A gem where the film is better than the games!

Rating: 10/10 (21 September 2010)

After playing the first game, and not really liking it, when I heard that Resident Evil was going to be made into a film, I had very high doubts. Usually an adaption decreases the quality of the original. However, after recording this film off the television and watching it with my Mum the night after, I found myself pleasantly satisfied. This is one of the only adaptions that are actually better than the original.
What we get from British film makers Paul W.S. Anderson is a Zombie movie with a difference. Zombie movies tend to be relatively similar and very difficult to take seriously. In fact, I usually end up laughing my guts out whilst watching Zombie movies because of how B-Rate most of them seem! The clever thing about Resident Evil was that I ended up laughing (a quality to look for in all films), but not at the Zombies. I laughed at well structured dialogue, some potentially outrageous action sequences and quite lovable, though well developed characters. The Zombies were actually very realistic and quite scary too! I'm 17 and even I got scared whilst watching this.
The plot, although slightly different from the game, was well written, flowing nicely from one event into the next, helping the audience to understand what is happening, yet keeping wonder and suspense as to why things are happening. As a writer myself, even I'll admit this is very hard to obtain, especially with action films when you want to keep your audience stuffing themselves with popcorn, but Anderson has done this very well. Characters kept on being introduced throughout the film, which kept it interesting. Better still, this film doesn't ramble on with pointless sequences! As far as the average duration of modern-day films go, this is relatively short, keeping on the 100 minute mark.
The acting was extraordinary, with some very well delivered lines. It is so easy with a film like this just to choose an actor or actress for their looks, rather than talent. I've seen plenty of films where an actress has been cast just because she's pretty, but is such a bad actress that it would make being nominated for a Razzie unfair, as nobody else can get so potentially bad to win! With Resident Evil, however, not only were the female cast mind blowing pretty, but they were also very good actresses! As were the men, but I'm not going to make such a fuss over whether or not they're hansom because that would be weird, but they were very good and believable actors all the same.
The heroin (the main character, not the drug) was very well played by a brilliantly cast and beautiful Milla Jovovich, who received some very imaginative and exciting action sequences, and executed them extremely well. Perhaps some of the stunts were slightly unrealistic, but a very good plot helped make them more believable, and anyway, in the world of Science Fiction, the more unrealistic the better sometimes! I've only played the first game, but I've seen the first two films, and this a real gem and masterpiece by Paul Anderson, with a great cast. I am very much looking forward to seeing the third and fourth instalments. Truly deserving of an Oscar or four.