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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?
Wed 03/04/02 at 14:41
Regular
"That's right!"
Posts: 10,645
Totoro wrote:
Yes, and hopefully the unfunny "comedy" duo will get ripped to pieces.

-------

Are you insane?

And, yes indeed, the Dead films rule, but don't forget the Evil Dead series, they're KIND OF zombies
Wed 03/04/02 at 12:25
Regular
"Vote For Pedro"
Posts: 5,679
Totoro wrote:
> Stryke wrote:
>A zombie movie directed by Kevin Smith with Jay and Silent
> Bob. My dream.

Yes, and hopefully the unfunny "comedy" duo will get
> ripped to pieces.

You joking right?
They make Kevin Smith movies what they are, Brilliant!
Wed 03/04/02 at 12:11
Regular
"Wants Spymate on dv"
Posts: 3,025
Stryke wrote:
>A zombie movie directed by Kevin Smith with Jay and Silent Bob. My dream.

Yes, and hopefully the unfunny "comedy" duo will get ripped to pieces.
Wed 03/04/02 at 09:45
Regular
Posts: 16,548
Night of the Living Dead.

Cannot be beaten, at least on the zombie front. I once watched an ep of Buffy with some zombies. They were pitiful.

A zombie movie directed by Kevin Smith with Jay and Silent Bob. My dream.
Wed 03/04/02 at 00:17
Regular
Posts: 23,216
Hurray for me, I ordered the book thing!
Tue 02/04/02 at 23:34
Regular
Posts: 21,800
Yup check out Dawn of the Dead, this film is the Daddy of all Zombie films.

Also check out Return of the Living Dead, not as good as the Romero films but a classic all the same, it takes more of a Comedy approach to Zombie films.
Tue 02/04/02 at 23:30
Regular
"funky blitzkreig"
Posts: 2,540
Try watching some of the "of the dead" films. They rock.

Now I've not seen Resident Evil so I won't pass judgement, on it, but from what I've read I'd say you'll be much better looking into the "of the dead" films:

Night of the Living Dead - Zombies attack people in farmhouse

Dawn of the Dead - Zombies attack shopping mall (this one's my favourite)

Day of the Dead - Zombies attack underground bunker where the last remnants of humanity are trapped. Romero poses the question who is more brutal: the zombies, the army or the scientists?

These are THE definitive zombie films, along with Evil Dead I+II. I imagine that these will leave you far more fulfilled than Resident Evil.

And also you can get them all on DVD at ridiculously low prices.
Tue 02/04/02 at 23:12
Regular
Posts: 18,185
REsident Evil 2 has been confirmed which you'll be glad to hear... what i need to know is why Sony is making a flim which will advertise a Nintendo game, it is so obvious they'll both appear at the same time.
Tue 02/04/02 at 22:24
Posts: 0
YAY!!A film with a bit of gore in it....haven`t seen on of them in ages.
Sounds good,i wasn`t planning on watching it until now,cheers for telling me about it.
The sequel should have nemisis in it somewhere....:O)
Tue 02/04/02 at 22:10
Posts: 0
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?

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