Really, REALLY, Bad

Rating: 1/10 (30 July 2002)

The two main things about this movie that bothered me the most are as follows:
1: They never established a sense of utter hopelessness. In any Zombie flick this is the key. Zombies are dumb, clumsy, and slow. The only way to make them a true threat is to have your heroes in as small and unescapable place as possible, and to have HORDES of zombies for miles and miles as far as the eye can see. It has to seem hopeless. While it was clear from the start that at least 2/3 of the supposedly highly trained paramilitary team was expendable, at no time was Milla Jovavich in any danger. There are scenes in this movie where five or six soldiers are being swarmed by Zombies, and despite all their training and vast weaponry, they can do little. Then Ms. Jovavich, in her ripped up nightgown and with no weapons at all, drops in on them and goes Bruce Lee for three minutes, and, there ya go, no more Zombie threat. BULL!!
2. While they did seem to spend a decent amount on the special effects for the zombies, the main Mutated Beast that comes at them in the end looked like something Ray Harryhausen might have done for one of his movies in the 60's. Which is not a slight to Mr. Harryhausen at all. Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts are two of my favorites, and a documentary on Mr. Harryhausen put me in awe of his talents. But the claymation-like movements of the Mutant in this movie really clashed with all the rest of the high tech goings on.
All in all, if you want a decent Zombie movie, go rent "Night of the Living Dead" or "Zombie", an unnoficial Italian sequel that came out before Mr. Romero came out with "Dawn of the Dead". If you go with "Resident Evil", you will regret it before you finish the movie.