This is a frustrating film. I want to highlight that I am a fan of the games, but am not a mega-fan and know all the intricacies of the lore.
I thought the film opened really well, it starts off very eerie and introduces us to a few characters that we see throughout the film. It begins with this really spooky atmosphere, very similar to the games, not just in the opening scene, but for about the first hour or so. I really liked the scene which showed us Chris' next door neighbours, they were really unsettling in appearance and acted strangely. When the film picks up and works it's way into the two key areas, the Spencer Mansion and the RPD, the cracks begin to show a bit. I think for the most part, both environments look really good, in particular the spencer mansion, which features rooms pulled straight from the game, same for the RPD, though it is a bit more CGI compared to the mansion. There is a really well shot fight in the Spencer Mansion involving Chris and some pretty decent action. I think for the most part I actually liked the casting, Chris, Jill and Claire were all well casted, Leon too, though that character has some major issues.
I think the problems people have with the casting this film more so reflects the appalling writing. Dialogue feels unnatural, and cringeworthy throughout the whole film. In particularly with Leon, who is almost reduced to an attempt at a comedy relief character. He is depicted as a drunk, oblivious rookie cop who has no idea what to do. The interactions between him, the chief of police and other members of the RPD are cringe inducing and cliched. This dialogue issue is not just an issue for this character, but is front and centre throughout the entire movie.
Lisa Trevor's design was really cool, and see was very unsettling when on screen, but overall played no real part in a very poorly paced, poorly executed, bloated story. William Burken is the main antagonist of the film, who is cast well again, but ultimately destroyed through writing. The climax of the film basically involves Burken injecting himself with the G-virus, not dissimilar to the second game. He begins to mutate and go after the main cast, but the CGI for the Burken monster is so poor it is impossible to feel scared of him. It's a similar case with the main zombies too, as stated earlier, the scene with Chris' neighbours is genuinely creepy, they have a very uncanny appearance which I thought would lead to a really cool zombie makeup in the later parts of the film, but I was completely wrong. The zombie makeup is poor and often looks like it was done at a cheap costume shop.
The final fight is extremely underwhelming, as I said, most the environments throughout the film look and feel really good, but when the cast get down to the "lab" and the train, the environments just become a dark grey tunnel. I really thought it would follow the rest of the film, and stay true to the games in terms of environment. Instead of a bright, white laboratory stained with the horrors of umbrella, the film boils down to some dimly lit, dirty corridors underground. After beating Burken for the first time, he returns ripping off the roof of the train to attack the team again. Again, the CGI somehow gets even worse, there's a very short fight between the monster and chris, before Leon pulls out a rocket launcher to kill it. Yep, not big team fight, literally Leon just shooting the monster with a rocket launcher. When the film realises it needs to explain where he got the launcher from, all he says is he got it in first class. For me, this was so incredibly underwhelming, the action of the movie had been decent up until this point, so for the final "big" scene to boil down to this it's extremely disappointing.
Though this film is severely flawed, it's not unwatchable. I was very bored one night, and fancied sticking on a film, and if you're in the mood for a bit of a mindless, B-movie type adventure, this may be up your street. If you've never played the games, you may enjoy it a bit more, though if you're a big fan or even just have some knowledge of the series.... Prepared to be disappointed........again.
I thought the film opened really well, it starts off very eerie and introduces us to a few characters that we see throughout the film. It begins with this really spooky atmosphere, very similar to the games, not just in the opening scene, but for about the first hour or so. I really liked the scene which showed us Chris' next door neighbours, they were really unsettling in appearance and acted strangely. When the film picks up and works it's way into the two key areas, the Spencer Mansion and the RPD, the cracks begin to show a bit. I think for the most part, both environments look really good, in particular the spencer mansion, which features rooms pulled straight from the game, same for the RPD, though it is a bit more CGI compared to the mansion. There is a really well shot fight in the Spencer Mansion involving Chris and some pretty decent action. I think for the most part I actually liked the casting, Chris, Jill and Claire were all well casted, Leon too, though that character has some major issues.
I think the problems people have with the casting this film more so reflects the appalling writing. Dialogue feels unnatural, and cringeworthy throughout the whole film. In particularly with Leon, who is almost reduced to an attempt at a comedy relief character. He is depicted as a drunk, oblivious rookie cop who has no idea what to do. The interactions between him, the chief of police and other members of the RPD are cringe inducing and cliched. This dialogue issue is not just an issue for this character, but is front and centre throughout the entire movie.
Lisa Trevor's design was really cool, and see was very unsettling when on screen, but overall played no real part in a very poorly paced, poorly executed, bloated story. William Burken is the main antagonist of the film, who is cast well again, but ultimately destroyed through writing. The climax of the film basically involves Burken injecting himself with the G-virus, not dissimilar to the second game. He begins to mutate and go after the main cast, but the CGI for the Burken monster is so poor it is impossible to feel scared of him. It's a similar case with the main zombies too, as stated earlier, the scene with Chris' neighbours is genuinely creepy, they have a very uncanny appearance which I thought would lead to a really cool zombie makeup in the later parts of the film, but I was completely wrong. The zombie makeup is poor and often looks like it was done at a cheap costume shop.
The final fight is extremely underwhelming, as I said, most the environments throughout the film look and feel really good, but when the cast get down to the "lab" and the train, the environments just become a dark grey tunnel. I really thought it would follow the rest of the film, and stay true to the games in terms of environment. Instead of a bright, white laboratory stained with the horrors of umbrella, the film boils down to some dimly lit, dirty corridors underground. After beating Burken for the first time, he returns ripping off the roof of the train to attack the team again. Again, the CGI somehow gets even worse, there's a very short fight between the monster and chris, before Leon pulls out a rocket launcher to kill it. Yep, not big team fight, literally Leon just shooting the monster with a rocket launcher. When the film realises it needs to explain where he got the launcher from, all he says is he got it in first class. For me, this was so incredibly underwhelming, the action of the movie had been decent up until this point, so for the final "big" scene to boil down to this it's extremely disappointing.
Though this film is severely flawed, it's not unwatchable. I was very bored one night, and fancied sticking on a film, and if you're in the mood for a bit of a mindless, B-movie type adventure, this may be up your street. If you've never played the games, you may enjoy it a bit more, though if you're a big fan or even just have some knowledge of the series.... Prepared to be disappointed........again.
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