Resident Evil (2002) Review:

Video game movies have been around since the video game industry boomed after its initial crash. Considered to be a guilty pleasure and one of the more accurate adaptations was the original Mortal Kombat (1995). Yes, it was cheesy and it didn’t gain high reviews, but people still enjoy it today. Since then video game movie adaptations have been a thing for the last couple decades and probably will continue onward. The level of interest movie studios has had though seemed to have gone in waves. By the end of the 1990s it wasn’t as profitable until this movie came out. The weird thing is how it started. Reason for this is that this movie was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson…the same director of Mortal Kombat (1995). What are the odds he reinvigorates a genre once every decade or so?

The plot of the film is that sometime in the future, a national conglomerate company called The Umbrella Corporation is the sole provider for all consumers of basic needs. However, behind the scenes they also produce high weapons grade items and bio-hazards. When a deadly mutagen is released inside the company’s facility and goes into lockdown, a taskforce is sent in to fix the issue. Tagging along with them are what seem to be three ordinary civilians. Two of which, Spence (James Purefoy) and Alice (Milla Jovovich) have a case of memory loss and don’t recall how they were involved to begin with. The premise is the most intriguing part of the movie, story wise. As for the rest, there’s not a whole lot to get behind.

There are plot holes that turn up later on that don’t make sense when looking at the full story. Employees of the umbrella corporation work in a facility underground and are not allowed to be above ground. Yet, the initiation of this whole plot happens above ground involving employees of said company. That’s not to say Paul W. S. Anderson did not do his research on the brand though. To be able to write and direct this feature, he made sure to dive deep into the games. With that said, there are several references throughout the movie to the video game itself. To that, fans of the video game series must have been marginally happy with those nods of nostalgia. Despite those clever callbacks, charming characters are hard to find among all that’s on screen.

Coming out on top of the cast as not only the lead actor, not only as an action star but also meeting her future husband (the director); Milla Jovovich plays the only character a viewer might root for. The other cast members like Colin Salmon, James Purefoy, Eric Mabius, Michelle Rodriguez and Martin Crewes act their way through the movie just fine, but their characters just aren’t written with anything special. The same could be said for the special effects, more specifically the CGI. Being that CGI had been shown to blend fairly well with physical backgrounds by this point, it makes no sense why some of the visuals look like they were still from the era of Mortal Kombat (1995). Maybe these aspects were also homage to the original Resident Evil video game since the visuals and characters weren’t Oscar material either.

The gore on the other hand is pretty good looking as well as the practical effects. Credit to cinematographer David Johnson for helping with getting good looking shots. The set design also helps in the look of the film. Lastly for music, the score was composed by Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson. While there has been no clear official release of the score itself, the music to the film is a mix of electronic pulses and brooding synthesizers. The idea was to have edgy music and while it feels that way in some places, other times it matches the more tactical depiction used by the military unit. It’s worth a listen if possible because it is not the classic sounding orchestral score one would expect.

Director Paul W. S. Anderson seems to have had a knack for jump starting video game movie trends early on in his career by doing the same thing twice. While it’s not by any means high end in performances, this video game movie is fairly faithful to its source material even if the special effect qualities are subpar in certain places even for 2002. Music also provides an interesting listen.

Points Earned --> 6:10

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) Review:

The names Sergio Leone and Spaghetti Westerns have become practically one and the same. Most filmmakers who end up making period piece films credit Mr. Leone for their inspiration. The films he worked on were that influential. Despite him having only eight head director credits, Leone had written scripts and operated as assistant director to many other pictures. The three films that would make him a household name were A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). The last official western though Leone would end with, was this movie even though he tried getting Clint Eastwood to appear in it somewhere, one last time. Instead, he got a different lead star but it propelled them to stardom all the same.

Jill McBain, an heiress to a man’s fortune (Claudia Cardinale) discovers she’s a widow when her family is gunned down by Frank (Henry Fonda) a deadly mercenary. Hoping to keep himself away from the law, Frank frames Cheyenne the bandit (Jason Robards). At the same time, searching for Frank is an unnamed gunman who plays the harmonica (Charles Bronson) who has his own mysterious intentions. The script was written by frequent partner Sergio Donati and Sergio Leone himself. Rarely are there times where a screenplay ties up all loose ends for characters with little to no question. It’s not easy to do and sometimes things are left ambiguous. But for this feature the Sergio duo made sure to the audience saw each character cross paths in a way that felt natural as well as explaining the backstory. This can be difficult seeing that Leone also directed this feature as mentioned before.

What’s nice to see though are characters who are fleshed out and have charisma to them. The acting is performed very well and immerses the audience in the setting. The dialog feels appropriate and uses only words that felt like they came from that time period. Even for a rated PG-13 film, the curses are not what one would typically hear…if any for that matter. Being that the story revolves around Jill McBain, Claudia Cardinale portrays her character with strength that perhaps was not seen very often. Especially for the time period of the film, but also the story. It’s also a much more serious character opposed to her role as the princess in The Pink Panther (1963). Playing another serious character is Henry Fonda as Frank. Seen mostly as good guy characters, it was quite a shock to discover Fonda playing the antagonist, and a pretty heartless one at that.

