I remembered seeing this movie back in the theater, and hadn't watched it since so I thought I would watch it again since I wanted to watch all the RE movies and hadn't seen the last few (or any after the second one). The movie holds up surprisingly well after all these years - I mean the overall tone of the movie is clearly dated - it *feels* like a late 90's movie - not that that is bad per se. The acting is mediocre, but I never really care too much about that anyway. I just rate stuff on if I am entertained or not and I can say that I was indeed with this movie. It also helps that it is about 90 minutes. I don't think this style of movie could go on for much more than that - the jarring soundtrack I think would get a little too over the top if I had to keep hearing it for another 30 minutes. Overall the movie still hold up and is entertaining all these years later. Still worth a watch.

I first seen this back in 2004 on a VHS copy that my buddy owned, he myself and another buddy watch it together.Since It was my first experience seeing the movie I totally loved it, which was surprising because at the time I wasn't sure about it, since it was a horror movie, I stayed away from them a lot as a little kid. The suspense is quite creepy but not too creepy because it's also an action movie blended in to one, however this first installment is more suspense with good jump scares and small action scenes. The pace is fast and the movie is kinda edgy in music and action sequences, I've seen the remake of the original game which my one buddy owns on Game Cube, it's good but also really creepy and I like that the movie captured that essence. Alice played by MIlla Jovovich is the heroine of the film, who has amnesia, as we met her she comes to the shower, which looks like she hit her head, she is oblivious to things as the audience is, we lean what's going on as she does. Which I feel is fresh for as zombie movie.The movie is 100 minutes but fairly fast paced and has an engaging story, so you met characters as the movie goes. Alice is joined by special forces-like operatives that inform her and a couple other characters about what's going on. Video game purists will not like this movie but casual audiences will probubly enjoy it, it's made to be popcorn fun that's all, it should not be looked at as anything else but a fun movie however haters will hate so each there own I guess.Overall I enjoy the film to this day, for me it's a guilty pleasure. I give it a 7/10. If you want a fun but suspenseful action film with fun action scenes and great scares look no further. Give it a look. It's fun.

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...

Resident evil 2002 reviewHello. This is the resident evil movie franchise. And this is its story. The start of its story. It was conceptualised as an adaptation of the "Biohazard" horror genre video game, renamed "Resident Evil" for the global market. Paul Ws Anderson, director of the successful Mortal Kombat movie, was chosen to spearhead the project. But something seemed wrong. The characters were different from the game. Changed. Unrecognisable. It seemed as if he read the synopsis at the back of the video game box then tossed it out in favour of his own script. A script. Consisting of dialogue as silted as the first paragraph of this review. Considering that the games were never well liked for their characters' flowery discourse or Shakespearean soliloquy, the creators of the movie cut and pasted elements from other movies in Paul Ws Anderson's DVD collection then give it some cosmetic do-over to resemble the video games. Special force team sent to deal with an unknown threat in a cavernous facility? Aliens (which Anderson is unabashedly a fan of). The facility is "alive" and trying to kill you? Event horizon (also directed by Anderson). Actress Milla Jovovich in a skimpy red dress, combat boots, scenes teasing near nudity and doing all sorts of nimble kung fu to show off her lithe hot body? Straight out of Anderson's wet dreams. Jovovich plays Alice. Who the heck is Alice? We do not know as she's got amnesia. But clues to who she is are sprinkled throughout the film and it is fun to piece it all together by the end. What can I say? Other than that, Alice is a blank slate audience surrogate. The ultimate escapism protagonist titilating the men and allowing women to feel empowered by how she maintains her stunning beauty while fending off shameless groping perv.....I mean, shambling groups of zombies which only appear more than halfway through the movie.For much of the first half we are treated to a whole sequence of a special forces team breaking into a dark scary mansion to find Alice and another guy named Matt. The mansion is a cover for a hidden entrance to The Hive, a massive underground facility that had been had been mysteriously sealed. The artificial intelligence Programme dubbed "red queen" had killed all personnel in the hive and it was up to this special team to find out why. This is essentially a modernised haunted house story with the "house" being the hive and the red queen springing traps to kill the intruders. Though lacking in actual zombies, the film maintains a brisk pace and an increasing sense of dread as we descend further. The appearance of another amnesia named Spence compounds the mystery when they learn the lockdown was initiated by a virus outbreak and the red queen was merely acting to contain the virus. When the action kicks in, it is fantastic. Sure the characters do some silly things that fly in the face of common sense but the fight scenes are well shot with tight angles and claustrophobic feel which heighten the sense of panic when facing the zombie hordes with no escape. The mystery story is well plotted and shot but the experience is dampened by some of the corniest special effects even for a movie of its age. Near the end, they have a run in with a Super powered Monster rendered in the worst cgi ever. Why they decided to use rudimentary computer graphics instead of practical effects, puppetry and make up astounds me. The creature never blends with the rest of the footage and the disappointment is that it could easily have been done with a stuntman in a suit or animatronics. With an eventual resolution leaving more questions than answers, RESIDENT EVIL is undoubtedly a fun guilty pleasure. It does not follow the story but retains the tone of the games. A shallow superficial plot is at least held up by consistent tension and decent pulse pounding action. Once you can forgive all the familiar elements borrowed from other movies, RESIDENT EVIL proves itself to be a decent start to a Long running science fiction horror franchise.