Resident Evil
Dir: Paul W. S. Anderson
2002
****
'Based on a video game' should be something that makes most Cinephiles run in the opposite direction, or at least it was until Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil adaptation showed up in 2002. To be fair, games have come a long way in their story telling creativity, and the game that the film is based on was a great mix of horror, thriller, action and sci-fi. I've got a lot of love for Paul W. S. Anderson's original Resident Evil as it ticks quite a few boxes, it's no masterpiece for sure but it's incredibly watchable. It is successful in being a good apocalyptic film and a confident zombie film, add the great slice and dice scenes and it's a great horror. Add the sci-fi element, the action, the thriller and almost noir visuals and you've got a film that crosses quite a few genres and does so effortlessly. It's big budget but it's the sort of thing B-Movie fans have been waiting for for years. It's visually impressive, from the flashiness of the secret labs, the exciting laser corridor that slices people in half to the hologram of the little girl who helpfully reminds people that they are all going to die, it is popcorn-tastic . It's strange though, even with so much going on it never seems over complicated when it really should, it's that good balance between horror sci-fi that Anderson exhibited in Event Horizen, although I understand that I'm in the minority in thinking that was a cracking film. The computer game is creepy and ridiculous and the film series should carry on in that vein. Like I said, it's not perfect but it won me over, Milla Jovovich and a fair amount of gore being key factors.