A nice deviation from the games

Rating: 8/10 (3 April 2005)

I'm a fan of the Resident Evil vodkas. Because of that I was really looking forward to the movie. I hear Romero wanted to do something which stuck more faithfully to the plot of the games. That would have been preferable to Andersons film but thats not to say this isn't still enjoyable.
The plot revolves around a virus which has the ability to reanimate dead corpses and was used to develop hideous bioweapons. When the virus escapes, the underground complex known as the Hive is sealed and a special team is sent in to investigate.
Andersons film is at first nothing like the game. The original took place in a Mansion and there was no character called Alice at all who is the principal character here. However there are enjoyable references to the games such as the Licker creature which appeared in Resident Evil 2 (VG) and stalks the cast throughout the film. There is also a nice reference at the end to the Nemesis program which takes centre stage in the second film and third game.
Its not a startlingly original horror film, or a film which takes the baton and refines a formula beyond what existed originally. But for fans of the games it is an interesting and enjoyable film, and that was what was intended more or less.