Resident Evil (DVD)

(Also appears at ShaunMunro.co.uk, cheers!) Director: Paul W.S. Anderson Cast: Milla Jovovich, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, Michelle Rodriguez Release Date: March 15th, 2002 (US), July 12th, 2002 (UK) Certificate: R (US), 15 (UK) It's no secret that the majority of game-to-film adaptations have been either horrendously cheesy (Super Mario Bros) or just down-right awful (see: any film by Uwe Boll). Resident Evil, however, is one of two great examples (the other being Silent Hill), where classically speaking, the film is highly flawed, but as far as fan service goes, it's top-notch. Resident Evil is a highly successful ...  Read the complete review

Introduction --------------- Waking up dazed and confused, Alice (Milla Jovovich) stumbles around an apparently deserted mansion house. She teams up with a group of soldiers who enter the mansion and the truth gradually begins to unfold. The Film and the Game ----------------------------- Resident Evil is based on the computer game of the same name which appeared quite a while ago now on the Playstation. The basic plot of the game (followed here) is that a virus has turned all the inhabitants of a mansion (actually a top secret research station) into flesh-eating zombies. The characters must now survive and make their way to ...  Read the complete review

The computer-game/Movie crossovers have often had a pretty bad press – more often than not the fans of the game complain that the movie is nothing like the game, and movie buffs slate the script, direction and, well, pretty much everything about the movie to be honest. The end result is usually a movie that is universally panned by all concerned and destined for video-rental hell. Not sure what I mean? Well let me throw two names at you – Street Fighter and Mario; two great games, two dire films. Tomb Raider attempted to buck this trend – whilst the movie was panned by some, I actually quite enjoyed it in a ‘no-brainer’ type of ...  Read the complete review

It would probably have helped a little if I had known something about the game, but from what I have read about it, although this film is based on it, it is something quite different. Plus, I watched it for the first time with absolutely no idea what it was about, other than that a friend had seen it & was petrified. Whatever you know beforehand, it is probably worth a watch. Story Most of the film takes place in an underground plant in Raccoon City, set up for experimentation & research. Something has gone terribly wrong down there, & it appears that the computer system designed to run the facility has turned against the staff, trying ...  Read the complete review

The trend for Hollywood to make movies out of computer games continues this month with the imminent release of Resident Evil onto the cinema screens. Its little wonder that games have been making this transition seeing as some of the top titles have plots more complex and characters more developed than much of what comes out of Hollywood in recent months, although Resident Evil really wouldn't come too highly up on that list. The game is pretty much an excuse to go sneak about blasting zombies, and the movie is...well its more of the same, but also pulling in elements from just about every other genre movie you can think of. Its also bloody entertaining despite what ...  Read the complete review