Resident Evil (2002)

You'd love to see me use these guns, right? Well, too bad.

Rating: 6 out of 10 (worth watching)

The 'hit' zombie game gets mostly a 'miss' adaptation. Most of this is likely due to director, Paul W.S. Anderson (Mortal Kombat) breaking away from what would have worked better, i.e. actually following the story of the game.

Sadly there is not much going on with the plot. Most of this vague film is bogged down by paper-thin characters with arbitrary amnesia. That is fine if the story is going somewhere, but as the characters get nearer to the surface that will prolong their survival (or so the sequel would have them believe), the story follows suit and becomes even more superficial. Alice (Milla Jovovich) tries to carry this film as the bad-ass heroine, but falls short (and onto the floor of her bathroom, which she doesn't remember having, of course). Late in the film, she also falls off an operating table, flashing her pubic region; the tell-tale sign of an apologetic movie that has little to offer. Jovovich is gorgeous, but the film is not.

The movie as a whole feels clunky, lifeless and shortsighted, as if there was once a desire of a desire to mimic the charm of Aliens that made it a classic action movie. There is nothing of that quality here, despite the neat zombie dogs, stuff blowing up, cool lasers, and Alice doing some nice stunts.

To make matters worse, this movie is quite jarring at times. Early in the film, Alice (having woken up nude in the shower) inexplicably covers her breasts. Why would she do this?

Aah, the audience is looking! Better cover up in this empty mansion.

There is nobody around to peep on her, and seconds later her nipple shows during an obvious T&A shot. The question is why limit the sex appeal? The film is rated 'R', after all. A tonal mess, this film made me scratch my head. Was it trying to be erotic or scary? It amounts to neither. Part of the problem is Alice's costume. It is horrible to say the least and why the shorts? The costume is an eyesore that only gets worse. It is simply bad fashion.

My name is Alice. Umbrella made me forget this movie.  But I found THIS for the sequel.

Admittedly, despite everything I've written above, I did enjoy the film more during this viewing than last time. But to steer away from the bountiful source material and amount to little more than setting up a superior sequel was a foolish choice, and it blatantly shows.