This was a rental. I love the games, though I have missed those not released on the Playstation consoles and have not yet played part 5. I even quite enjoyed the three live action movies. This one should be a safe bet – famous last words, since I used them for Scar 3D...
Initial Thoughts:
- A quick run through the key points in the history of the series, and some zombie masks for a fun shot hinting at what is to come. So far, so good.
- Unless that lady is driving the car back into the airport lounge, that is not a terribly useful idea.
- Much creepiness on the plane. This is pretty promising.
- Oh good - an Englishman in a horror movie. Well, I’m sure he is going to be really very nice. Who could the villain of the piece possibly be?
- One camera crew and a presenter is not what most of us would call “a circus.”
- Worst. Disguise. Ever.
- Slamming into the action, fast and furious – I’m enjoying this trash more by the minute.
- They got the text on the TV broadcast pretty quickly.
- Is Curtis really that much more interesting than playing Where’s Rani?
- No fuel in the tanks? Did the pilot crash deliberately. or just let some zombies into the cockpit? I don’t think the filmmakers know…this is getting ominous. Some logic to the plot leaps would help, as this is getting a bit too silly. Good action sequences though.
Moving On:
- At least check for ID.
- The film just skipped at least one promising big scene (the escape and hiding at the airport) and replaced it with a couple of lines of dialogue.
- It would be too risky to send in loads of trained soldiers. Just let three people climb in through the roof. Yeah – sounds like a plan. A crappy plan, but a plan nevertheless
- This woman is far too trusting. The gey faced man on the floor is not groaning to show he is in good health.
- Where did all of the zombies come from in such a small space? The office is heaving with them in the space of a couple of seconds.
- Shoot them in the head.
- I get tired of shouting this out aloud at these kinds of film, but please someone listen to him and shoot them in the head.
- Loving the Umbrella gag. Good work.
- The Senator is such an enormous douche nozzle that it’s hurting the movie.
- For the love of…JUST SHOOT THEM IN THE HEAD ALREADY!
- Thinks he is safe, so he lets his guard down again immediately – big shock what happens next. Sloppy.
- He had at least an hour left, but yeah – let him go ahead and sacrifice his life needlessly.
- Using a child as a distraction worked better in a great scene during the second film in the Blind Dead series. Still, always fun to see it used again.
- Fantastic slap Рworth the wait. The Senator needs to chuck in a reference to keeping the town open for holiday season, and every clich̩ to this kind of character will have been used.
- Did her auntie have a name by the way? I forget…
- “All our fault.” How? No don’t explain it, there’s really no need…this is all a bit silly if the filmmakers cannot explain some of the decisions and beliefs been made her.
- And – cue weepy computer game music. Yuck.
- Why is the (obviously not villainous) Englishman explaining the building? What possible good could it do either of them?
- Did they forget about Rani completely? She isn’t allowed to be with her no-name aunt, but everyone else she has gotten to know just upped and moved on!
- Performing tests with human subjects yet again. Protecting rats simply has not worked.
- As if Curtis meant to blow himself up. This is all a bit obvious.
- Security wasn’t tight enough to keep them out then…
- That Leon is such a flirt.
- So did all the staff die?
- Yes but your brother is a doofus dear.
- Uh, all these T-virus infected staff – how and why?
- It would be odd if one of them did try to get killed.
Final Moments:
- I thought the countdown part would come later in the movie, but fair enough.
- No fair – the countdown speeded up?
- Breeding tool? Ewww!
- So Leon sees her as a breeding tool as well?
- That’s the thing with these state of the art security systems – they never work on the main characters or biggest monsters.
- I thought that little phrase would vomit up again.
- It still isn't dead
- Time for the big reveal yet? Yep...
- How did they know where to find him parked up? Anybody know?
- What an awful, awful dress.
- Yes – her brother was indeed a tool.
- CGI wind blows different CGI characters’ CGI hair in different ways. Classy.
- With the exception of little miss Laura Ashley, the entire cast could really use a change of clothes now.
- Is he dead? Hurray!
Aftermath:
Firstly, this isn’t following the path of such cinematic dross as Wing Commander or Street Fighter. Nobody responsible for this film deserves a spanking. Nor does this follow the example of Uwe Boll excrement like House of The Dead (at least amusing) or Alone In The Dark (at best an affront to directors that spend time on their filmmaking rather than on boxing people who work at their craft) in that this follows the game history and development faithfully, which is more than some of the RE games apparently have. I suspect the film happens after the vents of Resident Evil 4, which makes it curious that the developments of parasites from that game are neither mentioned nor of consequence to a film that nods back most directly to the events of the first game, despite references to the outcomes of the second and third.
The voice acting is limp and the dialogue wretched – neither of which is exactly helped by the awful English language dubbing. Huge jumps of plot-logic are required, with absent scenes meaning the viewer frequently has to make up parts of the film for themselves. The character development consists entirely of two dullards falling in love over a weepy back-story, a sulky widower placing his faith in the kind of people he has been dedicating his life to punishing, and a selfish man not being as malicious or as devious as a British tea drinker. The majority of the second act is lots of talk about not very much. But so much of this film delivers above expectations that tit feels nasty to dwell on the failings.
The action set pieces are admittedly superb. Both Leon and Claire are well established with millions of people as being fantastic action heroes. Who cares if the characters actually have all the charisma and depth of a few thousand shiny pixels? Since when has depth of character mattered in an action movie? I can overlook personality vacuums when a setting sucks itself into vacuums in several stages (for no reason other than to let survivors bounce around bits of the location).
I thought this was a fair, amusingly cliché riddled film, just with the problems obvious in the cut scenes from the games continuing here. There are the usual far-fetched circumstances of who survives explosions and when certain wounds are deadly or lead to the heroes developing a slight limp.
The plot is standard for a video game – big drama, get time to breathe and figure out most of what is going on, series of unfortunate events, ticking clock against the biggest monster, figure out obvious twist, save day, hint at more to come, kiss and clap and hug and cheer, some nastiness continues, cue credits. None of this should count as spoilers – a film based on a video game varies from these tracks only when the games are wilfully bizarre (I’m thinking Silent Hill) or the films actively hurt an audience (Super Mario Bros, the Mortal Kombat films, Uwe Boll Uwe Boll we hate your continued employment Uwe Boll). These narrative issues are a lot more entertaining when the viewer is placed as an active participant, but they are still cheesy fun to watch. A few more key characters – and fewer throwaways just disappearing at the midway point – are desirable in a film like this, but it’s all so disposable that the action book ending the film holds the flabby second act in place. Patience rewards and all that.
For every predictable step forward, the staging within the excellent CGI environments provides fine eye candy and some clever framing for effective jump shocks all the same. What greatly impressed me was the accuracy of the “survival horror” portrayal these angles and locations present – dark and oppressive, eerily claustrophobic atmosphere abounds. The chaos at the brightly lit start, and the creepy emptiness to some rooms in limited light, are thrilling to watch.
The biggest failing in my view is that those unfamiliar with the games will get lost figuring out what the makers want viewers to assume and what actually makes sense to the fans. Those viewers who do know the games will, I suspect, likely get annoyed by the frequent bursts of back-story and terms (for example, the types of virus developed by Umbrella). The film gets lost between pleasing either type of viewer, and doesn’t ultimately work towards the wants of either. Eloquence was clearly not a concern for the filmmakers.
Still – trashy fun is what I expected, and trashy fun is what I got. But this should – and, with a little more focus and greater resources, would – have been a classic genre film. And dear me - what an awful, awful dress...
Grade C+ (Take The Time)
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