Resident Evil (film)
Resident Evil | |
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Directed by | Paul W. S. Anderson |
Written by | Paul W. S. Anderson |
Based on | Resident Evil by Capcom |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | David Johnson |
Edited by | Alexander Berner |
Music by | |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Countries | |
Language | English |
Budget | $33 million[3] |
Box office | $103 million[6] |
Resident Evil is a 2002
German studio Constantin Film bought the rights to adapt the series in live-action in January 1997. Several writers and filmmakers, such as Alan B. McElroy, George A. Romero and Jamie Blanks, were initially hired to direct and write the film, but their scripts were rejected. In 2000, Anderson was announced as writer and director. Developed as a prequel set in the same continuity as the video game series, the film was initially titled Resident Evil: Ground Zero, but was retitled after the September 11 attacks. Cast was announced in early 2001 and principal photography commenced in March 2001 in Berlin.
Resident Evil was theatrically released in Germany on March 12, 2002, by Constantin Film Verleih, and in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2002, by
Plot
Underneath
At the Red Queen's chamber, a laser defense system kills Shade and three more commandos. Despite the Red Queen's urgent pleas for the group to leave, Kaplan disables it, causing the power to fail and all of the doors in the Hive to open. This releases the zombified staff and containment units containing
As they escape through maintenance tunnels, zombies ambush them, and a reanimated J.D. bites Rain before she shoots him dead. They reach safety except Kaplan, who is bitten and separated from the group. Alice remembers that an anti-virus is in the lab, but they find it missing. Spence and Alice remember that Spence was the thief who stole and purposefully released the T-virus, and hid both the T-virus and anti-virus on the train. Spence turns against the others but is bitten by a zombie before trapping the survivors in the lab. Spence retrieves the anti-virus but is killed by a Licker set upon him by the Red Queen. The Red Queen offers to spare Alice and Matt if they kill Rain, who has been infected too long for the anti-virus to work reliably. As the Licker attempts to reach them, a power outage occurs. The lab door opens to reveal that Kaplan shut down the Red Queen to open the door. The group heads to the train, where Alice retrieves the anti-virus and kills a reanimated Spence before escaping with the others.
On the train, they inject Rain and Kaplan with the anti-virus. The Licker, having hidden on the train, attacks them, clawing Matt and killing Kaplan. Alice subdues the Licker before Matt is attacked by a zombified Rain, the anti-virus having failed to cure her. He shoots Rain dead, and her head hits a button, opening a door and dropping the Licker under the train, killing it.
At the mansion, Matt's wound begins mutating. Before Alice can give him the anti-virus, the mansion doors burst open, and a group of Umbrella scientists seizes them. They subdue Alice and take Matt away, revealing he is to be put into the Nemesis Program, and that the Hive is to be re-opened for an investigation into the incident.
Sometime later, Alice awakens at the Raccoon City Hospital strapped to an examination table and escapes outside, only to find Raccoon City in ruins. She retrieves a shotgun from an abandoned police car and continues through the streets.
