Resident Evil (2002)
Resident Evil is more or less a prequel to the original Capcom game, and shows how Raccoon City got into such a mess. As you’ll know, it owes a lot to George Romero’s zombie movies, and he was originally engaged to direct, but was sacked when he turned in a script meant for grown-ups. In stepped Event Horizon director Paul Anderson, who is in no risk of over-estimating his audience. Milla Jovovich keeps up her remarkable run of turkeys (5th Element, The Messenger and this, and she’s still young), and doesn’t even dress properly for the occasion.
There’s a great scene with deadly laserbeams, and the production values are generally high but don’t stretch to convincing monsters or any gore, and the zombies fall over with a slight tap to the temples. The makers even have the nerve to quote extensively from George’s movies, but that only shows this movie up as a pale imitation of the real thing.
After 90 minutes of our heroine running around in a short skirt and sharp cheekbones, it occurred to me that this is more or less a Kylie video with added zombies. Which probably makes it sound better than it is. The DVD commentary is horrible too.
Rating: 
[imdb]0120804[/imdb]
