Good grief, what a mess...

Rating: 1/10 (15 November 2004)

Even being a huge fan of zombie movies and the first 2 Resident Evil games, I found this film confusing and boring. I really think it is one of the worst films I've ever seen. I found it hard to believe grown adults had produced something so bad.
My main problem was the sheer number of characters we are expected to keep track of given their limited screen time, and the fact that the first half of the film skips around all over the place. We had Jill Valentine, her partner (can't remember his name), some reporter woman (cant remember her name either), some stereotypical wise cracking black gangster and a building full of STARS members . Then there was the Umbrella soldiers with European sounding names (3 of them I think), Alice, the Nemesis, The evil boss (complete with bad German accent), The mad professor and his daughter. most of these characters are running around Racoon City, trying to find the mad professors daughter in order to bargain a safe route out (or hinder the efforts of those that are). There is no sort of character development to at least clue us in on their backgrounds or motivation, let alone even care when they get killed!
Another problem I had was that the zombies (which should be the main point of the film) seem almost peripheral - there is no sense of horror or dread in any of the zombie scenes.
The plot is so rushed and patchy that all we are left with are a collection of clichéd action set-pieces that could have been from any John woo inspired action film from the last few years. The story simply exists as a device to join these set pieces together.
Truly appalling. Watch it at your own risk.
1 out of 10