Resident Evil
(Region One Special Edition)
(2002)
review by Billion$Baby

I suppose I had better explain a plot. Here's the sleeve synopsis - "A team of paramilitary commandos must battle flesh-eating undead, killer mutant dogs and a supercomputer's deadly defences before an unleashed virus consumes humanity in this adaption of the hit video game series!"

Yep. That's it. A highly informative synopsis, eh?! Please don't panic, the supercomputer's deadly defences part ony refers to the very start of the film. Ithink that most have probably watched or played thegame at some point anyway so you kind of know what to expect.

I recall watching the Tomb Raider film and not enjoying it much at all, but it certainly reminded me of the computer game. You see, I don't like that much either! Watching a top-heavy woman go 'oof' when she walks into walls isn't really much fun. Ditto with falling on hidden spikes. I actually enjoyed the filmmore than the game. Which isn't saying much. Tomb Raider was one groundbreaking game which never improved much. However, Resident Evil!!! As a fan, I expected a lot more fom this one.

Richard Bridgeland, the production designer explains my excited feelings perfectly whilst discussing thefilm. "We wanted to create something new. You know,people want to see something new. If they've playedthe games, they want to go to a different place now. It's almost like doing a live action version of a new version of the game."

Too right, if the film's storyline and locations perfectly recreated Resident Evils 1 or 2, Nemesis or Code Veronica, I'd be very, very bored. If I wanted to watch those, I'd just play the gamewouldn't I? So what Anderson and his team havedone is to create a stand-alone storyline with new characters which incorporates so many different parts and features of all the current games that you'll have trouble spotting all of them in your initial viewing. Many key moments have been cleverly adapted into this new script.

Here's the ones that I recall:

-Crows, cerberus dogs, and a licker
-Umbrella operatives in action
-Alexis 5000 (RE 2 train)
-A mansion that leads to secret laboratories
-Similarly, lambs to the slaughter!
-Sherry Birkin hologram (RE2)
-Sound effects before we see the creatures
-Cerberus dog smashing thru window (RE1)
-Licker dropping from ceiling towards victim (RE2)
-Umbrella lab workers
-The regular use of both Umbrella and Biohazard logos
-There's even a poster advertising an Umbrella medical product
-Claws slicing thru metal (RE2 elevator)
-The Racoon City Times
-Zombie arms grabbing victim thru grate (the game does it with boarded windows a la NOTLD)
-Creature mutations
-The use of a lockpick
-Number codes being necessary to access certain doors
-Maps. In the form of schematics with heat source figures.

That ending sequence with the camera pan-out! Holy shit!

I could list more but I don't want you to fall asleep. Not yet anyway. As you may have gathered, yes, I am a (sadly proud) Resident Evil nerd. And so must Anderson be from his cleverly devised original, yet very faithful script. Anderson's genuine enthusiasm for the games comes across very well on the dvd and I'm pleased he was chosen to make the film for that reason alone.

The film is told at an exciting pace and it matches the music perfectly. The music rocks when the Umbrella operatives storm the mansion, but it also createsa creepy ambience when characters wander around thelaboratory labyrinth.

There's some nice touches such as reflections in face mask goggles and eyes, and on the glass windows and mirrors of the facility. The flashback sequences impressed and I thought it was a cool plot idea anyway. Those sequences' colours are treated to remove colour and they also play around with different camera techniques.

Many creepy moments feature such as the leaves blowing towards Alice as the 'copters arrive, the crows flying away or the scurrying sounds (cockroaches, I gather) heard by Rain as she connects power to the train. Or my personal favourite, the first zombie waking up.

I was really glad that the film featured likable characters that died, and I was particularly surprised by the despatching of one of them very early on. I genuinely felt sorry for a couple of them! The film deserves respect for that alone. It's not often this happens to me in horrors. I'm still in mourning over the loss of Captain Dallas and the rest of the Nostromo crew!