Jason Robards as Cheyenne the bandit is a peculiar character as he gets caught in the mess, but doesn’t play to either side. If anything, he’s kind of there for comic relief but not all the way. It’s strange though because there is one thing about his character that comes about which doesn’t add up and can’t be explained in this review. There’s railroad baron by the name of Mr. Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) who also gets tangled up in these various characters. He too plays to neither side really and comes across as a slightly sympathetic character. Lastly though is the harmonica player played by Charles Bronson. While Bronson had been in films before, this was one of his later pictures that brought him to the forefront of tough men. Bronson’s performance is stoic yet charming simultaneously. That’s scarce in most of those roles. The only thing that works against this movie at times is its pacing.

The film lavishes taking in the scenery and set designs which are well crafted. To some, it feels like a drawn out setup. The intro credits alone take ten minutes to get through. It may just seem excessive. That’s not a discredit to Tonino Delli Colli as the cinematographer. Having worked on many projects, Delli Colli captures lots of details and makes them jaw dropping. His last picture famously was Life Is Beautiful (1997). Finally, the film score composed by another frequent Leone extension Ennio Morricone is nothing to scoff at either. Morricone created themes for many characters, more specifically Jill and Bronson’s role. There’s even guitar that kicks in elevating the tension to unheard of heights considering the time period this movie was made. Way before 1980s rock. Well done.

If extended long shots and meticulous world building is something seen as boring, best to stay away. But that’s the only real thing seen as an issue. The music is flawless for the time, the cinematography is magnificent including the set design and the actors are great in their roles.

Points Earned --> 8:10

Alien (1979) Review:

If there was a setting science fiction films used abundantly, it was outer space. Or, the final frontier as Star Trek would often call it. The reason for this perhaps is because aside from humanity not knowing much about what lies in the Earth’s oceans, we know probably even less what’s out in the vast miles of space. It was popular in the 1960s and got a big enthusiastic injection with George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977). One thing that hadn’t been popularized yet during the 1970s was science fiction horror, until this movie. Now regarded as one of the best science fiction horror films out there, Alien (1979) is a must see for fans of the genre. Keep in mind though, if one is already desensitized to the genre, it’s better to appreciate the craft more than the feeling.

The script, written by Dan O'Bannon having only written once before this in John Carpenter’s Dark Star (1974) is impressive. A crew of workers are headed home from a long time doing their jobs and resting. On their journey, they receive a distress signal from a nearby planet and investigate. When they return, they realize something else has returned with them. The crew consists of Tom Skerritt as Dallas, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, Harry Dean Stanton as Brett, John Hurt as Kane, Ian Holm as Ash and Yaphet Kotto as Parker. This is also only the second credit to director Ridley Scott having no experience in the horror genre before this. Of course, the actor coming out with the most notoriety was Sigourney Weaver as the lead.

The character of Ripley defined what it meant to be a horror girl but with the biggest package rivaling almost all the male characters in the movie. Dallas as the most senior of the group shows how much he’s invested in his job. Brett is one of the nonchalant engineers on board and Parker is the other who does his best to follow orders. Ash is the science officer who plays things very straight and blank faced, about as objective as his profession. The only two characters who don’t add a whole lot are Kane and Lambert. They just don’t do a whole lot that stands out. However, the actors who play them are credible. John Hurt and Veronica Cartwright had been in horror films before this. Hurt was in The Ghoul (1975) and The Shout (1978), while Cartwright was in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).

Then there’s also Bolaji Badejo, the actor who plays the alien itself. Documented in being almost seven feet tall, this was the guy who gave the alien its towering height and look. The way Badejo moves in the costume gives it a very animalistic personality. Part of the credit should go to effects artists as well. The set designs are miraculous for the time this movie was made and the detail that went into them. The one everyone remembers the most is the space jockey monument. Honestly, the set surrounding it is even more mind blowing. Plus, with the help from miniatures and matte paintings the scope to this film feels massive despite it having a very short cast of actors. The only thing that doesn’t work in this film’s favor is the horror gore aspect. For beginners this film may scare, but for avid viewers, one might be enjoying more of the visuals than actually experiencing thrills.

Derek Vanlint was the director of cinematography for this picture. Surprisingly Vanlint would only go to shoot for two other movies. That being Dragonslayer (1981) and The Spreading Ground (2000). For what’s put on screen, Vanlint’s work looks good. The way the angles are shot really help give the viewer a sense of isolation. Lastly the film score composed by Jerry Goldsmith had an interesting approach. To the behest of Ridley Scott, Goldsmith had to make his score much more subdued and atmospheric. That’s different for Goldsmith as he was used to producing more developed music, even for horror films like The Omen (1976), The Swarm (1978) and Magic (1978). Despite him doing this though, the music is adequate and has a few themes that will remind the viewer of the bleakness in the situation.

For newcomers and people who don’t watch horror often, this should be scary. Those who aren’t phased may just enjoy it for its technical prowess and performances. That’s its only flaw, but it depends on the viewer. Ultimately all aspects work to its benefit, from the acting, to the visuals and the music.

Points Earned --> 8:10