Resident Evil *** (2002, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Ryan McCluskey) – Classic Movie Review 1163

Commandos enter a secret research facility when an experiment unleashes a deadly virus, but an intelligent computer and zombies turn their mission into a nightmare.

Writer-producer-director Paul W S Anderson’s 2002 horror thriller, based on the video games, is flashy, pacy, scary and entertaining, and does the business it sets out to do. Its regular bursts of exciting action do the trick nicely but in between it often seems a little bit empty, clichéd and repetitive.

Milla Jovovich is a huge asset, doing really well as the tough heroine Alice, a teenage boys’ fantasy action heroine to reckon with, and there’s strong support from tomboy Michelle Rodriguez as Rain Ocampo, another convincingly tough heroine.

A $100million hit, followed by four sequels so far, Resident Evil: Apocalypse in 2004, Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)  and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), all with Jovovich. A sixth episode is due in 2016: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Anderson married Jovovich on 22 August 2009 and they have one child.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1163

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/