Baseless... but worth renting.

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2004)

I read many times in several reviews that fans of the game series would love this film. I can't see why. One cannot create that 'survival horror' environment into such films (don't bring '28 days later' in comparison) and thus one, a fan of the games or not, should watch this film keeping no presumptions in mind. I was disappointed in doing that.
The prequel had a provocative ending, giving rise to several interesting possible ideas in my mind, thanks to the fact that I'm an avid fan of the games myself. But little could I predict about this noisy, baseless, cheap action extravaganza. There are only characters taken from the game, nothing else. The premise was good, but the results aren't. Introduction of Nemesis could have been avoided, because he is simply wasted here. Most of the action sequences come suddenly, without any link to the story. And to tell the truth, there is no 'story' involved, just an excuse.
Milla Jovovich is not as spicy as she was in the first movie. Sienna Guillory as Jill is good. Perhaps she is one thing that perfectly matches with the game. The other characters are not worth mentioning. There are some good moments in the film, like the ending, or the incident in the school, but all over I think the first one was better. The movie leaves a chance for a third part, I am not sure if that's a good thing for us.
The bottomline: watching it in a theatre is inadvisable. The DVD should come out soon. Rent and watch. We've got better things to buy.