls out all the stops as the countdown ticks down and the bodycount steadily mounts. There are moments that will make you jump and your pulse race, gunfire aplenty, loads of narrow escapes and some great "Oh ****!" moments; all to a pounding rock beat.
There's more than enough blood and guts shown, figuratively as well as on the floors, walls and ceiling, to satisfy all but the sickest of individuals (Hi Susi!) and full credit goes to the prosthetics, make-up and special effects departments.
Milla Jovovich makes an excellent kick-zombie heroine (and I for one, would volunteer to have my neck snapped like a dry twig between her thighs anytime!) as does Michelle Rodriguez as one of the troopers.
Resident Evil is everything Tomb Raider should have been and wasn't. If you've lost faith in ever seeing a video game successfully make it to the big screen, you will believe again. If you won't see this film because it's based on a video game, you will be missing out in a big way. Overcome your prejudices, I did, and finally get your money's worth from a trip to the cinema.
Producer Bernd Eichinger's Constantin Film has recently had its name attached to some very dubious offerings (All the Queens Men, for example, or 666-Trau keinem mit wem du schläfst - trust me, you do not want to know!). But with Resident Evil the company is well and truly back on top of the game.
Now where's the sequel??!!