Resident Evil is sleek. It’s shiny. It’s also quite slimy, occasionally silly and altogether cheesy. Though it doesn’t aspire to be included on many top ten lists, this movie offers a more entertaining sci-fi/ horror thrill ride than 13 Ghosts, Pitch Black, The Haunting, Ghosts of Mars and both Urban Legend flicks – combined. Featuring a host of gory creatures, two kick-ass female heroes, a crew of marines just waiting to be chomped on, a blistering techno soundtrack and a sinfully flashy visual design, Resident Evil – against all odds – turns out to be one of the best popcorn flicks in quite some time. Though it may damage my credibility as a respectable movie critic, I'll proudly list it on my list of this (or any) year’s ‘guilty pleasures.’
While Resident Evil does hold a few clever gags and visual clues for those familiar with the popular video game, there’s really no need to be familiar with the source material to have some fun. The game version isn’t exactly Othello, so it’s not like there’s much narrative ground to cover. Deep inside a gigantic underground laboratory, a horrible accident has taken place. An airborne virus is let loose inside of the Umbrella Compound, and its side effects are decidedly nasty. After the Red Queen, an automated security system, traps all the employees within their laboratories (to prevent further infection), the virus takes over.
The bulk of Resident Evil revolves around a military squad sent in to disable the computer and rescue any survivors. A handful of civilians are quickly located, all of whom are suffering from temporary amnesia. (Yeah, I know…”temporary amnesia”, right? Just remember you’re watching a movie about Zombie Dogs and murderous computer systems.) The most intriguing survivor is a quiet woman named Alice who slowly begins to recall her role in the tragic accident – while single-handedly mauling about 43 zombies in the process. The carnage goes from bad to exponentially worse when the well-intentioned soldiers disengage the computer system – thereby unleashing a veritable who’s who of undead beasties.
The cast is uniformly colourless, aside from the statuesque and smouldering Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element) as Alice. Milla will never be confused for Meryl Streep, but she’s a more convincing female superhero than anything you’ll find in Tomb Raider or Charlie’s Angels. Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight) plays Rain, the more rugged and outspoken femme fatale. Unfortunately, Rodriguez’s drab, one-note character comes off as nothing more than a less successful rendition of the Vazquez character from Aliens, so Rodriiguez’s performance is more petulant and crabby than anything.
Resident Evil is nothing more than a lustrous, loud and colourful take on the age-old ‘haunted house’ tale, but despite the film’s obvious flaws, those hungry for horror movie carnage (without too much gore) should certainly enjoy themselves. Fans of the video game series will be especially pleased, as director Paul Anderson (Event Horizon) sets many of the more intense set pieces in some visually familiar settings, and the final scenes seem to come straight from the video game. Regarding its source material, Resident Evil is one of the most “faithful” of the handful of video game adaptations that’s been made. Taken for what it is, this is also a pretty damn good piece of entertainment, proof positive that “mindless” movies need not always insult your intelligence.
