Good B-movie fodder; will make a fun rental.

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2002)

As much as I enjoy high-brow cinema, I also have a soft spot in my heart for shoot-em-up SF escapism.
In my mind, "Aliens" from 1986 is still the best jump-off-your-seat SF scarefest of recent history. "Resident Evil" doesn't even come close to the level of techno-thriller expertise of that older movie.
BUT: Resident Evil is a lot of fun, and should please many zombie fans. The story is a treatment of the classic zombie formula: trap some unwitting people in a closed system with flesh-eating dead people. Add some action sequences, some people-muching gore, and a couple of motivation twists to make it spicier, and you have the usual zombie stew.
What makes this better than a C-movie Romero flick is the special effects wizardry, and a little more character texture than most Saturday afternoon zombie flicks.
If you're looking for some fun B-movie escapism, and don't mind a couple of slower scenes, then you should enjoy this flick. I can't say I want to run out and buy the video game now, but I certainly did get some good jumps and good "grosssssss...!" factor from Resident Evil.
3 stars out of 5.

p.s. I thought "Tremors" and "Deep Blue Sea" were even more fun than Resident Evil.