I’ve been a “gamer” my whole life. I don’t revolve my life around it, so I may not be as hardcore as most, but I don’t know how else to say it. We had an Atari 2600 in my house when I was two, and there has been at least one console hooked up to my television ever since.

I’ve played at least one game in every major franchise. But despite nearing 30 years of game playing, my favorite franchise is a more recent one. It makes sense, too, that a video game that allowed me to place myself in my favorite genre of films and attempt to avoid the zombie infestation of a beautiful mansion would be the one to win me over for all time. That game was Resident Evil for the Sony PlayStation. For over ten years now, Resident Evil has become one of developer Capcom’s most profitable franchises, with six games in the main series and several spin-off games spread across various platforms. It didn’t take long for Hollywood to recognize the potential for a film based on a video game that itself was inspired heavily by horror films, and in 2002, the first film, simply titled Resident Evil was released.  

An experimental virus has been stolen and leaked in an underground facility called The Hive. All sorts of genetic research is being done here by the Umbrella Corporation, a huge conglomerate which nearly has a monopoly over modern medicine and military technology. The Red Queen, an A.I. surveillance that controls the operation of the facility took it upon itself to contain the virus by completely shutting down the facility, and killing every employee working there in the process. In an aboveground mansion not far from The Hive, married couple Alice (Milla Jovovich, The Fifth Element) and Spence (James Purefoy, TV’s Rome) are gassed with a chemical, giving them temporary amnesia. A cop named Matt (Eric Mabius, TV’s Ugly Betty) breaks into the mansion for reasons unknown and an elite group of soldiers show up to figure out what has happened and contain the virus from spreading.  

After they all gain access to The Hive, half of the crew is almost instantly picked off by the Red Queen’s traps. In order to complete their mission intact, they shut down the security defense computer. Unfortunately, doing so also cancelled her ability to protect the facility and keep the 500+ zombies that the virus has created at bay. Can soldiers Rain (Michelle Rodriguez, The Fast and the Furious) and Chad (Martin Crewes, Dead or Alive) possibly survive in order to save themselves, their civilian companions and the city above? 

Here is a short list of greatest things about Resident Evil. 

1. Milla Jovovich is naked at the START and the END!
2. Alice kills so many zombie dogs you could call her Michael Vick.
3. The LASER TRAP sequence.
4. Rain’s awful dialogue.
5. The score
6. The set up for the sequel.
   

Let’s take these on one at a time. Milla does get naked, and she looks great, fantastic and unbelievably hot. If there is ever a reason to see any film, that’s the one. The zombie dog chase is surprisingly well choreographed. It’s one of the few actual fight scenes that Alice has in the first film and every single camera angle looks good. Several shots were obviously inspired by Jurassic Park’s raptors-in-the-kitchen sequence, but that’s forgivable because Resident Evil has more spin-kicking. While the film isn’t exceptionally gory, the LASER TRAP manages to off half of Umbrella’s team of soldiers in the matter of a few minutes, and it does so with a sense of smug irony that is completely unexpected. Because of this, the LASER TRAP sequence should always be referred to in all caps. It’s just that awesome. Rain’s ‘tough bitch’ dialogue is horrid. Normally I would blame it on Michelle Rodriguez’s delivery, but that simply isn’t the case here. With lines like “When I get out of here, I think I’m gonna get laid.” (a line so out-of-place that hearing it sampled during a second-rate end credits rock track has a greater effect) couldn’t be delivered by anyone. Here it acts as comic relief, though, since her character in general is a rip on every hard-ass Hispanic in every action flick ever.

The score, which was done by none other than Goth rocker Marilyn Manson and Marco Beltrami, is perfect for the film. It’s a fantastic combination of subtle suspenseful background ambience with heavy handed industrial only used at precisely the right moments. The ending is perfectly set up as it only hints at the destruction of Raccoon City, an event that gamers played through in Resident Evil 2 & Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Alice awakes and finds Raccoon City filled with debris, crashed cars and eerily vacant. She grabs a shotgun from a deserted police cruiser and prepares to defend herself from the dismal results of the T-Virus spreading. 

