I was surprised with how much I enjoyed Resident Evil. Despite the clumsy dialogue, cheap special effects and Michelle Rodriguez, I found myself getting caught up in it all. This feels like a fresh take on the zombie genre and I would be happy to add it to my collection of horror films.

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...

Let me start off by saying 2 things: 1. I have played all the "core" Resident Evil games (1-6). 2. I like the 6 movies more than the 6 games.Review for if you've played the game(s): The first Resident Evil movie starts off in the mansion much like the first game, but doesn't stay there long. Alice (the protagonist) (NOT in the games!) wakes up with no memory and ends up going below the mansion to a place called "The Hive" (Umbrella Corp's secret facility). Her and a group of Umbrella spec-ops are tasked with containing/killing a leaked virus before the infection spreads across the city above (and the rest of the world). There are of course zombies and "lickers" (from the games), but also an "enemy" called "The Red Queen" who is the security AI that locked down "The Hive" to contain the disease. In the end, Alice (and one other member) escapes to find Umbrella scientists waiting for them back in the mansion. Alice is taken to a lab in Raccoon City and her friend is put into the "Nemesis Program".Review for if you HAVEN'T played the game(s): A girl named Alice wakes up with no memory in a fake mansion above a secret government facility. In this facility, a virus is spread and the facility is locked down by the AI running the place. Alice and some spec-ops agents must kill/contain the infected in order to prevent the spreading of disease to the city above (and the rest of the world). FINAL VERDICT: If you're into action movies, zombies, bad-ass girls or all of the above, you'll like this movie. If you are a HUGE fan of the Resident Evil video games (especially the first one), you may not.

Video game movies have been awful for decades now. Resident Evil isn't necessarily the exception to that rule, but it's nowhere near as awful as the genre has been.Resident Evil is at its best when it pushes aside the politics of this "secret military group" named The Umbrella, and instead is an homage to the original Alien. When the film takes twists and turns that are supposed to surprise you, when in fact, they feel like a weak attempt at shock, it becomes overwhelmingly convoluted. But in the instances that the survivors, led by Alice (Milla Jovovich), are scrambling through rooms doing anything to survive CGI creatures and flesh eating zombies, Resident Evil is pure guilty pleasure.Much like the Underworld franchise, I honestly don't care about any of the supporting characters. Knowing where most zombie flicks go, there's really no use to getting attached to secondary characters when you know their deaths are all but guaranteed. I did, however, find Alice to be compelling, as long as the sequels do more to expand her history and explain how she became an absolute bada**. In fact, one can make the argument that Alice is a more likable character than Selene is in Underworld.As I've said a lot recently, there's nothing wrong with a mindless action adventure if it doesn't take itself too seriously. Resident Evil is actually a pretty serious film, people are dying left and right, and the world is on the brink of an apocalypse. But there's something to be said about a throwback action-horror taking place in one confined space. In this case, it gives the viewer a sense of what a first person shooter game with this story would feel like. I've never played any of the games, but I can certainly see where this story lends itself to the video game medium. Now, is there an excuse for a horrendous looking creature via CGI? Or maybe some truly useless characters with weak (at best) dialogue? No, I can't say there is. But hey, it's a solid cable watch.+Action that doesn't pull punches+Alice is likable-Dated CGI-Inexcusably bad dialogue5.8/10