RESIDENT EVIL Review by Mike "Deadguy" Scott Undead Bunnies ROCK! If you absolutely NEED Oscar-winning performances to enjoy a film, or feel that the director has to give his blood for a film which can then only be distributed to a select few, or any other such pompous elitist bullshit, then move right along, this film won't be for you. If you have ANY interest in seeing a good zombie film, and have no desire to watch a film designed to make you investigate your "inner you", or do any soul-searching, and merely want to be entertained, this is your flick right here. Man, I eat this stuff up. From the same guy that brought "Event Horizon" to life, "Resident Evil" is the best damn horror/action flick I've seen in quite some time. The Umbrella Corporation, an EXTREMELY successful international company that the entire world looks to for health care products, pharmaceuticals, computer software, and just about everything else in between. A "people-based" enterprise, this company has made its way into everyone's life, but unbeknownst to most, its primary funding comes from top-secret military projects including things like virus engineering and other genetic-tampering. Deep within the ground below the small town of "Raccoon" (not misspelled), the Umbrella Corporation has a full-scale genetic research laboratory called "The Hive" with thousands of workers that live and conduct experiments within its locked, sterile, grey and stainless steel walls miles underground. The entire Hive complex is under the direct control of a master computer with artificial intelligence named "Red Queen". The Queen oversees security, and safetyissues throughout the facility, and is in control of essentially everything within the complex. All is fine until suddenly the Red Queen determined that immediate containment and complete lockdown was necessary. In "her" pursuit to shutdown, she takes the "big business" attitude that excuses "a few broken eggs," and has no problem containing the staff. Part of the Red Queen's security measures include releasing a "knock-out" gas that has amnesia as a side effect, to allow security personnel to move in and mop up. Another step in containment includes the closing of massive blast doors to seal off the complex forever. Before that happens, a security force are sent in to investigate the situation, disarm the Red Queen, and determine what caused the Red Queen to choose this aggressive course of action in the first place. They go in heavily armed, prepared to face a terrorist group, or whatever it was that caused Red Queen's strong reaction (though for some reason, they are without environmental suits in a chemical laboratory that has gone into self-containment.) They are in for a REAL treat. This well-made film is based on the computer game of the same name. I suppose some of the deviations away from the game will prove to be irritating to some of the more die-hard players. That's a sign of elitism in one of its more immature forms, and these are hardcore video game players, so.. you do the math. Personally, I believe that enough of the story elements are intact to make it a good adaptation of the game, but there are definitely changes that had to happen to make it effective. Otherwise it would have been like watching someone play the video game. I went into this film trying to watch and see if I needed to know anything about the game in order to enjoy the film, but it was readily apparent that it was designed to be entertaining all by itself. The camerawork was good, sort of an "Event Horizon"-style filming with the technology of "The Matrix" thrown in. Some action scenes felt oddly edited though, as though a "full gore version" of the film might be released at a later date. Almost like a really good editor put the initial film together, and then a 9-year-old with safety scissors was told what specific shots had to be removed from the film in order to get an R rating. The settings are very "iconic" and really convey their own sense of surreal presence, which was reminiscent of this director's redeeming work in Mortal Kombat. Effects were top-notch, with only a few CGI troublespots, including the usual flaw of weakly-rendered 3D characters, but they do it briefly, and wasn't TOO bad. I suspect that they did the best they could, considering the complexity of what they were animating though. (One CGI'd scene actually gave me a quick adrenaline rush. I won't spoil it TOO much, but I'll say that THIS is how Spider-Man should be climbing walls.) Some effects required the use of puppets and props, as opposed to CGI, and these instances (I felt) were well selected, and non-glaring. Also there are some dogs utilized in the film in a very cool way. I LOVED the rabbit though. It takes a little brainwork to discover the "modern day" rabbits in the film, rather than the flashback bunnies. The hidden irony is a nice touch though. I haven't checked the commentary yet, but it should be interesting to see if they mention it or not. The stunt work seemed to be primarily done by the actors themselves which is ALWAYS better for continuity, and realism, if done correctly. Fight scenes were well handled and believable, though there were a couple of continuity elements that make you kinda ask: "How did THAT person get over there so fast?. The acting was fairly solid, although a couple of guys looked too similar at a glance, and sometimes had me mixed up over which was which. One face that appears right near the very end of the film, is the main bad guy from "The Patriot" (he's been in a lot of stuff lately). There are several hints in the film that part 2 is on it's way, If so, I sure hope he's cast in it. The lead female did a great job, she was also in Zoolander, playing a typical 1-dimensional stereotyped character, but this time she sort of surprised me. I was a little worried about her being cast in this role, but I think she's JUST hard-edged enough to pull it off, yet, soft enough to remain realistic and believable. Her character incorporated traits that are very similar to other female sci-fi characters, such as: Agent Scully (X-Files), Trinity (Matrix), and even that female Robot in "Jason X". (Hmm.. "Jason X" reference.. heh heh) The soundtrack & score were very effective. There was sort of an industrial heavy metal feel to it which, personally, I think goes extremely well with the zombie genre. It really aids the action scenes. I plan to purchase the soundtrack eventually. The DVD has a "Slipknot" video on it as one of the special features. I really like Slipknot, even though they've now toned down a bit too much (vocally). I've seen basic info stating that Part 2 is starting pre-production, but nothing from a reliable source yet. All in all, I give this movie a solid 3 1/2 stars for the sheer thrill, effects, zombies, and music. It's missing a half a star only because there WERE some minor inconsistencies. (mmm... Great Zombies, great Pizza, and warm Mountain Dews... It doesn't get any better than this.)