RESIDENT EVIL

being based on a video game is already a pretty damn big strike against any film, but Resident Evil, at the risk of sounding like a huge fucking dork, isn't just a video game. the games themselves are based on movies, or at least inspired by them, and the have a very detailed dramatic narrative. so, unlike the recent Tomb Raider movie, based on a game so incredibly boring and lame, which translated to a movie that was action packed and lame-Resident Evil works much better than one would have suspected.

Paul Anderson, who replaced George Romero in the director chair had some pretty big shoes to fill, and he does the job just fine. i would imagine many Romero/zombie fans across the globe writing off RE just because Romero didn't direct. i feel. especially after viewing Georgie's most recent film Bruiser (let alone the few before that) that he really wasn't up to the job. anyone who's read Romero's script for RE would realize this. it's as if he took everything bad about Day Of The Dead (namely Bud The smart zombie) and expanded upon it.

so on to the film: a supposed "prequel" to the strange events at Racoon City, the film starts with a highly effective opener in which the deadly T-virus is released in the underground facilities of Umberella Corporation. the building's computer system, the Red Queen locks all the doors and kills everyone in the building to contain the virus.

Next we meet Alice (though i don't recall anyone using her name in the film) played by the un-fucking-belivably sexy Milla Jovovich, who comes to in the shower suffering from amnesia-an after effect of the gas released by the Red Queen. she does the typical walking around in a spooky house bit for a few minutes to give the audience those false scares they love, then the house is seiged by Dawn of the Dead/Hell of the Living Dead-style commandos. They have been sent by Umbrella to shut down the Red Queen.

as the crew makes it's way the the "Hive," the underground Umbrella facillity, Alice slowly begins to regain her memory. a notorious horror film cliche', that is put to good use here. her memory flashes include clues to what may have released the T-virus, and her part in the events.

set to surpisingly good Marco Beltrami/Marylin Manson music, which may be a bit on the loud side, the film quickly moves to it's first zombie encounter. let me say i was grinning from ear to ear and on the edge of my seat as the first lone zombie appeared. the genre-required line "she bit me" was like music to my ears. soon we are treated to a wild zombie attack sequence with a great mix of Romero AND Fulci styled zombies, even a few flaming ones spread around. well armed merceneries spraying a crowd of zombies with automatic weapons like something out of a Bruno Mattei movie on a cinema screen at a multiplex? it's enough to bring a tear to your eye.

Alice & Co., numbers dwindling, trudge their way through Umbrella Laboratories, kicking zombie ass-include one INCREDIBLY lucky extra who gets to have his neck snapped between Milla's thighs-yow!

double crosses and plot twist fill the last few minutes, as well as a meeting with a "licker" from the game, which is one of the very few (thankfully) CGI effects. the final battle between Alice, the licker and a friend-turned-zombie on a speeding subway train is well done and good enough to end the film on. we're not done yet however. as Alice and the last surviving member of the group make it back to the mansion, bio-hazard crews take the man and restrain Alice. Alice wakes up days later on a gurney in a hospital, wearing a seeeeeexy little bib thing and covered with IV tubes-very much like something out of a Franco film. she manages to open the door and walks out into the streets. a look of horror flashes on her face as we see the town devastated-abandoned police cars line the streets, pools of blood on the ground, fires burning all over the city. a newspaper headline reads "THE DEAD WALK", in an homage to Romero's film. Alice walks to a cop car and takes out the shotgun as the camera pulls back revealing the view of the deserted and destroyed city.

the film works so well in my opinion because instead of being condescending to its audience, it (tries) to give it what it wants. it borrows from other films in a respectful way, that fans of the genre are sure to recognize-the "shoot 'em in the head" speech, the "i don't want to be one of them" speech, ect. at the same time however, the film takes itself seriously...it never resorts to self-ridicule or mockery.

of course the film isn't without it's flaws, but honestly, the flaws it does have are 100% overlookable (i know that's not a word) in the context of the film. and be serious, what zombie film doesn't have it's share of flaws, be it pacing, dialog, effects, skewed political messages.

another thing that will put some people off is the lack of any real gore. but this isn't an Italian zombie gore-athon from the early 80's, so i wasn't expecting much, not with Speilberg and the Nazis of the MPAA in command...but i have heard that the US and UK version were cut, but are uncut in Germany, so maybe we'll get a good import source in the months to come.

i really went into this with low expectations, especially after seeing the poorly put together TV spots, which emphasized the little halogram girl and didn't show a single zombie. i was overjoyed that i liked the film so much.

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