So if the film is such an ingenious adaption, why doesn't it grab full marks from this Resident Evil fan? One reason. I told myself it didn't matter but I really miss the exploding heads! The bloodshed is controlled or often implied in order to deliver a film that most young teenagers could go see worldwide. I can understand why the makers or backers wouldn't want to alienate a core part of the target audience but I kind of miss the full-on gore.

There's two "homages" by Anderson (his words, not mine) to Cube and Day Of The Dead, but there's no need for me to reveal them, as you'll certainly recognise them. This film is essential viewing for any Resident Evil fan.

This alleged Special Edition offers:

-Widescreen print and 5.1 sound
-Animated menus, a trailer and bios
-Commentary with Anderson, the producer Jeremy Bolt,
Jovavich and Rodriguez
-Making-of (27 mins)
-Scoring RE featurette with Manson & Beltrami (11 mins)
-Costumes featurette (3.5 mins)
-Set design featurette (4 mins)
-Zombie make-up tests (1 min!)
-A trailer.

They've lost me. What's so 'special' about that? Lol! It just seems like a normal dvd with a decent amount of extras to me. What else would we expect from anew film? There's a 2-disc set due out later, perhaps that'll be the 'even more special edition'?

The commentary is good fun and amusing but I would have liked to have heard much more input from Anderson and Bolt. It seems as if the English guys are so polite that they usually go quiet whenever Rodriguez or Jovavich speak. Having said that, the two actresses do save the commentary from a couple of embarassing silences early on. BTW I lost count of the amountof times that Rodriguez repeats the word 'sick'!

My FAVE part of the commentary comes towards the end:

Rodriguez - "How did you get that newspaper printed?"

Bolt - "If we can make something like the licker, I think we can pull that off."

LOL!!! Good stuff Jeremy.

The commentary sometimes refers to the "other commentary" on the disc and the alternative ending which is frustrating 'cause they're not on this bloody disc! They must be arriving on the 2-disc 'even more special edition' due later on. Mind you, that other commentary is by the visual effects supervisor so I'm probably not missing much there. I've only just woken up after listening to the visual effects one on the Pitch Black dvd. ZZZZZZ...

As to be expected from a new film, the dvd's picture and sound quality are very good and the animated menus are rather pleasing. The making-of is very disappointing at first but it does get better. I was especially unimpressed with the amount of interview timespent with someone from Capcom. I wanted to hear more than just one sentance!

That making of is actually pretty embarassing at times. Let me quote why:

Anderson - "This is gonna be an exceptionally scary film."

Jovavich - "Don't play it alone at night." (What, the film or the game?!)

Rodriguez - "I have a new level for fear now."

And this is my absolute favourite from actor James Purefoy, "...the audience is gonna be hurling up popcorn in the air."

Lol! What the fuck?! Have you ever been so frightened by a film that you've actually thrown your popcornin the air?! No. Neither has anyone else. Ever. Obviously Mr Purefoy doesn'tsee many horror films. He's a very good actor in this film though so I'll givehim that.

Those quotes embarass the people involved and if I'dheard them say that before seeing the film, then naturally, yes, I would have been disappointed. It's not "exceptionally scary" and you won't have to placeyour popcorn on the floor for safety reasons. However, it's a very creepy film and a damn fine adaption. That featurette reminds me of the legendary (in my mind) moment on the Alien 3 dvd extras where you listen to the actors telling you what an amazing film it was gonna be. And you wonder which film they're talking about!

Resident Evil Special Edition is a generous enough dvd (I suppose) but it might be wise to wait for the better 2-disc set. Unless, you're impatient like me! And don't believe what they say, the film is a very clever adaption indeed but I fear that it may be for Resident Evil freaks only. Nothing wrong with that
though.

Ironically, the disc also contains a trailer for Men In Black II. Perhaps this part of the disc could have been called a deleted scene seeing as how that film's subway train sequence completely rips off the very, very last playable part of te Resident Evil 2 computer game. Grrrr! (shakes fist angrily).