Evil Zombies Ho!
Just got back from Resident Evil: Apocalypse with cadhla and porpentine in Concord. Non-spoiler impressions above the cut.
It was good, and satisfying, and I enjoyed it. Like any horror movie, some of the people you're rooting for die, and some don't. The ending didn't suck. The camera work was a bit jumpy and they did some other effects with it, particularly one stunt which you will all recognize when you see it, which, despite being a real stunt looked like CG. Similarly the fights weren't badly choreographed, but they were chopped up too much to really enjoy them.
I love Milla. cadhla will no doubt give massive details about what they did right that fits within the movie-universe, and what they did wrong, but mostly this movie is all about Milla, and she did a fine job. The belayed run down a 35 story building, despite being afraid of heights, was just beautiful. The fight choreography in the graveyard was also really good, if you don't count the overly choppy editing. They need to send all editors of fight scenes to Hong Kong for a couple of year and get it through their heads that you don't need five cuts per second to make a fight scene look really good. One every two-to-three seconds would be better.
Pity Alice going to be the villain in the next movie, for at least part of it. Since characters do get better from time-to-time in RE, there's a chance that they'll save her, but it's a pretty minimal chance, particularly now that they've got the Jill Valentine character to carry the water as the heroine. (Yes, I'm a sucker for redemption. It's what drives me nuts about anime.)
Everyone else was good. Jill's actress resembled the character and wasn't lame, but she wasn't as cool as Milla. The girl playing Angie was nicely in line with the Supercomputer from RE1. The whole premise is seriously implausible, but, alas, getting more plausible by the year. Per the current motto over at Making Light, "I deeply resent the way the current administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist." Much more of the Bushies and you really will believe that a Big Megacorp with Bioweapons could shut down a city and nuke it to contain an outbreak. Well, I might, but see the nutbar conspiracy theorist as above.
We have zombies, lickers (if you don't know, don't ask), zombie dogs (if in Zombie Movie you see any van labeled 'Police K-9 Unit', go the other way, quickly), Nemesis (sort of zombie + supersoldier with big gun and terminator-style internal overrides), lots of gunplay, and a police sniper sitting on a roof top with a Big Cowboy Hat, a beer, an MP3 player, and a lawn chair. I think the last was my favorite part. Apparently the credits had Many Entries for Zombies too, but alas, I missed those.
All and all, I am seriously considering digging out my Dreamcast and finishing Resident Evil: Code Veronica, which is about as high a recommendation as you can give for a film like this. Resident Evil fans should immediately go see it, and buy the DVD when it comes out. Horror fans should at least catch the matinee. Non-horror, non-game fans should consider getting drunk and watching it with friends when it comes out on DVD.
It was good, and satisfying, and I enjoyed it. Like any horror movie, some of the people you're rooting for die, and some don't. The ending didn't suck. The camera work was a bit jumpy and they did some other effects with it, particularly one stunt which you will all recognize when you see it, which, despite being a real stunt looked like CG. Similarly the fights weren't badly choreographed, but they were chopped up too much to really enjoy them.
I love Milla. cadhla will no doubt give massive details about what they did right that fits within the movie-universe, and what they did wrong, but mostly this movie is all about Milla, and she did a fine job. The belayed run down a 35 story building, despite being afraid of heights, was just beautiful. The fight choreography in the graveyard was also really good, if you don't count the overly choppy editing. They need to send all editors of fight scenes to Hong Kong for a couple of year and get it through their heads that you don't need five cuts per second to make a fight scene look really good. One every two-to-three seconds would be better.
Pity Alice going to be the villain in the next movie, for at least part of it. Since characters do get better from time-to-time in RE, there's a chance that they'll save her, but it's a pretty minimal chance, particularly now that they've got the Jill Valentine character to carry the water as the heroine. (Yes, I'm a sucker for redemption. It's what drives me nuts about anime.)
Everyone else was good. Jill's actress resembled the character and wasn't lame, but she wasn't as cool as Milla. The girl playing Angie was nicely in line with the Supercomputer from RE1. The whole premise is seriously implausible, but, alas, getting more plausible by the year. Per the current motto over at Making Light, "I deeply resent the way the current administration makes me feel like a nutbar conspiracy theorist." Much more of the Bushies and you really will believe that a Big Megacorp with Bioweapons could shut down a city and nuke it to contain an outbreak. Well, I might, but see the nutbar conspiracy theorist as above.
We have zombies, lickers (if you don't know, don't ask), zombie dogs (if in Zombie Movie you see any van labeled 'Police K-9 Unit', go the other way, quickly), Nemesis (sort of zombie + supersoldier with big gun and terminator-style internal overrides), lots of gunplay, and a police sniper sitting on a roof top with a Big Cowboy Hat, a beer, an MP3 player, and a lawn chair. I think the last was my favorite part. Apparently the credits had Many Entries for Zombies too, but alas, I missed those.
All and all, I am seriously considering digging out my Dreamcast and finishing Resident Evil: Code Veronica, which is about as high a recommendation as you can give for a film like this. Resident Evil fans should immediately go see it, and buy the DVD when it comes out. Horror fans should at least catch the matinee. Non-horror, non-game fans should consider getting drunk and watching it with friends when it comes out on DVD.