::: Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Marilyn Manson worked on the soundtrack, so it's no surprise that Resident Evil is best enjoyed by headbangers, goth guys, and PlayStation junkies. Like the interactive game it's based on, this horror hybrid pits a small band of SWAT-like commandos (including Milla Jovovich and Girlfight's Michelle Rodriguez) against a ravenous hoard of zombies, resulting in a gorefest that only sociopaths could love. The tenacious heroes are trapped inside the Hive--an underground complex where an evil corporation conducts illegal research with a deadly virus--and the zombies (reanimated corpses of sacrificed employees) are fodder for endless rounds of gunfire. It's utter nonsense (not unlike director Paul W.S. Anderson's previous Event Horizon), so your best defense is to wallow in it or avoid this trash altogether. A few cool sequences are borrowed from better films (that slice-and-dice laser is cribbed from the 1998 Canadian shocker Cube), but if you're in the mood for heavy-metal carnage, this movie's for you. --Jeff Shannon
From The New Yorker
The genetically superior Milla Jovovich does her best Angelina Jolie impression in yet another feeble attempt at making an entertaining movie from a video game. The plot has her trapped inside an underground research lab fighting zombies and computer-generated Dobermans. Mayhem ensues as poor storytelling, incoherent editing, and bone-crushingly bad rock songs tear director Paul W. S. Anderson's movie to pieces. -Bruce Diones