My my, what
a big weapon you have
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Resident
Evil is the latest in a long line of computer games turned action
movie.
Neil Heath
But can you
think of any that have been any good?
Super Mario
Brothers, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider have all
been berated, but is Resident Evil any different?
The answer is,
at least it bothers with something called ‘a plot’, however with
its relentless and disturbing ‘hungry zombie scenes’, it becomes
quite tiresome to the point of becoming plain absurd.
The Plot
Resident Evil the movie, is set before the gaming titles, as an
explanation as to why the world’s population look in need of a Big
Mac.
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| Oooh, Mr
Scary Face |
Alice (Jovovich)
is part of a team of commandos who have to venture into a vast viral
research laboratory known as The Hive.
They soon find
out that all the workers have been turned into flesh hungry zombies
with the help of a deadly virus.
Behind all of
this is the Red Queen - an artificial intelligent psychopath.
The Verdict
Resident Evil highlights a paranoia over above-the-law-corporations,
who are working on fatal viruses, as well as the technology-taking-over
scenario.
Given that,
it’s quite thought provoking. In this film, it’s the Umbrella Corporation
that believes its workers are expendable.
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| Go ahead
punkette - make my day |
The belief that
humans are simply pawns to those who have more power and influence
is and always will be frightening.
In this sense
the film offers no hope for the future and promotes an air of depression.
With its dark
corridors and gung ho soldiers, Resident Evil is reminiscent of
‘Aliens’, but not half as good.
This is largely
to do with dull characters, a bit of humour wouldn’t have gone a
miss.
Accepted that
the last thing you want to do when being chased by zombies is crack
jokes, but when the chips are down a few nervous laughs are expected,
especially when you're being chased by the undead – how absurd is
that? You
have to laugh.
The film’s pace
is relentless, and if you’re like me you’ll be spending half of
it looking through your fingers, it’s also set to a thrashy soundtrack
that helps move it along.
But once you’ve
been scared by a zombie coming out of the shadows for the first
time, then you have for the second, third and forth time, there’s
only so much you can take before wanting the film to end quickly.
On the whole,
this is a movie for kids that are not quite old enough to see it,
if you know what I mean.
For the rest
of us it’s a case of ‘seen it all before’ and it was better that
time.
Will a computer
game ever be any good on the big screen? Probably not, unless George
Lucas or Steven Spielberg start making computer games.
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