While I thought it was a pretty decent flick, critical reception of the first Resident Evil film wasn’t great. More so, most video gamers will tell you how awful they think it is. I think that perhaps they were upset that the film had almost zero plot similarities with the first game. None of the characters introduced here exist in the game world, but despite myself being an ace “survival horror” master, I didn’t care one bit. All adaptations from different mediums are just that – adaptations. If you’re the type to buy a CD album called “Music Inspired By…[Film Name]” and get angry that you don’t remember the songs being present in the film, your criticism of the album is moot because you set your expectations where they shouldn’t have been, and if you paid the slightest bit of attention you would have realized this. Same goes here. Video game film adaptations have never been fantastic, but considering the rather shitty glut that existed before 2002, and how far above its competition Resident Evil rose, the film probably works better this way, where we at least get some development for the clichéd characters and unique situations that any video game counterpart never had to deal with. In fact, it should be noted that the LASER TRAP sequence from this film was stolen and used years later in the video game Resident Evil 4 with a great deal of success.  

At any rate, a B-Horror video game based on B-Horror films somehow was unsurprisingly adapted into a modern B-movie. There is no comparing Resident Evil with say, The Exorcist or even Romero’s zombie films, but it doesn’t make it any less of a good time. It’s well made, with some interesting directorial choices, an entertaining cast and awesome action and set pieces. Luckily, despite angry gamers and critics, Resident Evil made more than its budget back in the US. Cash made overseas was simply icing on the cake and the sequels got the green light. I was definitely psyched, even though there was no way to properly prepare for, or even anticipate the 2004 film that I consider the greatest horror sequel of all time, Resident Evil: Apocalypse.  

We start off not long after the events of the first film. The virus that killed nearly everyone at The Hive has been released. Now it has soaked into Raccoon City, the all-American white bread town that has the gross misfortune of being directly above the facility. The entire populace is turning into zombies, and there is no escape because Raccoon City has been placed under quarantine.  

Jill Valentine (from the first Resident Evil game, as well as some sequels) makes her film debut, played by Sienna Guillory (Eragon). Jill’s a tough-as-nails cop who is 100% ‘feisty bitch'. Milla Jovovich returns as Alice. Other new comrades include Oded Fehr (The Mummy) as Carlos Olivera (another game character), and Mike Epps (Next Friday) as L.J., a street hustler rescued by Jill. Carlos is a security officer for Umbrella who gets trapped in Raccoon City. Together, the four plan to take on Umbrella and all its creations. But first, they have to get out of the city in one piece. 

A survival opportunity comes knocking when Jill and Alice receive a phone call from Dr. Charles Ashford (Jared Harris, I Shot Andy Warhol) who says he can provide safe passage if only they would rescue his daughter Angela (Sophie Vavasseur) who is still trapped in the Junior school she was attending. Doing so is quite the challenge, though, as Raccoon City is now filled with miles of undead as well as a new cyborg abomination called Nemesis, which is a bulky mutation that is near invulnerable. This time, however, thanks to Umbrella’s experimentation, Alice has been enhanced in every way and is ready to really beat the shit out of anyone (or anything) that tries to front on her, and she can do so in a number of different ways. 

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is a film for those who like a lot of action in their horror films – a lot of action. Not ten minutes pass without someone dying or something exploding, and not five minutes pass without gunfire. Some people will be turned off by that, but that's exactly what this movie is supposed to be: mindless horror fun. And when graded on being unrestrained mindless horror fun, Resident Evil: Apocalypse passes with the highest of marks. The Licker battle in the church has become the most iconic image from the film. It features Milla’s badass introduction as she crashes a stained glass window with a motorcycle, drives the motorcycle into a Licker, and then destroys it by firing dual pistols at the gas tank – all while wearing a costume that was probably assembled from Hot Topic. But people who like hand-to-hand combat will really enjoy parts too. There is a great sequence in the cemetery where zombies start coming up from their graves (think Night of the Living Dead) and Alice and Jill take a good number of them down hand-to-hand. Carlos isn’t left out of the action either, as he is involved with plenty of shootouts and fight sequences before he teams up with our heroines.  

