Resident Evil

Mesmerized by Event Horizon, I was looking forward to another good helping of Anderson’s perversion, the chosen material called for that, but alas! What I got instead was disappointment and utter boredom. The only scene that pulled me out of my lethargy was the one in the corridor with the elaborate security measures of the mainframe, where Anderson wasn’t afraid to push the envelope. Not even Mila Jovovich in a mini-skirt pulled it off, although I admit her karate against a mutated Doberman has something to it :) (01.12.2002)

Lots of B-movie action, violence, rip-offs of other (often better) films, decent music, lots of guns and zombies and two very beautiful and very cool women in the lead roles. I don't know about you, but that's enough to satisfy me. (06.08.2002)

Wahrscheinlich habe ich mich zu sehr von der Atmosphäre von Event Horizon - Am Rande des Universums anstecken lassen, aber Resident Evil hat mich von Anfang an genervt. Alle Beiträge Andersons beschränken sich auf zahllose dumme Gruselgeschichten, die die prosaische Tatsache überdecken, dass es dem Film an Spannung und echtem Schrecken fehlt. Milla ist zwar ein sehr sexy Objekt und Rodriguez wiederum sympathisch verkommen, aber Resident Evil fehlt es an wirklich starken Actionszenen und ein bisschen Perspektive. Aus diesem Blickwinkel erscheint mir der zweite Teil von Apocalypse ein wenig amüsanter und mehr "brain free"... Aber ansonsten ist es immer noch mein Geschmack, Routine, anständig, ansehnlich. Ich würde gerne schreiben, dass Anderson es besser machen könnte, aber nach Resident Evil und AvP habe ich einige Zweifel. (07.10.2004)

Confusing action, stupid clichés, irritating characters, and zero engagement. When I only root for Michelle Rodriguez in her classic pose of "I'll kill anyone who argues with me" and only one scene entertains me, it's really bad. Anderson's tangled direction foreshadowed a series where the first installments are ironically worse. (22.10.2006)

I admit that it's quite brisk and well shot, that it has a pretty thick atmosphere full of good scares at the beginning and the zombies are nasty as hell. But what's the point when the whole thing is such terrible crap that it made me laugh out loud at times. The undead, however well designed, were terribly clumsy, and their human victims had no trouble escaping from even the largest of crowds, while the intrepid Milla Jovovich puts everything in the same bag, whether it was mutated people, dogs or the funny monster at the end. I also expected a lot more rawness and some blood from Anderson, but in an hour and a half, the director only offered us a severed head and one interesting dismemberment, though the camera got scared of it. The 3 stars are the furthest I can go, it definitely doesn't deserve more. (28.09.2011)

A standard B-movie based on a great game series. Resident Evil 3 for PS 1 is a big favorite of mine. I was looking forward to it, but at the same time, I was very apprehensive about how it would turn out. To my pleasant surprise, the movie was great in all respects. Of course, there were a few flaws such as logic holes, too many "cool" one-liners, and the overly tough Michelle Rodriguez who came on too strong. I was pleased to see that the script didn’t copy the plot of the game but came with a story of its own. This way, I didn't have to compare the movie and the game, which would end up in me hating the film crew as it sometimes happens to me after watching a film adaptation of a book. To sum it up – a decent action movie, a disgustingly rotten corporation, and James Purefoy – 4*. (04.11.2016)

In its day, this was a relatively entertaining piece of trash that is rather laughable from today's perspective. Whether with some of the CGI segments or the at times fairly poor editing. But what works here are the fundamentals, which should work in any killer movie, i.e. I enjoyed wondering in what order the main characters would exit the screen. And Michelle Rodriguez has one of her coolest roles here. (04.07.2019)