Two pretty mediocre films from Paul W.S. Anderson here. Both are adaptations of the Resident Evil franchise, specifically set during the course of the 2nd and 3rd games. Filled with lots of zombies and action and conspiracy and cool guns, both movies are definitely worth watching for fans of the franchise, but those looking for a general action-horror experience might want to search elsewhere. Both my reviews of the individual films that make up this box-set can be found here.

http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/movie-dvd/resident-ev il-dvd/1428505/

http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/movie-dvd/resident-ev il-2-apocalypse-dvd/1430496/

Basically its a pair of gun-heavy, switch-your-brain-off but enjoyable and surprisingly watchable videogame spinoffs that has proven to impress the fanboys all over the West. Although the casting is a bit off in some places, Milla Jovovich kicks some serious ass throughout, with lots of gunplay and cool stunt sequences.

Nonetheless both films are just that little bit stale. Both are completely irrelevant to the game's canon and, despite special effects, do fall a bit short sometimes. Nods to the videogame, especially in the first title are a little bit clumsy and the plot of both movies do become a little bit convoluted. That is to say, it looks like the kind of pair of films that would complement a beer and a pizza really well, but they're actually surprisingly cerebral for films of this tone. Both are a bit complicated and even drag in places but i can't stress that fans of the game will definitely enjoy them on at least some level.

Now that that's out of the way, lets talk about this set as a package. First up, the cover and conceptual artwork of the box itself is truly a thing of beauty. Lots of sexy, zombie filled concept art and pull-out prints. The Outbreak pack also offers a few behind the scenes extras and an interview which, whilst lacking in the original release of the dvds, is also available online, devaluing it a bit I'm afraid, but the pack still looks really cool although it would now be a bit silly to buy brand new, since it's missing the third and fourth film, although perhaps some day, it might qualify as a collectors item.

Overall this is an outdated, but very attractive looking DVD pack, slightly outdated with the dawn of blu-ray and release of more sequels, that does actually contain the best films of the franchise, even though they aren't particularly good to begin with. Recommended only to the more die-hard Resident Evil fans, and collectors.