Okay, so my zombie fandom, Milla Jovovich obsession and bias for female action heroes (over male) have been well established. Is it even possible for me to look at the Resident Evil series objectively? Can a man that has been following the production of Resident Evil: Extinction since day one with the same enthusiasm super-nerds have for the new Indiana Jones film have anything negative to say about these films? Should I even be allowed to type out this review?  

These are all questions that I thought to myself when I requested this screener, rewatched these films again, and finally sat down to write.  

I think I can.  

The first Resident Evil definitely has flaws. The CGI sequences didn’t exactly look cutting edge five years ago, and age isn’t going to help them any. I found it very hard to be engaged during the climatic train sequence since the “Licker” never appeared to be in the same place as the actors. Furthermore, there is this odd technique used throughout the film that shows a computer image of The Hive with red blips showing the characters’ locations. No doubt this is a nod to how the “map screen” works in the video game series, but in the film it feels rather gimmicky and I fail to see why it needed to be continually revisited. These are my only major gripes, though. The direction is solid, and despite what your average fanboy will tell you, director Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon) isn’t that bad behind the camera; he just isn’t very original. For dumb action flicks, his style is a natural fit. Anderson also wrote the script (same goes for the sequels) which is well paced to allow for a nice mystery to unfold as the characters start coming out of their temporary amnesia. Better still action scenes are spaced from each other tightly enough to allow examination of the story. Sure, some of the dialogue is a bit stupid (namely Rain’s) but fuck, people. This is a zombie flick, not Shakespeare. And for the record, yes I have read zombie maestro George A. Romero’s original treatment – it’s no better. 

Hear that? That is the sound of me being ostracized by the entire horror community. 

But the sequel? No, I don’t think there is anything overly negative I can say about the sequel. To further illustrate how I can never be a professional film critic, I look at Resident Evil and its sequel the same way that many look at Alien and Aliens. Alien and Resident Evil are haunted house style pictures that create a true feeling of horror and claustrophobia. Aliens and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, though, are both bad ass flicks that offer a seemingly endless sea of enemies and plenty of ammunition to help edge the otherwise insurmountable odds to our heroes favor. In each case, I enjoy the sequels more. In the case of Apocalypse, it has better direction, more impressive stunts, the zombie dogs look more realistic and Nemesis makes for the most visually appealing new horror film character in at least a decade. The only area that it doesn’t trump its predecessor is the score, although ironically the soundtrack is better. 

While being less horrific, the sequel feels more like a video game, more like an action film and, most importantly, provides ample opportunities for awesomely choreographed fights. Yet, it was critically blasted by every major critic trying to wittily upstage each other for the best negative sound byte. My favorite bash comes from he who I truly feel is the ultimate living film critic, Roger Ebert, who states, “If you encounter teenagers who say they liked this movie, do not let them date your children.” 

I’ve always admired Roger Ebert and it’s a shame he doesn’t have a daughter because I would totally date her and we would copulate while Resident Evil: Apocalypse played on his huge home theatre. You know, just for spite. 

The DVD Presentation
I had my doubts on what the quality of the film presentation would be in this Resurrected Edition. Both Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse are on the same side of the same DVD. I thought for sure the image would suffer as a result, but it isn’t that bad. Both films are presented in anamorphic widescreen, with Apocalypse being considerably wider. I didn’t notice any obvious compression artifacts on either film, although there is quite a bit of grain during the first. But if you’re looking for the perfect presentation, the Superbit release of the first film and either the standard release of Apocalypse or its Blu-Ray counterpart will probably serve you much better. Two 5.1 tracks are included for each film, one English and the other French. The English tracks appears to be the same ones used on the previous releases – at least I didn’t notice any differences and I’ve seen these movies a billion times. They’re good, especially the sequels. Subtitles are available in English and French on the first film, but just in English only on the sequel. For what amounts to a pretty budget release, I can’t find much reason to complain. 

And the Extras Are?
Exclusive Sneak Scene from Resident Evil: Extinction – (2:07)
Nothin’ but a clip, in non-anamorphic widescreen no less, from the new flick. It looks about as awesome as you can expect, but it does little more than lightly tease for the real deal. It does seem that the third time's a charm when it comes to gore, though. I can’t fucking wait.  

