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"Just Seen Resident Evil..."

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Tue 02/04/02 at 22:10
Regular
Posts: 787
We've all played the game, and we all know how it goes - team go into some big place and find loads of zombies that are trying to have them for their next meal, but this particular meal is hesitant, and tries to make an escape. So, lay on a back-story and some realistic characters and you have Resident Evil, which has spawned a five-year series. Well now, Resident Evil has been made into a film, and it's absolutely superb, well, in my opinion, anyway.

The T-Virus is capable of contaminating the entire world if it's released by financial tycoons, the Umbrella Corporation, and when it's released in the Hive, a top-secret research facility, a special SWAT team are sent in to stop the virus spreading and destroying the Red Queen, the super-computer controlling all operations in the Hive. The Hive has turned homicidal, killing 500 scientists in it's wake, making it extra difficult. They soon come across a few survivors, and take them on their way to complete their mission. They must:

a) Destroy the Red Queen
b) Evacuate any survivors
c) Leave

This must all be done in three hours, before the virus is exposed to the entire world, infecting the whole human race. They don't know why the Red Queen has turned homicidal, and they don't know what they may encounter, but if these guys can't do it, nobody can.

I'll begin with commenting on the plot. I'd say that the plot is brilliant, and well thought out, not enough to make it complicated and pointless, but not too religious to the game to make it a copy. It features some amazing twists and turns down the line, which you won't expect, and will keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire 97-minute duration. As the film progresses, things that you saw at the start of the film became unraveled and revealed in more detail, and some of the characters revealed their true colors, whether it was for the good of mankind, or for their own personal greed.

To make a story believable, you need believable (and decent) cast, and they have just that. I never really liked Milla Jovovich before this film (but then I'd only seen bits and pieces of her in the Fifth Element), and I thought that she was just damn excellent in it. I wasn't expecting much at all from her, but it seems as though it was a decent enough gamble and it turned out great. I was looking forward to Michelle Rodriguez' performance quite a lot, as I'd heard a lot of buzz about her and from the trailer I'd seen, thought that she looked impressive. I was disappointed with the way she was used near the end, proving helpless to the turnout of the story at the deciding chapter, but her bad-ass attitude and her hefty Machine Gun make it worthwhile viewing. Some of the smaller stars in the film were also good, but I felt that were far too many low-key characters. I can count three people in the film who were just used to make the body count higher (and maybe waste some screen time and present a little more to the story, but nothing that couldn't go amiss).

CGI special effects were of great use here, and without them; we'd have to settle for some guy in a red lizard suit trying his best to scale the ceiling. In early clips, I really had no faith in the effects at all, as they looked like a poorly animated version of King Kong. However, now I've seen the film, I can see how they've put it to great use, and it makes the entire experience a whole lot more tense. The licker is superbly modeled and watching it rip someone's head off is really a pleasure, and the CGI may distract the more queasy ones among you from the gore :0)

The enemies stay religious to the games, tying in bits and pieces from the first two Resident Evil games. There are hundreds of zombies in the film (although they never actually call them zombies in the film, so they could just have spilt sulphuric acid on their face, become a cannibal and all become gimps :D), which come in many different styles, shapes and sizes. There are also the lickers, which apart from being mutations from zombies, are 100% computer-generated.

START OF SPOILER WARNING!

The gore is different in various parts. At the start, when a woman tries to escape a doomed elevator and she is decapitated, the camera blanks out, showing nothing except the sound of a sharp blow from metal. There are then the instances of the down right sick, where a team member has his fingers sliced off, Dana is decapitated and James is cut into about 20 pieces, and they all shown in their uncensored glory, which may shock you the first time you see it (especially if you’re not expecting it), but after that, you take it as the norm and get used to the somewhat different pitch that the film and it’s content runs at. There is then the ‘aftermath’ gore, as I call it. For instance, when Spencer is eaten by a licker, you receive a lame surveillance camera shot, which doesn’t give you much view, and the rest you see of him is his chewed, bloody, deformed body (before he turns into a zombie).

The music is decent, but I was actually expecting some of the soundtrack to play DURING the film, not in the credits. However, the music that was in the film ranged from intensifying hard rock to pressurizing techno themes, which built on the tension greatly, especially in the infamous laser beam scene, where they have to rush to open the doors before four of the team members are cut to pieces.

END OF SPOILER WARNING!

The ending was terrible. For what was such a great film, it was bought down ever so slightly by the ending, which was not only corny, but just god damn unrealistic! The only good point of the ending was how it left the door open for a sequel, which I look forward to with open arms.

I’m glad that I waited for 14 or 15 hours it took to download this film, because it’s absolutely stunning. I wasn’t expecting too much, it being a conversion from a game and all, but I was impressed by the slick production, and basically everything about it. If you can get hold of it in anyway before the UK June release, I urge you to take up the opportunity, because I can almost guarantee that if you half-liked the games, you will watch this many times over. Definitely a must-buy DVD when it’s released in presumably October/November-ish.

