Like so many gamers of my generation, the Resident Evil series had a special place in my heart. It introduced Survival Horror to players in a way that had never been seen before, with full 3-D graphics, a very mature story-line, and a truly terrifying atmosphere. Soon, the franchise had swept over most of the gaming World, in much the same way that the T-Virus had spread across Raccoon City in Resident Evil 2.
But what about the big screen adaptations? How did they stack up to the games?
Find out in today’s Dark Horse Review of the first Resident Evil movie!
As anyone who has seen the movie can tell you, Resident Evil doesn’t follow the same story as the game, but instead takes a more action-oriented approach which actually works out rather well. Normally, when films based on video games take the action route, it comes across as sort of a cop-out --Alone in the Dark for example, though this had much to with legendarily bad director Uwe Boll not having a single care to make a decent film-- but in Resident Evil it really does work.
It works because Paul W.S. Anderson is a very talented screenwriter, and a flipping amazing director. My second favorite director as a matter of fact, right after the Master of Horror himself, John Carpenter. Anderson has been the creative force behind quite a few super-rad movies, including Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, and Pandorum.
Interesting side note: George Romero was originally hired to write and direct Resident Evil, but Capcom and Sony felt that Romero’s vision for the film was TOO much like the first game in the series, and decided to hand the project over to Paul W.S. Anderson, in favor of his more original and fast-paced approach.
Anyway, back to the story.
The movie starts up and we are given one of the coolest spoken introduction sequences since Sarah Connor gave us the facts about Skynet, and the impending Judgment Day that was to come. Basically, we receive a very informative briefing on the Umbrella Corporation; publicly, the largest pharmaceutical entity in the world, but secretly the industry leaders in the development of military technology, genetic engineering, and viral weaponry. In fact, they are a bit TOO good at that whole “viral weaponry” thing, which is the central story point of the entire series of films and games.
The film then cuts to a normal office workday inside a massive underground facility, called “The Hive,” just in time to see an unknown man throw a canister containing the T-Virus across the room, breaking it.
And so it begins.
The computer, known as “The Red Queen,” immediately begins a very brutal series of containment measures, in an effort to prevent further spread of the T-Virus.
I won’t give it all away, but I will say that much death is had, and by a great many people.
Cut to black.
GIANT EYE DEMON?!
No, don’t panic, that’s just a very close shot of one of Milla Jovovich’s eyeballs.
We now meet Alice (Jovovich), as she wakes up from a state of unconsciousness in a huge empty house, and finds that she has no memory of anything prior to waking up in the shower. Yes, you see Milla Jovovich in the shower, and yes, as she has shown many times, she is not afraid to show a little skin.
Next thing you know, a team of heavily-armed paramilitary troops come crashing in through the windows, making it quite clear that they have been sent to find out exactly what went wrong in The Hive, the entrance to which is located inside the mansion.
The story just gets better from there, of that there is no doubt.
I do want to touch on another big selling point of the movie, at least as far as I’m concerned, which is the film’s remarkably awesome musical score.
Written by the Anti-Christ himself, Marilyn Manson, the score of Resident Evil stands far apart from the sea of generic sci-fi soundtracks. Manson brings with him his signature brand of wickedly dark Industrial Goth-Rock, and manages to produce a masterwork of sci-fi horror film scoring.
Ultimately, Resident Evil has everything you could want: It’s an awesome movie, based on a great video game franchise, featuring a killer score and, of course, the inimitable Milla Jovovich. What more could a nerd ask for?
Bottom line:
If you have not seen it, do so. Heck, why not head to the movie emporium of your choice and pick up a copy today?
Thanks for reading another Dark Horse Review!
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