Itchy….tasty.
Resident Evil is one of my favorite franchises of all time…I can confidently say that it is my 2nd favorite video game series ever (Zelda is #1). Video game movies have never been box office smash hits, I mean, how do you take the visual medium of video games that are usually 8 hour adventures and cram it in maybe 2 hours? It can work, but many cases…it can’t.
Resident Evil has had a big movie series, but was lightly based on the subject matter. So this new movie is a COMPLETE REBOOT of the series with familiar characters, sets, and everything that we know and love from the series….but can a movie with all sorts of just references and eye candy be good? My quick review…
A mish mash of eye candy, non-scary slow story, with fun/boring moments.
This movie was clearly for the fans, and it shows heavily in name drops, familiar sets, and more….that being said? It was fun….but the fanboy in me, who HAS a Resident Evil tattoo was wondering when this B-movie was coming to an end. It’s not a horrible movie…it’s just that movie that you see when you have $5 in your pocket at a Marcus Theater on a Tuesday and want to waste some time.
My biggest issue was them cramming 2 storylines into an 1 hour 45 minute movie! When you have sets like the massive Spencer Mansion or the streets of Raccoon City??? USE THEM DAMMIT! Why the hell did we keep Leon & Claire in the RPD??? Sure, you spend a lot of time in the RPD in the game, but one of the big things was the City of the Dead you know? This idea that zombies are running the streets. Show zombies shuffling down the street, eating people, whatever! Don’t just leave the zombies at the f*&^ing gate!
The characters….ok….I’m happy to see Wesker, Leon, Claire, Chief Irons, Jill, Chris, William/Sherry/Annette Birkin, Lisa Trevor, Vickers….ok see the problem there? SO MANY DAMN CHARACTERS! How can you develop really any of them with so much going on? You can’t! Like Wesker’s ‘moment’ towards the end was like ‘Ok, I guess so.’ But in the game, it was building, it was a surprise, like….’how could he?!?’ In this movie, it just kinda happens I guess. Character development…..c’mon people.
My last gripe? It took like 40 MINUTES to shoot ANY zombies! When it did happen? It FELT like Resident Evil…I actually felt relief of like, OH…THIS IS A RESIDENT EVIL MOVIE! Took awhile to get there…
I could sit here and bitch all day….but what was GOOD about this movie? The action was good when it happened, the moment where Chris is fighting off a hoard was fun, and the moments it FELT like Resident Evil were good! The zombie hoard, Chief Irons and him attempting to escape, the actor who played William Birkin was good, and the Licker was a great moment…which dude? It needed more of that.
In closing, I knew what I was getting into…so I don’t HATE this movie…it’s just a fun eye candy fan service movie that did have potential if there was to be more focus. Instead of giving us EVERYTHING that we apparently wanted? Give us snacks and lead to a BIG reveal! That’s what the games did so well with 1 & 2, and here? They get cheapened out hardcore. I will point out a character reveal at the end of film mid-credits…they just another “Hey look who it is!”
Better idea….focus on the first game and explore the mansion and THEN round out the movie with a teaser of Leon coming to Raccoon City. I’m not saying COMPLETELY retell RE1 (that’s what the game is for), but give us something to chomp down on instead of pretty colors. Show Lisa Trevor getting operated on, what happened when Chris or Jill were kidnapped, visually telling the stories of the mansion instead of texts.
Maybe I’m wrong, I can admit that….but I feel like this could have been done differently.
If you want to see things you know as an RE fan? Then this is for you, but if you’re expecting like a faithful retelling? Just play the games.