Anyone else seen it?
Thu 04/04/02 at 20:42
Regular
"Rong Xion Tong"
Posts: 5,237
$h@ne0 wrote:

Shadowman would
> rule as a film, but now is not the right time, especially not after the release
> of 'From Hell', which involves Jack The Ripper, as does Shadowman. In a year or
> two though, it could be really good.



Now is fine for me. I have no urge to see 'From Hell' but I'd love to see a Shadowman film. Of course, it'll never happen. I heard they were making this film when the N64 game was first released. It was scheduled for a release the following Christmas. That was quite a few years ago now.
Thu 04/04/02 at 20:38
Regular
"Rong Xion Tong"
Posts: 5,237
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> It's just like John Claude Van Damne style films where the future of the world
> would depend on him entering a fighting tournament and beating the fat sumo
> wrestler... then the fast girl... then the ninja...then the 6 armed super monkey
> boss.



GORO!! Mind you, Johnny Cage alone made Mortal Kombat worth watching. :-D

Although putting in Scorpion's trademark line ("Get over here!") was the biggest mistake of the movie!
Thu 04/04/02 at 20:33
Regular
"---SOULJACKER---"
Posts: 5,448
It's just like John Claude Van Damne style films where the future of the world would depend on him entering a fighting tournament and beating the fat sumo wrestler... then the fast girl... then the ninja...then the 6 armed super monkey boss.
Thu 04/04/02 at 20:31
Posts: 0
I can't really see them making a decent fighting film, because it's limited with what you can do without having to fack about with characters from the games, or making cheap copies of them for the film, which suck totally.

Shadowman would rule as a film, but now is not the right time, especially not after the release of 'From Hell', which involves Jack The Ripper, as does Shadowman. In a year or two though, it could be really good.
Thu 04/04/02 at 20:21
Regular
"Rong Xion Tong"
Posts: 5,237
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> They're also making films based on:
Tekken
House of the Dead



Yeah, and Dead or Alive. But why make fighting games? You can only have a very limited storyline and it's never gonna be a serious martial arts film either. And another zombie film....yawn....

Now Shadowman would make a good zombie-ish film. Vin Diesel of course.
Thu 04/04/02 at 19:19
Posts: 0
LOL. I thought I posted it twice, not thrice!
Thu 04/04/02 at 13:37
Regular
"That's right!"
Posts: 10,645
Well you've managed to reply 3 times

Good way of getting your word count up ;)
Thu 04/04/02 at 10:29
Posts: 0
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> Pantoffel wrote:
I think it's where a man is on
> the floor and he is
> surrounded by about 20 zombies, who tear at his flesh,
> eventually ripping
> his chest open, revealing his insides. I think they then eat
> him or
> something.

You need to get the Dutch 2 Disc import of Dawn of The Dead, it's
> got the full uncut film, it runs for 20 minutes longer than the UK cut.

Sounds good. Do you know of any websites or places that stock the Dutch version? Also, is the dutch version in a PAL or NTSC format?
'I want to see the film, it sounds really good i liked the games and it sounds though its a good conversion from what ive heared but if you want to see it at the cinemas it comes out like in 2 months and it's already out in America which i don't like why do they get everything before us it gets really annoying'

Yup, it's got a good conversion though, it's a great conversion. It's a shame that it's been out in America since March mid-March, and aren't getting it until June. It's ludcaris, how long does it take to simply convert a film from NTSC to PAL, put it onto reel and fly it over to the cinemas who paid for a contract for it? If the American's can do it that quickly, then so can we. The reason why they get everything before us: because a lot of the products we view are made in America.

'They're also making films based on:
Tekken
House of the Dead'

Hmmm. I really have no faith in either of them, especially HOTD. If the film features zombies that bleed green, this will be one to steer clear from, and if the acting is as cheesy as the game was, this film will stink. With the right handling, Tekken could be a decent film, but I'd think that they'd either have to scrap all the characters from the games and make their own or play around with the characters a bit so that there's a storyline to the film.

Either way, when they come out, I expect little or nothing from them, which may be to my advantage, because if they're good, it'll be a nice little surprise.

Oh, by the way, I've just finished watching part 1 of Resident Evil, which I downloaded off of Kazaa, and I must say that I'm impressed. Part 2 has been downloading for a few hours, and it should be done by 2 or 3pm, so I look forward to it.

'Well I've seen it, it's pretty good, some nice twists'

The first half (which I've seen, as the download has come in two parts) doesn't have any twists at all, and at the moment we're really left wondering who the hell the characters are. The laser room scene is just bloody amazing though! I like the last one, where James get's caught by the 30-something cubed laser. That rules, and is probably the most graphic part of the film, I love it.

