Resident Evil: Deluxe Edition (DVD)

Resident Evil: Deluxe Edition (DVD)
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson - Starring: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez
By:stacilayne
Updated: 09-28-2004

A deadly virus has been let loose in a secret underground research facility called The Hive, turning its employees into flesh-eating zombies and mutating the lab animals. The government sends in an elite military task force lead by Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) to contain the virus, which must be completed within three hours, or it will escape and infect the rest of the world. The plot is all there, but this movie is not a cautionary tale about scientific experiments gone awry; clearly, it's meant to be a blood-spattered, shoot 'em up, slice 'em and dice 'em, horror sci-fi popcorn flick to the nth degree.

 

This movie, unlike an awful lot of previous video-game-to-big-screen translations, is a very well done, kick-ass action ride in its own right. However, it is extremely violent -- blood and gore galore are definitely on the menu for this one (hey, zombies have to eat, too!).

 

The zombies are actually pretty standard fare: not much evolution since George Romero brought them to, er, life on the big screen decades ago. While they lumber through the dark corridors in search of their next fast food treat, there's another, more formidable enemy wandering the halls: The Licker, a creature whose tongue brings to mind a wickedly mutated Gene Simmons. Then there are the undead attack-Dobermans and cruelly cutting laser beams, not to mention the evil Red Queen, a computer who has sealed all the exits and makes Hal look like a Palm Pilot.

 

Writer-director Paul Anderson pulls out all the stops as time counts down and the body count goes up, all set to a totally head-banging hard rock soundtrack (featuring Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Fear Factory, and others). The special effects are out of this world -- they definitely raise the bar for this type of film. It's eye candy, ad infinitum.

 

Jovovich, despite being clad in a rather silly red mini-dress with an incongruously asymmetrical skirt, makes for a bang-up, hardened heroine (and I know a few guys who would volunteer to have their necks snapped like twigs between her thighs, anytime). If you've ever had a bad day and felt like kicking the dog when you got home, just remember her scene with the Dobermans... you might think twice! Rodriguez makes for a worthy zombie-assassin as well, guns always at the ready, and trademark sneer firmly in place.

 

So will the team defeat the Red Queen and find the anti-virus in time, or are they doomed to turn Undead? Who really cares? Everyone is just red meat in this off the hinges gore-fest. Pass the popcorn!

 

The Resident Evil Deluxes DVD is a good one for the discerning gore-miester's library. The over the movie commentary by Jovovich, Rodriguez, and director Paul Anderson, is worth the price of admission alone. I have a feeling everyone imbibed a bit beforehand (and possibly during) and the end result is a lot of fun. This is probably the only DVD commentary (in recent memory, anyway) which contains the words "fist-fuck". And, you get to hear Jovovich and Rodriguez say "like" and you know" literally hundreds of times! Such a deal.

 

Other additional release material, at least two hours worth, includes featurettes on the "making of", the score (interview with Marilyn Manson), the costumes, set design, locations, and "Zombie camera tests," which give you a greatly detailed view of the makeup, contact lenses, etc. Very well done.

 

The only thing that really sets this version of the DVD from previously released editions is the new alternate ending. It's a bare-bones look at what could have been, sans CGI. It's an interesting alternative, but I'm with Paul W.S. on this one: The bleak theatrical ending really does work best.

 

(by Staci Layne Wilson)

 

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