(Review originally written at 22 November 2005)
"Resident Evil" didn't exactly received raving reviews when it got released. It however is an enjoyable action flick with some horror elements in it, that is worth seeing.
Looks like only people really disappointed with this movie were and are the fans of the video games this movie is based on. The movie has very little to do with the video games but should that automatically mean that the movie is a bad one? I don't think that's exactly fair assumption. You should just take this movie for what it is; An action/horror movie that happens to be loosely BASED on a video game. As a movie it really isn't bad. It might not be the best or most original movie, it still is an enjoyable action flick that is perfectly watchable.
Still its a movie with flaws. Biggest flaw is the continuity. Not everything that happens in the movie makes logically sense. for instance in the beginning of the movie all of the characters are suddenly split up, without any explanation why and how this happened and of course every character gets a bad encounter during their split up. There are several tiny things like this in the movie that don't make logical sense from a story point of view and the continuity and editing are weak and flawed at times. All little hints that director Paul W.S. Anderson isn't the greatest director in the business.
The movie also isn't exactly successful as an horror. Most of the scare moments in the movie fail and are too much and too often the same. The action is good, although predictable. Nothing in the movie happens as a real surprise and because of that it also never really becomes tense or truly exciting. It's really one of those "Aliens"-wannabe movies. It's too bad but it doesn't automatically mean that this movie is a bad one. It's still a movie made with lots of style and profession and even though it isn't the most original movie it still is a successful one, from a movie technical point of view.
It's obvious that Milla Jovovich was just cast because of her looks but she does a fair enough job in this movie. Michelle Rodriguez is a good action movie star and Colin Salmon is a great actor but his role is too limited. The movie could had really used his acting abilities and his character more. The wonderful Jason Isaacs also has a uncredited cameo toward the ending of the movie and also as narrator.
A movie worth seeing at least once. You might end up liking it better than expected, as with me was the case.
7/10
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