'*tiny unimportant spoiler*

I actually understood that she'd lost her memory at the beginning, though it wasn't TOO clear'

The fact that she was dazed in the shower was dead giveaway, because she looked totally out of it. I was surprised at the ammount of partial nudity shown at the start. I would have thought that they would have found her unconscious, clothed in the shower or something, but they pulled out all the stocks this time.

'Anyway, it could've done with some more shooting, some more gore and basically more of everything'

Was it just me or for an operation of this kind, did they just not have enough ammo, they ran out after just a few minutes for christ's sake!

'Oh and as for Dawn Of The Dead, the bit with the guts being ripped out IS in the DVD. Only the head blown off thing and some spurting of blood were cut'

I know that the gut-ripping scene is, because I've seen the DVD.

Sorry for posting this again, but I accidentally hit the return button before I was finished.
Thu 04/04/02 at 10:28
Posts: 0
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> Pantoffel wrote:
I think it's where a man is on
> the floor and he is
> surrounded by about 20 zombies, who tear at his flesh,
> eventually ripping
> his chest open, revealing his insides. I think they then eat
> him or
> something.

You need to get the Dutch 2 Disc import of Dawn of The Dead, it's
> got the full uncut film, it runs for 20 minutes longer than the UK cut.

Sounds good. Do you know of any websites or places that stock the Dutch version? Also, is the dutch version in a PAL or NTSC format?
'I want to see the film, it sounds really good i liked the games and it sounds though its a good conversion from what ive heared but if you want to see it at the cinemas it comes out like in 2 months and it's already out in America which i don't like why do they get everything before us it gets really annoying'

Yup, it's got a good conversion though, it's a great conversion. It's a shame that it's been out in America since March mid-March, and aren't getting it until June. It's ludcaris, how long does it take to simply convert a film from NTSC to PAL, put it onto reel and fly it over to the cinemas who paid for a contract for it? If the American's can do it that quickly, then so can we. The reason why they get everything before us: because a lot of the products we view are made in America.

'They're also making films based on:
Tekken
House of the Dead'

Hmmm. I really have no faith in either of them, especially HOTD. If the film features zombies that bleed green, this will be one to steer clear from, and if the acting is as cheesy as the game was, this film will stink. With the right handling, Tekken could be a decent film, but I'd think that they'd either have to scrap all the characters from the games and make their own or play around with the characters a bit so that there's a storyline to the film.

Either way, when they come out, I expect little or nothing from them, which may be to my advantage, because if they're good, it'll be a nice little surprise.

Oh, by the way, I've just finished watching part 1 of Resident Evil, which I downloaded off of Kazaa, and I must say that I'm impressed. Part 2 has been downloading for a few hours, and it should be done by 2 or 3pm, so I look forward to it.

'Well I've seen it, it's pretty good, some nice twists'

The first half (which I've seen, as the download has come in two parts) doesn't have any twists at all, and at the moment we're really left wondering who the hell the characters are. The laser room scene is just bloody amazing though! I like the last one, where James get's caught by the 30-something cubed laser. That rules, and is probably the most graphic part of the film, I love it.

'*tiny unimportant spoiler*

I actually understood that she'd lost her memory at the beginning, though it wasn't TOO clear'

The fact that she was dazed in the shower was dead giveaway, because she looked totally out of it. I was surprised at the ammount of partial nudity shown at the start. I would have thought that they would have found her unconscious, clothed in the shower or something, but they pulled out all the stocks this time.

'Anyway, it could've done with some more shooting, some more gore and basically more of everything'

Oh and as for Dawn Of The Dead, the bit with the guts being ripped out IS in the DVD. Only the head blown off thing and some spurting of blood were cut'
Thu 04/04/02 at 10:28
Posts: 0
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> Pantoffel wrote:
I think it's where a man is on
> the floor and he is
> surrounded by about 20 zombies, who tear at his flesh,
> eventually ripping
> his chest open, revealing his insides. I think they then eat
> him or
> something.

You need to get the Dutch 2 Disc import of Dawn of The Dead, it's
> got the full uncut film, it runs for 20 minutes longer than the UK cut.

Sounds good. Do you know of any websites or places that stock the Dutch version? Also, is the dutch version in a PAL or NTSC format?
'I want to see the film, it sounds really good i liked the games and it sounds though its a good conversion from what ive heared but if you want to see it at the cinemas it comes out like in 2 months and it's already out in America which i don't like why do they get everything before us it gets really annoying'

Yup, it's got a good conversion though, it's a great conversion. It's a shame that it's been out in America since March mid-March, and aren't getting it until June. It's ludcaris, how long does it take to simply convert a film from NTSC to PAL, put it onto reel and fly it over to the cinemas who paid for a contract for it? If the American's can do it that quickly, then so can we. The reason why they get e

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