A Must-See For Milla Fans!

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2004)

I can't believe that an actress who's been working for so long is still only 29 years old! She ages with supreme grace, and has *never* looked better than she does in Resident Evil. Wow!
The movie itself is fair. Not great, not terrible. Pretty good SFX. It's a techno zombie thriller, and for what it is, it's effective enough. Considering how bad movies based on computer games usually are, this one is pretty good, although it has problems getting started. There are a few scenes that don't make sense (and that cop - Matthew? - where does he really come from?), and it's never really clear that there's only one of the CGI mutating zombie animals loose. The technobabble explanation we get for the zombies is a worthy attempt to "technofy" the zombie genre, but it doesn't quite work, esp. not the part about the "need to feed". All in all the movie brings back memories of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, and I'm sure the sequel will, too.
Milla Jovovich gives good face. She doesn't really have anything to do for the first 45 minutes (other than look beautiful, of course), but she's very cool when she starts pouring on the kicks and punches, and her character is likable and heroic (and did I mention good-looking? And that outfit she's wearing...!). One wants to see more of her. With some better writing, this sort of role would be perfect for her. Accessible, kick-ass adventure with an appealing female lead (or several). If movie-makers know what's good for them, this is the kind of thing they should do more of. Much more.