A shock/scare fest!

Rating: Null/10 (16 March 2002)

I am an avid player of the Resident Evil games. I went into the theatre with low expectations, expecting yet another horrible video game-to movie translation. The moment the film starts though, you can tell it is nothing like the anything that has come before it. It takes less than a minute for all heck to break loose as the virus is released upon "The hive"(an underground facility where the film takes place). The poor workers are trapped and we witness an intense and very sad series of scenes. Cut to above the complex where we meet out star, a beautiful young woman who can't remember who or where she is. In come the S.T.A.R.S members(the good guys) to save the day. They are here to see what went wrong at the Hive. All of this happens in only minutes...just hinting at how fast-paced this film is going to be. We meet many people, majority very likeable as they go deep into the Hive. The beauty of the film really comes out here. The film started so quickly and left so many things un-explained that we feel exactly like the lead. Everything is a mystery and every second of the film is part of the mystery unfolding. Now I won't give anymore away....the film does any amazing job of setting everything up, and slowly building up until the really scary stuff starts. Some of the acting at the start is a little off, but later the acting is great. You really start to care about the people, and when people die the way the characters react really gets to you. To top it off, this film has some of the best writing I've seen in a long time. I'm a writer so I'm usually very picky, but I was very happy with this films ability to surprise the audience. I see every horror movie, so I can always say what will happen next. In Resident Evil though, I had no idea what would happen. From opening scene to the completly amazing ending, I was susprirsed. There is even one specific scene that is so surprising, even after it happens you are still in dis-belief. By the time the film was over, everyone in our audience looked exhausted. I know I was. And if that still isn't enough, the movie fits perfectly in with the video games. Must you play the games to understand? No. People I saw it with have never played the games, but they still understood everything. However, if you have played the games, you will definitly appreciate the movie even more, if that's possible.