out of
Perhaps my disappointment with Resident Evil is my own fault. After all, I watched the previews, salivating to see a good zombie film. I played the video games, drooling at the gross and violent bloodshed within. I watched Paul Anderson's Event Horizon which is still one of the scariest movies I've ever come across. So when I heard he was directing a zombie film, I could only imagine what he would do. My hopes were high--maybe too high. Resident Evil is a flawed film, even when viewed as merely a stupid mindless popcorn film.
I also have to question the producers of this film. Something tells me someone or something got in the way of Anderson's creative vision. He doesn't seem the type of director to shy away from gore and violence. Stamped with an R rating, I could already envision the blood and gore on screen. It brings the inner child in me out to play. There's nothing quite like seeing zombies splattered all over the place. Brains, guts, decapitations, and let's not forget, zombies eating people. But something happened. This is not that film. It's a watered down version of a zombie film. It definitely has a plot, and it has characters (not one of whom we actually care for), but it isn't scary and it isn't gory. Either the studio intervened, or the MPAA made Anderson remove the violence. I can't believe he himself would have removed it.
Suffice it to say, what we have is another failed video game adaption to date. Last year's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is easily the best of these adaptations, but I still expected much from Resident Evil. With the modestly talented Anderson behind the camera, I hoped to be scared, shocked, and thrilled. I was shocked, definitely, but not for the reasons I had expected. Perhaps the mindset of the 90s have drained the filmmakers of any creativity. I saw more violence and blood in Scream, which was just normal humans doing the carnage. Goodness, how I wish this movie could have worked.
Anyway, enough about what I expected. Resident Evil begins deep underground Raccoon City, the fictional locale for the Resident Evil video games. In a massive structure, termed "The Hive", hundreds of citizens work and live there. The Umbrella Corporation owns this facility, working to create ingenious household products. Secretly, they also work on viral warfare and genetic research. In these labs, a T-virus is born, which could have some ingenious purposes. Unfortunately, someone in the company sabotages the research, exposing the entire plant to the virus itself.
The facility's HAL-like computer, named the "Red Queen", takes over with safety precautions, closing off all doors and elevators. Shortly thereafter, the Red Queen begins killing off all the workers, to contain the viral spread. These opening moments are the film's best, as we actually feel for these workers. Their fear and panic is palpable, and some of their deaths are rather gruesome (an elevator beheads one of its passengers--done off-screen). This lockdown also alerts the Umbrella Corporation's own personal SWAT team--the WASPs. Their entry to the Hive is through a mansion, guarded by Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Matt (Eric Mabius). Unfortunately, Alice and Matt suffer temporary amnesia thanks to the Red Queen.
Travelling down into the Hive, their mission is to disarm the computer and get out before it seals off the doors permanently. This leads up to an imaginative but poorly filmed moment in a corridor involving lasers which slice and dice with the best of lasers. At this point, we finally are witness to some of the film's violent moments. To my disappointment, most of the violence is done off-screen. What violence we do see is cheesy and CGI-enhanced. Finally, the team shuts down the Red Queen, who warns them shutting her down will create massive chaos. Of course, she was correct.
Zombies! Released from their restraints due to the now non-functional computer, they are free to walk and find what they want: food. It must be said that the zombies are good looking and creepy, which is high praise for any zombie film. But unfortunately, this is about the point where the film stops becoming entertaining and starts becoming irritating. With a massive wave of zombies, the WASP team must fight and shoot their way out. This is a lot less graphic and gory than you might expect. Shooting a zombie in the head produces zero blood, which is a far cry from the video game this is all based on. In fact, as the movie progresses, less and less gore show up. It may sound childish or stupid, but when I go to a zombie film, my mind is set on gore and blood. Nothing else. That's all I want. And this film couldn't even provide me with that. Like I said, such a disappointment.
And I still don't know who to blame for this! Paul Anderson isn't someone who is afraid of gore, considering his own Event Horizon was far bloodier and more graphic than this movie. Unfortunately, Anderson seems to have lost all of his senses, producing one of the least-frightening horror films to come out of Hollywood in years. As much as I hate to compare this to his last endeavor, Event Horizon scared me witless. I had nightmares for days. With Resident Evil, the only nightmare is on screen. There's zero tension, zero terror, and zero frights. One or two "jump" scares do not a scary movie make.
A special note should be sent out to the sound crew for this film. With a creative and disturbing score by Marilyn Manson and Marco Beltrami, the music is exactly as it should be. Loud and pulsating. But the sound effects are so continuous and so obnoxious, there is no time to gain any tension. Sound is the number one technical detail when it comes to creating fear. Silence is infinitely scarier than loud crashing sound effects. Again, Anderson seemed to have mastered this with Event Horizon. What happened? I have a suspicion the studio stepped in to "fix" Anderson's film.
As much as I hate to admit it, Milla Jovovich may be one of the primary problems here. I like Jovovich as an actress, but here, she just seems out of place. For this type of role to work, the perfect balance of fear and power needs to be attained. Just look at Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs or Sigourney Weaver in Aliens. The great female heroines often display fear just as much as they display heroic tactics. The only thing Jovovich seems to bring to this movie is a rather surprising full-frontal shot, which had the audience hooting and hollering like the geeks they probably all were. Michelle Rodriguez brings even less, scowling a lot, and spouting out one-liners left and right. Only Eric Mabius and James Purefoy seem to register. The rest of the WASPs are outlandishly unused, mostly fodder for the zombies or lasers.
As written by Anderson, Resident Evil has its fair share of references to the video game (including a glorious final shot of a street in Raccoon City--which of course began the "Resident Evil" video game). It contains minimal dialogue, except when they spout off their cheesy one-liners, which are in abundant. As directed by Anderson, he seems to be a little off his game. Perhaps Event Horizon was merely a fluke, and he really doesn't know how to direct. In either case, Resident Evil has barely any tension, even when a pack of hungry undead dogs chase after our heroine. In a strange decision, we get to watch her dispatch the dogs, but there's nary a drop of blood to be found.
Resident Evil is rated R for strong sci-fi/horror violence, language and sexuality/nudity (including the aforementioned full frontal shot). It seemed almost foolproof: gore, blood, guts, and terror. Show beheadings, show zombies biting people, show bullets shredding and bloodying creatures. Instead, we get CGI effects and creatures (including the Licker, who, admittedly, looks rather decent). It's time to stand up and shout out to Hollywood: CGI IS NOT SCARY! IT NEVER WILL BE! I had many hopes and desires from this film, but in the end, you might as well just stay home and play the video game. It's more graphic, violent, and involving than this film is. What a shame.
| Rating: out of
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© 2002 Boyd Petrie |