anselmdaniel This review contains spoilers.Resident Evil is a movie based on the video game of the same name. The movie is directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and stars Milla Jovovich as Alice. The movie ias about a research structure called The Hive under a remote mansion close to Racoon city. The Hive is researching the T-Virus, a virus that alters its host to create zombies.Resident Evil is first and foremost not meant to be a classic movie. The movie relies too much on the video game's setting and it does not even have characters from the video game in this movie. The movie has its own cast that the movie relies on with its own story. This can be a good thing if the movie's plot can build upon the video game's plot, but the movie does not. This movie's plot is an excuse to have bio-weapons, zombies, and a paramilitary group fighting the zombies.The action is tame in today's standards but it is still fun to watch. There are some fun and creative sequences in this movie such as the laser hall sequence. I loved watching this trap and the stunts that were required from the actor. The zombies were threatening at first, but soon became background props for the characters to overcome.The sets in this movie are well designed. I liked the atmosphere the sets created. The Hive felt creepy and nefarious across the entire run-time. This setting of an underground laboratory definitely helped the movie stay on the horror genre.The acting in this movie is not good. This is not a reason to be watching these kinds of movies and the actors and actresses do an acceptable job that it is not too distracting.Overall, I would recommend Resident Evil. The movie has its flaws but it is still a fun movie to watch.

rlindsay-88363 Mila jovavich running around for an hour looking for a plot. If you have no idea about the game then give it a miss, nothing will make sense. It's just people running around the levels of a game being chased by zombies for some reason

merceplucas The film is alright, mostly. It's just, alright. The acting is hammy, the writing's mediocre, the soundtrack is generic, the visual look is basic and ugly, the story is generic and we've all seen it before. It lies between a rock and a hard place in the unfortunate spot of "okay." It's average. And that's fine, if you wanna watch an average action movie more power to you. But the main problem is, it doesn't have a damn thing to do with Resident Evil. The only thing that ties it to its source material is people throwing around the term "Umbrella Corporation." The Hive is made up. The Red Queen is made up. The main characters' team is made up. And hey, I mean, if you wanna maybe have your film pave its own path that's fine I guess, but the sequel for this film is very clearly supposed to be based on Resident Evil 2/3, so that excuse doesn't fly. Even if they did try to make their own story they should have had it actually feel like something that would be in Resident Evil. As it stands, the adventures of Anderson's wife in The Hive feels like fan-fiction. Except calling it fanfiction is a stretch because I'm pretty sure Anderson probably never played any of the games, and just read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia. Of course at the very end, they tease with the phrase "Nemesis program" as both a fanbase ego-stroke and a sequel bait. The film is Uwe Boll-tier. In fact I think the only reason it performed better than Boll's Alone in the Dark adaptation is because Resident Evil is a Japanese series and most people over here that follow it probably know as little about it as Paul W.S. Anderson did.

The Movie Diorama No one could've predicted that this was going to be the start of something massive. Regarded by many as the ultimate guilty pleasure series, this first instalment gives us zombies, a badass female protagonist and an utterly convoluted plot. A woman simply known as "Alice" wakes up unable to recall her memories. A specialised team take her and infiltrate 'The Hive' which has entered a state of lockdown. Why? Viral breakout obviously. The infamous T-Virus. Fans of Capcom's survival horror games of the same name, will be immensely disappointed. There's no horror, there's limited survival and replicates nothing from the first game. It's simply taken the name and turned into something else. Fortunately, whilst I've played the game and discount myself as a fanboy, I honestly don't mind the lack of replication. Call it a film reinvention as you will. Doesn't stop it from being mediocre though. Paul W.S. Anderson directs what looks like a B-Movie. Cringeworthy dialogue, although with some damn good one liners from the badass Michelle Rodriguez, terrible and dated effects that are incorporated in a plot that finds itself incredibly confused. What seems like a simple infiltration turns out to be a mess fuelled by patchy flashbacks and exposition. Milla Jovovich definitely transforms herself and you can start to see her action stardom manifest. There is an almighty personality switch where her timid and quiet self transforms into the ultimate badass b**** in town. She does not give a flip what you think. She kicks a zombie dog in the face for Christ's sake! I appreciate the usage of props and makeup, but simple aesthetics does not create a good film. Mediocrity at its finest. A sentence I'll be saying consistently in these reviews...