Movie review #39 - Resident Evil
Jul. 12th, 2007 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2Note: I posted somewhere that I had seen this movie a while ago - I haven't because this was not what I saw last time! Maybe I saw Evil Resident? Just joking - I have no idea what I saw but onto the review anyway.
Overall, I liked this movie - suitably quirky opening that had me puzzled for a while and, even now, still leaves a couple of questions open for me.
First check of the watch - I don't think I did throughout the entire movie.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. Michelle Rodriguez spends the entire movie scowling and looking up through furrowed brows. Awful in every scene she appears in.
The good - Milla Jovovich. She play these kinds of parts well, I think. Even though the movie was awful, she was good as Violet in Ultraviolet. She has quite an imposing physical presence which means that, even when she does impossible stunts, she looks like she could have done it.
Most of the vitriol targeted towards this movie centres on its differences with the game - but having never seen, let alone played, the game, I don't have that to compare it to so I can take the movie on its own merits. Reasonable plot, generally good acting (Michelle Rodriguez aside) and enough action/dramatic balance to keep the pace rolling without going berserk. SFX were good - I liked the laser room, in particular.
The beginning was a little confusing but I realised that it was supposed to be to some extent because Alice was also confused too. The flashbacks were used judiciously enough that they genuinely pushed the story forward and didn't become a device in their own right. The pace of action was varied enough that it avoided becoming either one headlong frenetic rush or becoming one long talk-fest. Enough action to be interesting with enough talk to put it into context.
The ending was good - I didn't quite get how she could have been in that room being "treated" if everybody was gone but I loved the desolation of the streets when she did get out there. I like the post-/apocalyptic genre generally and I look forward to how the sequel will deal with it.
Overall, I liked this movie - suitably quirky opening that had me puzzled for a while and, even now, still leaves a couple of questions open for me.
First check of the watch - I don't think I did throughout the entire movie.
Let's get the bad out of the way first. Michelle Rodriguez spends the entire movie scowling and looking up through furrowed brows. Awful in every scene she appears in.
The good - Milla Jovovich. She play these kinds of parts well, I think. Even though the movie was awful, she was good as Violet in Ultraviolet. She has quite an imposing physical presence which means that, even when she does impossible stunts, she looks like she could have done it.
Most of the vitriol targeted towards this movie centres on its differences with the game - but having never seen, let alone played, the game, I don't have that to compare it to so I can take the movie on its own merits. Reasonable plot, generally good acting (Michelle Rodriguez aside) and enough action/dramatic balance to keep the pace rolling without going berserk. SFX were good - I liked the laser room, in particular.
The beginning was a little confusing but I realised that it was supposed to be to some extent because Alice was also confused too. The flashbacks were used judiciously enough that they genuinely pushed the story forward and didn't become a device in their own right. The pace of action was varied enough that it avoided becoming either one headlong frenetic rush or becoming one long talk-fest. Enough action to be interesting with enough talk to put it into context.
The ending was good - I didn't quite get how she could have been in that room being "treated" if everybody was gone but I loved the desolation of the streets when she did get out there. I like the post-/apocalyptic genre generally and I look forward to how the sequel will deal with it.
