Hey folks, Harry here... Now I don't like Paul Anderson's films thus far... And I fricking hate the man for what he did to SOLDIER, which should have been a great film. A GREAT FILM. The script was there... so was the cast, and he shot that film like a spasmatic gifted armadillo winged by a Volkswagon Bug. Terrible. One of the most depressing film experiences in my life. So much so that I've really and truly hated. And when he got this gig over Romero, I was pissed. But hey... ya know what, if this review ends up being accurate and not a load of crap.... Well, hey man... I'm all for seeing a damn cool action gore zombie flick... I love badass hot women... And I want to like movies far more than I want to hate them. So, let's not get too excited till we see a heck of a lot more responses. Let's see...
Hey, never ever submitted to you guys before but I figured why not now.....so anyways me and my friends were invited to go see a test screening of RESIDENT EVIL in Burbank AMC -- on 1st and Palm --- just now. It is about midnight and I am a little tired but stoked as this was a fun film, it is still rough, not final music, but I thought I would put in my two cents and give you a scoop....the basic of the plot are Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) lead a command team into the "Hive", a genetic research facility where a deadly virus has broken out. The virus killed the entire staff in just a few seconds but they've begun to reanimate as flesh-eating undead zombies! Our heroes have less than three hours to isolate the virus in the underground complex otherwise or it may be released into the outside world. But soon the team realizes that the zombies aren't their only problem....this is the basic plot, sorry I lifted that from aome other site, my summarizing skills are weak and I am tired I just want to get on with what was interesting and etc on the film.
First off, Paul Anderson has done a really great job here. Being a gamer myself I still believe that the best game movie ever made was probably MORTAL KOMBAT...while Paul has made some films I and many other did not like, that thing with Kurt Russell I forget the name it was like SCIFI written by the guy who wrote BLADE RUNNER, I forget as I did not like it, well this film is perhaps a real return or maturity to this guy's chops as a movie maker. If you take George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and married it to James Cameron's ALIENS then you would have more or less the perfect description of what this Anderson guy has put together...I'm sure that this game was made into a movie because someone said it was a mix of those two films.
What's there that the fans will like, tthe hive, STAR, Racoon City, god it is so faithful to the game --he zombie dogs, the licker -- although in this cut of the film it was not totally finished so it looked like odd clunk CGI. The host made a point of indicating that it was not finished. The zombies are also quite scary, a little old school Romero, which you know what? it works? A first I was a little bit put off but then there were some cool shots of them with like stuff missing ala DEATH BECOMES HER, it was like Romero deluxe zombies actually. And I wish there was more of the licker, but maybe they will add more of it when they finish it as outside of the big fight at the end with the licker he was only slightly hinted at. His scenes had a slight HELLRAISER feel to them, reminded me of the cenobites but more animal than sophisticated, and very raptor-esque.
Let me see, what else...oh yeah Mila Jovovich (sp?) is hot!!!! There was a scene where I could swear you could see full frontal but outside of that she was luminous and as part of the conceit of the film she becomes like Trinity from MATRIX as she regains her memories by the middle of the film. There was a fun scene where she wastes a dozen zombie dogs....also I think the soundtrack is temp as it sounded like non-Marilyn Manson as I could swear I read on ign.com that Manson was doing the whole soundtrack for this thing. But alas no Manson to be heard.
That chick from Fast and Furious is in this as well, Michelle Rodriguez, she was great. One of the girls at the screening thought she was too manly as she talks like a guy...."when I get out of this I'm going to get laid..." the audience laughed at a many of her lines which were a little bit like brute zingers here and there...she was fun and was more like the Spanish trooper in ALIENS totally like that......
what else can I say this looks really good, I kind of wished there were more male stars, lot of nobody guys that are cool but die in it but Mila is so freaking hot that it does not matter.
Cool editing, stark lighting, moody, and it comes together at the end even though I'm sure they will change the ending as it was kind of longish and led to Mila essentially getting into a post zombie attacked Manhattan like street which replicates the urban mayhem of the subsequent follow-up games nicely.....
This director had a good script I guess, as it did not drag and flowed nicely....the same guys should do the sequal as the ending is this John Carpenter-esque ending ala THE THING..
We were all jumping here and there as well, it was scary, but in a fun way, like Die Hard or something...I wondered what other people thought of it? Let me tell you the audience was transfixed, like those people who I saw at Harry Potter, they were really into it, partly because it is such a faithful adaptation of the game...it takes the premise sticks to it like a sacred text and just adds everything you need.....action, cool jokes, and fun shocks here and there....
I wish it was more gory though, but there is this cool scene that brings new meaning to the phrase "diced" So thumbs up for me...you can call me EL DORADO....
