This first film in the Resident Evil franchise came out in 2002 & i couldn't wait to see it at the cinema & i did & it was EXCELLENT!!! i loved this John Carpenter inspired survival Horror. The music score at the beginning sets the tone,it's a creepy digital score that sounds like a Carpenter inspired 80s synth score,it's really well done. The cast was great especially Milla Jovovich & Michelle Rodriquez both are great actress's & are both fantastic tough ladies of Action in this film & the rest of the team are all good in their roles basically Marine types & the zombies look great with excellent FX especially the big Licker monster!!! The underground lab where the zombie outbreak starts is a really creepy setting for a zombie movie & the whole idea of a group of marines having to sneak in & shut it down is very exciting with a great sense of dread atmosphere & a BRILLIANT & scary ending but it's a shame the sequel is Terrible to follow on from this great ending!!! A great sci-fi Horror Thriller & EASILY the best of the whole franchise & really the only great movie of the LOT!!! Yeah good suspense & very exciting Action make RESIDENT EVIL a great film

I really can't find anything good about this film. The point of the story and chosen characters is confusing and just weak. Michelle Rodriguez particularly is just annoying across the board with everything she says, acts and does. Though the whole cast isn't any good either including the AI computer. The prosthetics and make up are awful and where they were actually good they utilise no animatronics making the dogs especially just look like statues being thrown at the camera, the camera work and transition shots are really jarring, uninspired and weird, the dialogue , script writing and one liners just come across stupid and make it feel like the characters don't even know what they are doing or saying. Clearly money was put into the set production and some animation for this movie only. Whoever made some of the actual scenes and did the set design were clearly very good. Unfortunately that's all this film is; some good set design, everything else is just nothing coloured in. The only reason the film is even rated as a 6 out of 10 is purely out of the success of the video game itself. As a stand alone film it is just terrible. In addition as a pet hate......why does ' the box' have spirit levels????

Films based on computer games have long been the bane of modern cinema and RESIDENT EVIL does little to change the pattern they have fallen into over the years. This is an almost plot less action epic with a few zombies and monsters thrown in as an afterthought; a well-executed exercise in suspense, fear, and frights which goes through the motions without ever being engaging. Every cliché in the book is present here, from the actions of the zombies to the situations our characters find themselves in and the finale, amongst other things. In fact the best bit of the film is the very beginning, the prologue showing the complex spiralling out of control with death and destruction as a result; the feeling of helplessness and despair is overpowering and hard-hitting; personally I connected this with the real-life reactions of victims of disasters such as the World Trade Center bombing and thus found it very powerful stuff.From then on the tired formula follows a bunch of marines infiltrating a spookily deserted base (more than a few nods to ALIENS here) and finding themselves picked off one by one by a number of menaces: genetic mutations, the living dead, a malevolent super computer, and skinless dogs. Having never played the game I can't comment on the connection, although I guess that the "feel" is spot on. The film's biggest loss is the gaping hole left by the departure of George Romero, who would have undoubtedly made this something special. Flashy workman Paul W. S. Anderson has little of Romero's skill and expertise in the genre and we're left only wondering what it would have been like with gory George on board.Technically the film is very good, excellent use being made of the budget and some interesting actors giving edgy performances. Lead Milla Jovovich manages to make her character smart AND sexy whilst the supporting male actors give subdued but solid turns. The only turn-off is Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Vasquez from ALIENS again, except without the likability; her character fails to engage on any level, making her plight (she finds herself the victim of a zombie bite) rather uninteresting. On the plus side, special effects are very good indeed (zombies have never looked better), whether makeup or solid CGI work (especially the skinless dogs, which provide a worthwhile menace; unfortunately the genetic mutation which turns up later on looks exactly like what it is, a pretty but hollow computer pattern). The script, however, is pretty shallow and the twists and surprises telegraphed a mile off.This is a film of two halves; the first builds up the suspense whilst the latter provides the payoff, namely the action. I prefer the former, with its gradually building intrigue and growing horror, scenes of genuine nastiness, excellent use of lighting, and a dark, brooding atmosphere. The action is all right but ruined by a loud, irritating and out-of-place soundtrack incorporating the likes of Marilyn Manson. I remember being annoyed when UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN used a similar technique. I don't want to be blown out of my chair by several decibels when watching a film, and such intrusive noise only dispels the realism and takes you out of it. Without the music this would have been a lot better. Thankfully, there are some scenes of gore to take your mind off the flaws, with some nasty laser dissections copied from Canadian indie hit CUBE and some zombie-munching fun, although hardcore gore lovers will be disappointed by the lack of intestine-munching. As a fun, brainless popcorn flick this delivers, but there isn't much to stay in your mind afterwards and it has little re-watchability value. Not bad but could have been a heck of a lot better.

"Mortal Combat" director Paul W.S. Anderson's first entry in the "Resident Evil" franchise is basically a low-budget zombie munch-fest based on the popular Capcom video game that spawned the series. This $ 30-million horror chiller relies on several narrative devices to fuel its adrenalin-laced antics. First, the heroine suffers from amnesia as she struggles to remember what she was doing in the ultra-secret, high-tech, subterranean laboratory of the Umbrella Corporation where scientists have been conducting research and development on experimental viruses for military usage. Second, from the moment that the rescue team arrives and collects Alice (Milla Jovovich of "The Fifth Element"), Matt (Eric Mabius of "Cruel Intentions"), and Spence (James Purefoy of "Solomon Kane"), they have an hour to penetrate the Hive, carry out their mission, and exit the complex before it seals itself shut. Third, the entire experience occurs in a claustrophobic setting that accentuates the suspense after our heroes encounter a zombie horde. Everybody earning a paycheck in the Hive dies when a traitor smashes a lethal t-virus container that shuts down the facility and winds up spreading death. Fourth, the ravenous undead are not the only adversaries that our heroes must contend with; zombie Dobermanns threaten them as well as a mysteriously mutated monster with a long, elastic tongue and razor-sharp claws that can penetrate a train. Believe it or not, Anderson displays some discretion in some of the greatest gut-churning scenes. When a group is trapped inside an elevator, one woman squeezes her head through an opening and realizes too late as do her companions that she is going to be decapitated when the elevator goes upward and smashes her head. The audience, especially those that have played the Capcom game, know that you have to put a bullet in a zombie's head to kill it. Unfortunately, our stalwart heroes aren't privy to this life-saving information. Eventually, the supercomputer that regulates the Hive and takes the holographic form of an adolescent female becomes another of our heroes' adversaries.As the plot unfolds, Alice regains her memory in bits and pieces and realizes that she was the individual who had decided to expose the Umbrella Corporation. All of the laboratory technicians in the Hive perish tragically through no fault of their own because one mysterious individual sabotaged the Hive. These employees come back to life as zombies that live only to eat. These zombies are traditional "Night of the Living Dead" shambling walkers. The close quarters inside the Hive as well as the booby-traps that our heroes must navigate to avoid constitutes a primary form of suspense. At one point, our desperate heroes clamber atop the air condition ducts dangling by wires from the ceiling to escape the zombies milling about beneath them. One of the more memorable scenes takes place before this one when the rescue team arrives in a hallway that has been booby-trapped with the equivalent of a cheese grater made up of lasers to slice up the rescue team as they scramble to avoid them. Our heroine Alice—dressed in a skimpy red dress—contends with hunger Dobermanns in one of the strongest scenes in the film. Just when she thinks that she had taken care of these menacing dogs, she runs into others. Before long, even these canines mutilate undead dogs and attack Milia, but she knows how to contend with them."Resident Evil" gets the franchise off to a fitting start when our hero arrives by train.