Resident Evil

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Allow me to make one thing perfectly clear about my relationship with 'Resident Evil'. I could not get used to those tank controls that came with the original two games - the only ones I had really tried. I was so incredibly bad with these controls that the first two games will go down in my personal history as the games I sucked the most at. We won't say how far I got on either game, but let's just say it's pretty embarrassing. So really, I just never got into this series. I dabbled in a few of the books, but didn't make it far there either. Therefore, my reviews on the 'Resident Evil' movies will be very honest and objective.

We start with the first film whose resemblance to the original game is pretty much just the mansion. I have been told that the take on this is a little more from 'Resident Evil Zero' - a game that would be released about eight months after the movie. Game-wise, we had up to 2000's 'Code Veronica', so some fans were understandably somewhat disappointed in the outcome of the film at the time. However, I had enough knowledge of the games that I understood that they got the underlying concept of the games right. We're introduced to a genetic research facility, located deep below the fictional Raccoon City, known as "The Hive". There, pharmaceutical corporation, Umbrella, engineers the "T-Virus" (put simply, the source for the eventual zombie outbreak). A mystery thief steals it and contaminates the lab with it. In response, the Hive's A.I., the Red Queen, seals the lab to contain things, and spoiler alert, everyone dies.

A naked and passed out series heroine named Alice (Milla Jovovich) is introduced to us, awaking in the shower. She can't remember why she's there, but finds a red dress to put on and takes a walk around the abandoned mansion she wakes up in. She is soon attacked by an unknown assailant, just as she and the assailant are taken by a group of commandos. Our "horror meat wagon" is headed by James Shade (Colin Salmon), going under the call sign of "One", and consisting of Kaplan (Martin Crewes), J.D. (Pasquale Aleardi), Rain (Michelle Rodriguez), and a medic simply known as "Medic" (Liz May Brice). The commandos have have been sent to contain the T-Virus, but in their attempt, well... we know this is eventually followed by five sequels.

Anyway, the unknown attacker claims to be a man named Matt Addison, a recent transfer to the R.C.P.D. The pair are ordered by the commandos to head to the Hive with them through the mansion's secret entrance. On the underground train, another amnesiac named Spence (James Purefoy) is found, who seems to share some kind of mysterious past with Alice. On their mission, they encounter all sorts of fun things like a laser defence system, the Red Queen (Michaela Dicker) trying to thwart their every move, Alice trying to remember her connections to whatever is going on, and of course, a whole lot of zombies (some of which are dogs). I will try to do these reviews as spoiler-free as I can, but Alice does end up surviving the whole ordeal, and things end with her pretty much at the ready for the second film.

The 'Resident Evil' series is a bit of an up-and-down franchise for yours truly. I saw half of them on the big screen, and half not, so it never really stuck me as something I needed to dabble in - especially with my overall unfamiliarity with the game franchise. This was one I did see in theaters with a group of friends, and I think everyone collectively enjoyed it at the time. Considering I was sitting with fans of the games, I took that as the film succeeding in what it was trying to do. It certainly wasn't without its flaws, but they got a few things right here and there. However, I do find the biggest downfall of the films the fact that the lead is an unknown. I eventually got around to taking Alice as a character with another perspective on things - but honestly, one needs to treat the games and the films as separate entities.

Having said that, don't get the wrong idea. I completely understand fans of the games being put off by this movie franchise, considering the liberties they tend to take. Still though, this wasn't lke watching 'Super Mario Bros' where things didn't look at all like they were supposed to. The "Lickers" (the results of humans injected directly with the T-virus) for example, were more or less spot on (at least from what I could tell). So it certainly takes the right elements from what they say are the first two games and puts its own spin on things. All in all, this is one of the video game movies I prefer over many others. However, I wouldn't feel quite the same about some of the sequels that would eventually follow.

3/5

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