A Resident Evil feature film was in development as far back as 1997. Zombie genre godfather George Romero was even on board to direct as he had done a Resident Evil 2 game trailer that impressed Sony. Ultimately, the project fell through, but a young director who had been successful with video game movies was hired to direct. Paul W. S. Anderson had helm Mortal Kombat (1995) before and managed to make it economically viable for companies to produce movies based on games, so hiring him to make another one based on a genre he was more than familiar with (having made another horror film, Event Horizon, in 1997) seemed rather obvious.
In 2002 the first feature length Resident Evil film was released. It starred Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, Martin Crewes, Colin Salmon and featured music by Marilyn Manson. With a budget of 33 million dollars it gained about 103 millions at the box office, opening the possibility to make many, many sequels. However, critical and fan response was not favorable. Many considered it too much of a deviation from the games and labeled it as a seemingly hollow and generic action flick, but at the very least normal audiences enjoyed it as they had no point of reference when it came to comparing them to the games.
How does it hold up? Let's see.
The shady Umbrella Corporation has been developing a virus known as T-virus in their underground laboratories. Things turn awry when the virus breaks out and infects the scientists who were working on it. Meanwhile, trapped inside a mysterious mansion, Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up not remembering anything about her life. She has an encounter with a group of commandos, an unknown man and a cop. They must find their way through a genetic research facility and hopefully stop the T-virus from spreading, as well as facing off against an artificial intelligence known as the Red Queen.
One of the biggest things you have to get over in order to enjoy these movies is the fact that they don't want to faithfully adapt the video games, they should probably be seen as independent works of fiction inspired by elements from the games, even featuring names, enemies and scenarios from them but never as straight adaptations. Once you do this it will be very easy to digest their deviations and accept them as their own thing.
W.S. Anderson is quite admirable and perhaps underrated as an action director, as I mentioned in my Alien vs Predator (2004) review, he's one of the few mainstream filmmakers who rely heavily on the audiovisual side of the medium, often relegating plot and dialogue to a secondary level and telling the story purely on cinematic terms. His narration is impeccable here, the opening sequence tells you everything you need to know, there's not one shot that's superfluous, everything is there to convey the events in the story in a crystal clear manner, even down into the smaller details, no element is merely decorative and every action is presented in the most straight fashion possible. He's the master at using style as a device to reach the pure substance, and he only got more radical as the series went on.
With astounding production values, elaborate production design, vigorous music and beautiful cinematography, Resident Evil is a dazzling experience that aged like fine wine. Most Hollywood products are never this diligent and meticulously executed, it's so rich in detail and craft that it's endlessly entertaining and rewatchable, it moves so fast and with such a relentless energy that it never ends up dragging, it just catches its breath only to continue the ride soon after. The best example is the perfectly executed laser hall sequence that synthesizes the film's strengths to their maximum capacity.
The film probably doesn't stick to the story of the game closely, but it manages to pick up the tension and the videogame timing Resident Evil had to offer. I also like how the zombies resemble the early George Romero creatures more than any other zombie, it was a dead genre at the time (for the most part) but we must realize that the Resident Evil movie was part of the big zombie comeback of the 2000's, it gave it new life.
Another heavy influence on Anderson for this film was probably Aliens (1986), felt via the concept of a special forces team and a solitary heroine who survives the struggle against an army of creatures (not to mention going up against a “queen”). Anderson even has his own "Vasquez" played by the great Michelle Rodriguez, she is often seen playing a tough badass action girl in a secondary role and this movie basically gave her that image (even more so than Girlfight), a kind of double edged sword because it made her relevant in Hollywood but it also kept her away from starring in her own vehicle like other action stars and was only relegated to supporting roles for most of her career. She is quite good in the film and has a lot of the more awesome moments of action, even upstaging Milla in a few scenes.
However, Milla does shine throughout the film and not accidentally. In real life Milla is Anderson’s wife, they met while making this movie and you can tell by the way the romantic director shoots her, always elevating her image, making her appear otherworldly and precious, treating her like a sublime being above everyone else. This aspect would continue and become more relevant as the series went on.
This first outing in the franchise is dynamic and hyperactive, an unrelenting action rollercoaster that's sure to hypnotize you with its flow of audiovisual storytelling and stimulation. A totally recommended film for horror-action fans and perhaps for people who are willing to give this iteration of the franchise a second try with new eyes. It's not as delirious as the following sequels that were actually directed by Anderson but it’s still a delight.
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