My my, what a big weapon you have

Resident Evil is the latest in a long line of computer games turned action movie.

Neil Heath

But can you think of any that have been any good?

Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider have all been berated, but is Resident Evil any different?

The answer is, at least it bothers with something called ‘a plot’, however with its relentless and disturbing ‘hungry zombie scenes’, it becomes quite tiresome to the point of becoming plain absurd.

The Plot
Resident Evil the movie, is set before the gaming titles, as an explanation as to why the world’s population look in need of a Big Mac.

Oooh, Mr Scary Face

Alice (Jovovich) is part of a team of commandos who have to venture into a vast viral research laboratory known as The Hive.

They soon find out that all the workers have been turned into flesh hungry zombies with the help of a deadly virus.

Behind all of this is the Red Queen - an artificial intelligent psychopath.

The Verdict
Resident Evil highlights a paranoia over above-the-law-corporations, who are working on fatal viruses, as well as the technology-taking-over scenario.

Given that, it’s quite thought provoking. In this film, it’s the Umbrella Corporation that believes its workers are expendable.

Go ahead punkette - make my day

The belief that humans are simply pawns to those who have more power and influence is and always will be frightening.

In this sense the film offers no hope for the future and promotes an air of depression.

With its dark corridors and gung ho soldiers, Resident Evil is reminiscent of ‘Aliens’, but not half as good.

This is largely to do with dull characters, a bit of humour wouldn’t have gone a miss.

Accepted that the last thing you want to do when being chased by zombies is crack jokes, but when the chips are down a few nervous laughs are expected, especially when you're being chased by the undead – how absurd is that? You have to laugh.

The film’s pace is relentless, and if you’re like me you’ll be spending half of it looking through your fingers, it’s also set to a thrashy soundtrack that helps move it along.

But once you’ve been scared by a zombie coming out of the shadows for the first time, then you have for the second, third and forth time, there’s only so much you can take before wanting the film to end quickly.

On the whole, this is a movie for kids that are not quite old enough to see it, if you know what I mean.

For the rest of us it’s a case of ‘seen it all before’ and it was better that time.

Will a computer game ever be any good on the big screen? Probably not, unless George Lucas or Steven Spielberg start making computer games.