The Flipcritic

It's a wonder how some movies get made. Much of the junk that Hollywood churns out comes from the assumption that popular novels, video-games, or TV-shows, will arouse so much curiosity as films, that they'll be safe bets as money-makers. Some of these game-to-movie productions have very little love or effort put into them (see DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS). Some of them put in the effort, but are simply not interesting enough to carry the weight of a storyline (SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, STREETFIGHTER, MORTAL KOMBAT). RESIDENT EVIL has the distinction of falling into both of these categories. Yes, I have played the game, and it should have been left as it was.

The movie starts with scenes from the Hive, a massive underground scientific facility housing dozens of workers beneath Raccoon city. A virus is released hinting at sabotage. The computer locks everyone in and murders them by gassing, drowning, and mutilation, in order to prevent the virus from spreading to ground-level. The story then shifts to Alice (Milla Jovovich of THE FIFTH ELEMENT) who awakens in a mansion with amnesia. Special troopers storm into the building and take her along with two other non-remembering occupants. It turns out that the mansion is the only remaining opening to the Hive, and that the occupants hold clues to what caused its shutdown.

As they enter the complex, they run into flesh-eating zombies, which of course are the Hive's workers re-animated by the virus. Some of them will of course die as the story goes along. There will be need for some type of escape from the Hive, since every facility of this sort has a way of trapping its occupants (or self-destructing) after a specific period of time (60 minutes in this case). There will be a supposedly horrific monster to put all other monsters to shame (this one doesn't even come close). And of course, since there is a virus, there must be an antivirus.

RESIDENT EVIL is so bad on so many levels. First of all, it is such a tired tired TIRED retread of past tired retreads. There is zero inspiration in every fiber of its being. How often have we seen zombies? All-powerful computers going bad? A virus released into a ventilation system? Once we see the walking dead we immediately think, "Aim for the head!" It's surprising that the characters don't know this right away, as the film's material is so familiar. George Romero's zombie movies were the first to use insatiable flesh-eating zombies (and are some of the best horror movies of all time), but other filmmakers have been milking his ideas for ages.

Secondly, the production quality is lousy. I have seen Hong Kong sets more impressive than the Hive. The only thing cool about the Hive is its name. If you want a shimmering glossy type of set which reflects technical sophistication, go watch TERMINATOR 2, TRUE LIES, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, THE ROCK, MISSION TO MARS, ALIENS, anything else! The film's real virus is its crummy atmosphere, as it infects everything inhabiting it. The zombies look like alcoholics with indigestion more than walking corpses. And the film's beast is about as convincing as the chickens in CHICKEN RUN.

Thirdly, the logic is shoddy. In fact, there are very few logical things to like. Why must the special forces take of their gas masks before entering the Hive? Simple, for us to recognize them! Who cares about inhaling possible fumes, right?. In one scene, the computer says the zombies have only basic needs like the need to eat. If they were trapped for four hours, why didn't they feed on each other? In another sequence, where soldiers are trapped in a room with lasers (why such a room would exist in the first place, I have no idea), one soldier is killed by the first laser at neck-length, another by a second at waist length. The remaining soldier survives by evading the first two lasers, but is cut down by a laser mesh during the computer's third try. Why didn't the computer just kill them all at once with the mesh? Like Roger Ebert says, "Does the computer have a sense of humor?"

Another aspect I was exhausted with is that the director only seems to have one trick up his sleeve, and he keeps on playing it over and over and over, like an uncle telling a bad joke that he's already told but can't remember having told it. He ceaselessly conjures up silent scenes then breaks them with a sudden jolts of sound or scene shifts. Like the zombie that never awakens until the last possible convenient moment. These work at first, but by the middle of the movie, you know it's coming and it becomes more annoying than suspenseful.

How about the dialogue? Does anybody have anything human to say? Most of the conversations consist of commands. Let's do this, You do this, I must do this, We must do this, We mustn't do this. Does anyone call anybody else by their names? I was only able to identify with the characters once I visited IMDB.com. The only genuine utterances by the movie's characters are their screams.

Fortunately, the women provide some semblance of quality. Milla Jovovich is always dependable. She's much more fit here than she was in the Fifth Element, and her strength is somewhat absorbing (but that's not saying much for her thankless role). When it comes to strong women, Michelle Rodriguez always plays them well. She was incredible in GIRLFIGHT, but I wonder. How come wonderful performances by newcomers in powerful lesser-known films, are rewarded by dubious roles in mediocre commercial fare?

Some fans of this highly popular (and gory) video-game may have been anticipating this movie for quite some time. I'd tell them to stick to the game. As a first-person arcade shoot-em-up, Resident Evil is unique because it allows us to kill off the zombies. It's a simple precept, but that is its strength. You can't invent new strong points for something that isn't capable of it. As a film, RESIDENT EVIL is poorly executed and exceptionally unoriginal. I'm sure even the makers of video-game knew that.

Posted by FLIPCRITIC at May 31, 2002 12:00 AM