Evil Never Dies...

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2002)

As an avid fan of all the RE games, I eagerly anticipated this movie for years, and when it finally hit the cinemas, i was not disappointed.
Paul Anderson both wrote and directed Resident Evil, and decided to make it pretty different from the games, which worried a lot of fans.
He is however, introducing many of the games characters into the sequel in 2003.
*review with SPOILERS*
Resident Evil was slated by many critics, and its easy to see why. One look at the cast would put most critics off, because it is plain to see that Resident Evil was written and casted to be a COOL movie, not a well acted thriller. Simply put, it is the type of movie that the critics love to hammer.
The first half hour of the film is all build up, getting more and more intense as Milla Jovovich wakes up in a mansion confused and without memory. Soon she is confronted with a crack military team, who explain that she is a security officer in the mansion, which is merely a front for the underground biological weapon research lab that lies beneath it...
The crew along with Jovovich head down into the 'hive' to see what has gone wrong, and to shut down the 'Red Queen' (the automated computer which controls the hive). Needless to say, the place is crawling with zombies, and all hell breaks loose.
The performances in each of the lead roles are solid enough, apart from Eric Mabius, who is a bit wooden. Milla Jovovich is surprisingly good in the role of Alice, and does well in the martial art-type action scenes.
Paul Anderson has decided to make Resident Evil as much of an action movie as it is a horror, making it all the more entertaining, and while the jumpy moments and scares are second to none, with perfect timing and an excellent score by Marilyn Manson all adding to the effect, each of the action scenes - particularly the ones including the Hellhounds and the licker, are edge of the seat stuff.
The finale of Resident Evil is a thriller and then some, with the remaining survivors trying to escape via a speeding underground train. We then see the unexpected return of the licker, which, after shredding Martin Crewes to pieces, is disposed of with great effect.
Anderson also does a good job of presenting us with cliches, such as Michelle Rodriguez being so close to death, but getting the antidote to the virus at the last second - but then totally reverses them by allowing her to turn anyway. He also used the old, "unexpected survivor who returns at the end" ploy (Crewes), but then allows him to be obliterated unexpectedly as well, confirming to the viewer that no-one is safe.
The last ten minutes of the movie are very, very impressive, with the final scene being so powerful, that it sets up the soon to come sequel perfectly...
As with any movie, there are a few things that could have been better.
The CGI effects on the licker in its earlier scenes could have been much better, but this was probably down to the budget.
Also, a few more scenes where one or two zombies appear, and are quite easily disposed of would have been nice, instead of the mass hoards of them constantly flooding the rooms.
All in all, Resident Evil is everything it was meant to be - a cool gory action horror, with a lot of death, and a few surprises too...
Superb. - 9 out of 10.