acidfreecookies

4/10

Resident Evil is more effective as action/mystery than it is at horror. Most of the scares are cheap jump scares emphasized by loud noises or fall completely flat. Not least because this film has aged terribly. We see "state of the art" technology featured prominently that just looks hilarious now, a mere 15 years later - and also some CGI that might have looked pretty cool in 2002, but just looks funny now. One jump-scare in particular early on had me laughing because it was such blatant, bad CGI - another scene with multiple character deaths failed to have an impact because it was so heavily CGI-based (a very, very similar scene in the low budget 1997 film Cube is done with practical effects and much, much better). If you can accept this flick as an action movie, however, it's pretty decent. Most of the actors involved are displaying some of their worst work here delivering lifeless dialogue(bad direction is to blame, I assume), but the pacing is good, the cinematography is more than capable and the plot is intriguing with some minor plot holes and far-fetched elements. If you don't already know what is happening at Umbrella Corp, you will find yourself craving answers. And isn't that the most important thing? This film keeps you invested with driving questions that feel more or less natural. There's a good movie in here somewhere, a decent plot, good people involved - but a bad director has the power to ruin a potentially good thing, and that's exactly what happened here. Anderson is, quite frankly, a hack. One of the weakest directors working at the moment. And it shows. Because Resident Evil SHOULD work, most individual elements work, most of the cast is talented...it just doesn't really.

faggurgle

2/10

This movies is so peculiarly interesting because it doesn’t actually feel like a movie at any given point, it feels like an extended episode for a long-forgotten early 2000s’ anthology TV show. Maybe it’s because of the acting, maybe it’s because of the editing or it’s the script and the dialogue or something else and everything combined, but there is just no soul to it. Mind you everything that makes this movie is bad, and I mean BAD, but never in a cringe way, just in a soulless way. The acting for instance might be technically appalling, but it just fails to cause any emotion whatsoever on you, even a bad one. And I think that’s the most impressive thing I have ever witnessed: how blank a movie can be outside some sparse laughs. I know this phrase has been memed to death, but this is the perfect occasion for it: this is literally one of the movies ever. And I’m obsessed about it. It’s not even a “so bad it’s good” type of movie, it’s just… a movie. This one goes on my list of movies I would play on repeat on the TV of my late night dinner if I had one.

mooney240

0/10

**While not a perfect movie, Resident Evil stands above many other entries in the zombie and video game genres.** The first of a 6-movie series, Resident Evil stays grounded in its horror roots more than the rest. This movie takes every opportunity to keep the audience tense and on edge with zombies, monsters, deadly lasers, and jump scares. When most video game adaptations result in embarrassing movies that should have gone straight to streaming, Resident Evil put together a solid storyline with great action, fun characters, gross zombies, and entertaining horror.

Kamurai

0/10

Great watch, will likely watch again, and do recommend. I understand that zombies have been done to death by the time I wrote this, but I've always enjoyed them, and I understand that, as a movie franchise, "Resident Evil" is fairly laughed at, but the first movie was somewhat promising, even if it didn't REALLY have anything to do with the video game. If nothing else, Milla Jojovich and Michelle Rodriguez are quality actors and carry the movie very well, though I honestly think the cast does well. I'm all for unique movies, and, at the time, this felt like one. It is well remembered for a particular death scene. If you like zombies, then you should like this one. It just has this evil corporation trope looming in the background. It does a great job of slowly escalating the situation, if in a slightly absurd way.

JPV852

0/10

Been several years since I last watched this one and I guess it's passable but not very scary (I personally don't find zombies all that frightening) and the CGI creatures, while okay for its time, didn't add to the tension either. At least some of the action was alright and not bad following around Milla Jovovich. **2.75/5**