The Evolution of Resident Evil: Bridge to Extinction – (5:02)
Color me a tad disappointed, but I read this to be a connecting feature bridging the stories between Resident Evil: Apocalypse and the soon-to-be released Resident Evil: Extinction. However, it really isn’t much more than an extended trailer for the new film with a bit of a recap. What a waste. Trust me, the absolute biggest fan of this series on the planet, when I tell you that I was sorely let down by this feature.  

Diary of an Apocalypse – (27:59)
This “Making of” style feature for the 2nd film is a really strong featurette. With almost a half-hour of time at its disposal, the feature is allowed the time to truly immerse the viewer what a day on the set would be like during the filming of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. You get to see Milla training (Hot!), a cast script reading, the stunts for the church sequence and so very much more. This is a fantastic feature. 

Zombie Dog POV Test – (1:36)
There isn’t much to this feature. It’s simply several quick camera tests at different speeds showing the point of view of a zombie dog that attacks Jill Valentine in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It’s followed by the actual scene which shows maybe a seconds worth of footage from that angle. 

Undead Boot Camp – (11:55)
This is a pretty cool feature that shows how the extras that played zombies were submitted to several training sessions in order to learn how to properly behave like a zombie. I found it interesting how much thought was put into this training process.  

Stuntman Set Tour – (5:44)
Kind of like an off-shoot to the “Diary” feature, this segment walks you through how the stunts for two of the scenes from Apocalypse were filmed.  

“Evil Archives” Photo Galleries –
There are five different galleries included here. “Art Department” contains sketches and sculptures of props and villains. “Production Photos” contains about 28 pictures of the cast in different settings. These circulated the Net about a million times over. “Publicity” surprisingly only contains nine portfolio style shots of the main cast. “Set Design” contains thirteen stills that are all from either the church scene or of the Toronto City Hall building. Finally, “Storyboards” selects about 29 images of exactly what the title states. All of these are Resident Evil: Apocalypse promos, in case you are wondering. 

Memory Retention Training Quiz –
Ever play Scene It? that DVD board game where you watch a clip of a film and answer questions? Well, you should. It’s great fun, and drinking doesn’t hurt the experience any. This is kind of like Scene It? except it’s a bit more scaled down. You get shown a clip from Resident Evil: Apocalypse and you are supposed to pay close attention and answer a question about it. If you get it right you see a clip of Milla being a badass, and if you get it wrong Nemesis growls at you. The questions are not randomized, so if you play through it a few times, you should be able to memorize the answers. I haven’t played it through to get a perfect score, but with 18 questions correct, I still put an end to Umbrella. I rock. 

Trailer Gallery –
As usual for Sony product, trailers are included for other releases that may interest you. These include the original Resident Evil: Extinction teaser trailer, Hostel: Part II, Vacancy, Bobby Z, The Contractor and Wind Chill. Also included are a promo piece for the Ray Harryhausen colorizations and the video game trailer for the new Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii. 

Movie Money! –
Truly making the disc an easy purchase, included inside the case is a Movie Money certificate valued at $10.50 off admission to see Resident Evil: Extinction. I’ve already requested September 21st off. You should too. 

To break it down, almost all of the material covered here was already covered in the original 2-disc release of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. In fact, it’s somewhat shocking that all the featurettes here are newly edited. There’s also nothing that covers the first film at all. So if you loved Apocalypse, you’re likely to enjoy the new features, but they are far from balanced. Most disappointing is the main “Bridge Movie” that’s supposed to bleed in to Resident Evil: Extinction. It has almost zero footage that hasn’t already been seen. There are good extras, but the original DVD release of Apocalypse had better extras and three commentary tracks. Resurrected Edition, my ass. 

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil isn’t just my favorite video game franchise of all time; it’s also my favorite current film franchise. I realize that this opinion isn’t shared by many other people, but that doesn’t really matter to me at all. Every time I throw in either of the films I have a great time and I do a little happy dance. Very few films exist that excite me to watch time and time again, but these do. I therefore can’t help but recommend them. That said, this “Resurrected Edition” of Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse is not really intended for the hardcore fan that already has both films, and trying to convince these fans to buy this would be difficult at best. However, if you want these films and don’t have the previous releases, this is a cheap alternative and the added Movie Money to see the new flick only sweetens the price.