Resident Evil (2002): Alice ages like a fine wine.

So you thought you were going to get a review of "Dead Season", didn't you? And you noticed that my blog update is a day late huh?

Well, the electronic gods conspired against me with BOTH of my internet and cable going down for a week until the cable company could come out and run a new drop to my house. While this was great for me catching up on my reading and hanging out with the little missus, it really messed up my grand plans for watching "Dead Season".

No worries. With "Resident Evil: Retribution" hitting the theatres last month, I thought it might be nice to revisit the original Resident Evil movie that started the franchise. It's been awhile since I watched this movie so it was almost like watching it all over again for the first time.

First, I have to say what has to be said: Milla Jovovich, who plays the main character Alice, is a BADASS. Period. Her fighting moves and action sequences in this movie blow me away. For my money, you could just make a 90-minute film of her killing baddies with no dialogue or plot and I'd still watch it.

Thankfully, the plot is there and is quite good. There's a virus outbreak in the "Hive", and underground development facility for the all-knowing omnipresent uber-company "Umbrella Corporation" (according to the movie 9 out of 10 houses have an Umbrella product in them). A computer safety program called "The Red Queen", a scary red hologram of a little girl, locks down The Hive and kills everyone inside. Instead of leaving well-enough alone, the Umbrella Corporation sends an elite para-military force down the rabbit hole to see what happened and kill the Red Queen.

For you Zombie movie affcionados, you know this can lead to no good. They should have left that place sealed up like a crypt called it a day. They didn't, so you know what happens next.

Mayhem ensues. And boy does it.

The Zombies in Resident Evil are scary as hell. They're a combination of regular Romero-esque Zombies and fast-movers. Extra bonus points for scarier-than-all-hell Zombie Dobermans guard dogs.


I won't go too much further into the plot since I don't like to give spoilers. There's enough of a plot and fast-paced action that the movie will be over before you know it and leave you wanting for more.............which is what I guess a good franchise does! I'm so glad that the electronic gods conspired together to make me watch this movie because I forgot how much I liked it.

I think I need to check around the house now to see if I have any Umbrella products.

My verdict? On a "Zombie Movie Scale of 1-10" I'd give this one a 7.5

A fast pace, good plot, lots of killing and baddassery kept me involved for the entire flick. There's a good reason why this movie spawned a slew of sequels. As a matter of fact it was soooooooo good I've got the sequel, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" lined up to watch next!

WATCH IT IF: you like fast-paced action and hi-tech weaponry, are turned on by Zombie Dobermans, or fascinated by the idea of a whacked-out version of Alice in Wonderland meets Zombies.

DON'T WATCH IT IF: you scare easily, like your leading ladies a little more cute and cuddly like found in "The Traveling Pants of the Ya Ya Sisterhood", or you dislike movies that unjustly demonize large power-mongering corporations.

"Resident Evil" is available for streaming thru Amazon Prime and Netflix, and is also available for purchase from many locations.

More info can be found on IMDB here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120804/

 Up Next: We follow Alice on her further adventures in Racoon City.