REVIEW: Resident Evil

Well hello there internet, welcome back to another review article of The Movie Notebook, where any film is fair game! This week we're taking a look at the beginning of the franchise inspired by the hit video game franchise. This is...

RESIDENT EVIL

Alice wakes up alone in a mansion with no memory of why she's there. Moments later, an elite special forces unit crashes into the house, taking her down into a series of underground tunnels and rooms under the nearby Racoon City. The team have been tasked with sealing "The Hive" and assessing the situation after the main computer went homicidal and killed everyone. As they make their way through The Hive, they quickly realize that the computer is the very least of their worries, as they discover an army of hungry zombies lurking in the darkness.

So, this series of films has been going on for way too long now right? This year sees the 5th installment in the franchise and to be honest, I thought it would have died long before then. Paul Anderson's zombie action series took a few influences from the game but largely, this film hasn't really got a lot to do with the early incarnations of the game. True, there's the Umbrella corporation behind everything and the introduction of zombies, zombie dogs and the mutating licker, but the story seems to be just your average run-of-the-mill action flick. There's not a lot of innovation in the story and it's pretty clear just who is and isn't going to die right from the word go, but after all that has been considered, this is still a pretty fun film.

Anderson is responsible for what is possibly the best worst film ever made, Mortal Kombat. No go on, tell me you don't love that film! I dare you! When you accept that Anderson is definitely no Scorsese or Hitchcock, and only specializes in making dumb loud action flicks, then you start to understand why Resident Evil is the way it is. No it didn't have to take lots of influences from the game, because with Anderson at the helm, it was most likely going to be a riot anyway. And seeing as how over the years, the games have taken multiple unexpected routes in the story, culminating in the most recent installments action heavy game play, it shouldn't continue to anger people so much that Anderson's franchise has gone full steam ahead into big budget action nonsense, because that's exactly what the games seem to have done.

But anyway, the film itself is rapid, decently acted and is full of little amusing set pieces. Largely following Alice, played by Milla Jojovich, we're slowly given information as she regains her memory, along with two other survivors that she encounters along her travels. The creatures, whilst based on the games enemies, aren't terribly scary and won't due much to blow your mind in terms of creativeness. However the set pieces they are involved in, along with some tiny jump scares are enough to make you not really care that much about those little points. The film can be predictable, but then it's not like you were expecting to be blown away by some hugely shocking Shyamalan style twist. This is a very easy film to get into and is one of those films that's perfect for a Saturday night popcorn fest. And that's just about it.

Score: 7.0/10

Well that's it for this week folks, sorry for the short review, but I'm busy with other more pressing matters. I'll make it up to you next week...maybe. See you all on Monday!

Until next time internet!