Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9783 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Given that Resident Evil is a Paul Anderson movie based on a computer game which was itself highly derivative (especially of George A Romero and James Cameron films), it's probably unfair to complain that it hasn't got an original idea or moment in its entire running time. In the early 1980s, Italian schlock films such as Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombie Creeping Flesh tried to cram in as many moments restaged from American originals as possible, strung together by silly characters wandering between monster attacks. This is a much-improved, edited, photographed and directed version of the same gambit.

As amnesiac Milla Jovovich remembers amazing kung fu skills and anti-globalist Eric Mabius mutters about evil corporations, a gang of clichéd soldiers with nary a distinguishing feature between them (except for Michelle Rodriguez as a secondary tough chick) are trapped in an underground scientific compound at the mercy of a tyrannical computer--which manifests as a smug little-girl-o-gram--fending off flesh-eating zombies (though gore fans will be disappointed by the film's need to stay within the limits of the 15 certificate) and CGI mutants, not to mention the ever-popular zombie dogs. It's tolerably action-packed, but zips past its borrowings (Aliens, Cube, Deep Blue Sea) without adding anything that future schlock pictures will want to imitate.

On the DVD: Resident Evil on disc has the expected trailers, both teaser and theatrical; a half-hour making-of; zombie make-up tests; featurettes on music (with Marilyn Manson), production design and costume. A lively commentary track features Anderson, Jovovich, Rodriguez and producer/zombie Jeremy Bolt--Jovovich upbraids Anderson for talking about different gradings of film stock over her nude scene and everyone else talks about how much she hurt them by punching them out during action sequences. Anderson mentions an alternate commentary track with visual effects designer Richard Yuricich, but it isn't included. --Kim Newman

Special Features
Cast and Crew Commentary
The making of Resident Evil featurette
Costumes Featurette
Set Design Featurette
Zombie Camera Test
My Plague: Slipknot video Easter Egg
Theatrical Trailer
Teaser Trailer
Sound: 5.1
Aspect Ratio: 1/85:1 (16x9)
Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing

Synopsis
In RESIDENT EVIL, the Umbrella Corporation's Vault, a secret facility located deep below Raccoon City, is sabotaged and a deadly virus is stolen. In the mansion that conceals another entrance to the Vault, Alice (Milla Jovovich) lies on the shower floor, naked except for the shower curtain. She can't remember anything but, as she dresses, she recalls memory fragments. Then, masked intruders burst through the windows. They tell Alice she is a Corporation agent living undercover in the mansion. She goes with them into the Vault to discover who sabotaged it. As they penetrate the Vault, trying to get to the Red Queen, the computer system at the heart of the facility, Alice and her confederates face many horrors--blood-red flayed dogs, flesh-eating zombies, and "the Licker," a dynamically mutating monster.
Basing RESIDENT EVIL on the popular video game, writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson delivers a tense, exciting science-fiction/horror film. Anderson and director of photography David Johnson shot the movie in rich silver-and-black, so that its few bursts of color are striking--like the image of the blonde Milla Jovovich in a very short crimson dress, with a trailing veil, and black boots dragging a silver axe behind her.

Customer Reviews

Well I like it!
Gotta own up- don't like computer games and have never played this one, so I can't enter into the debate on whether the games translates well onto the big screen. However, as a horror film, I think it's a pretty decent attempt.

To sum up: Umbrella corporation are conducting some dodgy experiments. Soon all those who come into contact with the T virus are "undead" and yearn for human flesh. Only Alice can stop them- or can she?

It's no oscar winner. It's not the scariest film you will ever see, but it is good. Worth a watch!

Could have been better, could have been worse
This film surprised me in being a fairly entertaining interpretation of the original video game. Most movies of this ilk often turn out to be absolute steaming piles of old pants (Street Fighter, Silent Hill, Doom, Alone in the Dark, etc.) but 'Resident Evil' manages to rattle along quite happily, albeit without threatening to offer anything in the way of originality.

Paul WS Anderson does a reasonable job of keeping the action ticking over nicely and the zombie dogs are fun. But Anderson isn't the greatest filmmaker around (this IS the man who made a complete hash of AVP) and still seems to be living on the virtues of 'Event Horizon', as he fails to generate any truly distinctive moments of genuine horror. The shocks are fairly obvious, the characters remain unengaging throughout and the blood count is disappointingly tame. Still, this is perfectly watchable bunkum and, in comparison to other video game adaptations, is a decent enough effort.

stylish and action packed with great special effects
I've never seen the computer game on which this film was based.All I can say is that this was a highly entertaining thriller/horror movie that moved quickly and stylishly from beginning to end.Packed with surprises,great special effects,well-placed humour and fine acting.