Cast
- Alice
- Michelle Rodriguez as Rain Ocampo
- Eric Mabius as Matthew "Matt" Addison
- James Purefoy as Spence Parks
- Martin Crewes as Chad Kaplan
- Colin Salmon as James "One" Shade
- Ryan McCluskey as Mr. Grey
- Oscar Pearce as Mr. Green
- Indra Ové as Ms. Black
- Anna Bolt as Dr. Green
- Joseph May as Dr. Blue
- Robert Tannion as Dr. Brown
- Heike Makatsch as Dr. Lisa Addison
- Stephen Billington as Mr. White
- Fiona Glascott as Ms. Gold
- Pasquale Aleardi as J.D. Salinas
- Liz May Brice as Olga Danilova, the medic
- Michaela Dicker as Red Queen
- Jason Isaacs as Unnamed doctor / Narrator
Production
Development
German production company
In 1998,
In 2000, director Jamie Blanks was attached to a new adaptation that was said to borrow more elements from the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis games.[22]
In 1995, Paul W. S. Anderson's low budget film Mortal Kombat became one of the first commercially successful video game adaptations.[23] After playing Resident Evil, Anderson saw its cinematic potential and wrote a script titled Undead, which he described as "a ripoff" of the game. Bernd Eichinger, head of Constantin Film, was enthusiastic, so Anderson developed it into the script for Resident Evil.[16] In late 2000, Anderson was announced as director and writer, and Resident Evil re-entered pre-production stages.[24] Anderson stated the film would not include any tie-ins with the video game series as "under-performing movie tie-ins are too common and Resident Evil, of all games, deserved a good celluloid representation".[25]
Casting
In early 2001,
Filming and story development
In early March 2001, half of the film was to be shot in Adlershof Studios in
The film was originally subtitled as Resident Evil: Ground Zero
During production, professional dancers were hired to star as zombies as they had better control of their body movements. While computer effects were used on some zombies, much of the undead appearances were accomplished through make-up while their movements were a more laissez-faire approach, as Anderson told the actors to move however they thought a zombie would, given their conditions.[35] Whilst filming, there was a shortage of manpower where the available dancers were not enough to represent the required numbers of undead, but some of Capcom's executives and several of the film producers including Jeremy Bolt agreed to make appearances. The film's stunt coordinator also made an appearance as the dog trainer while Bolt's girlfriend and sister both appeared as zombies.[35]
The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson during mid-2001. Manson described the score and soundtrack as being more "electronic" than his previous work.[36]
Relationship to the games
Elements are borrowed from
Other references include Alice examining the mansion outside, where crows are visible; crows are minor enemies throughout the games.
While returning to the Red Queen's chamber, Kaplan points out that the four bodies of the group's dead crew from the Glass Hallway Trap sequence are gone. This is a reference to the games, where the bodies of enemies disappear.[37] When the survivors make their escape from the Hive with a countdown as they fight the Licker, this is a reference to the Resident Evil game which ends with a five-minute countdown, during which the boss must be defeated.[35]
Anderson has stated that the film's camera angles and several shots allude to the video game's camera angles, such as the fight between Alice and the security guard. These include a scene near the beginning where there is a close up of Alice's eye, a direct reference to the title screen of the first game. In another scene, Alice awakes and hears a creepy sound, which is a reference to the plot of the first game.[35][37]
Release
Marketing
In March 2001, the official website was set up, which revealed the film's original October 26, 2001 release
In December 2001, Sony gave fans a chance to design the film's poster with a prize of an undisclosed amount of cash and free screening of the film, with the final design being the film's poster. Resident Evil was released on March 15, 2002, in the US.
On June 29, 2004, over two years after the film's release, a novelization by
Distribution
In May 2001, it was announced that
In December 2001, it was announced that Pathé and FilmFour had acquired the British theatrical distribution rights to the movie as part of a partnership between the two companies. They would both share acquisition and distribution costs and divide profits equally, while Pathé's UK distribution arm would handle distribution.[2]
Home media
Resident Evil: Special Edition was released on
A Deluxe Edition was released on September 7, 2004, which included new special features such as an alternate ending with director Anderson's video introduction, a clip compilation for Apocalypse, From Game to Screen featurette, a storyboarding Resident Evil featurette, and 6 other exclusive featurettes: The Creature, The Elevator, The Train, The Laser, Zombie Dogs and Zombies.[56]
Screen Gems released Resident Evil: Resurrected Edition, a 2-disc package containing Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, on September 4, 2007.[57][58]
On January 1, 2008, a Blu-ray of the Resident Evil trilogy was released.[59] The film was also released on Ultra HD Blu-ray along with the five sequels on November 17, 2020.[60]
Television
In the United Kingdom, it was watched by 2.8 million viewers on television during the first half of 2005, making it the eighth most-watched UK film on television during that period.[61]
Reception
Box office
The film opened in 2,528 theaters and grossed $17,707,106 on its opening weekend (March 15–17, 2002), ranking in second place behind Ice Age.[62][3] The film grossed $40,119,709 domestically and $103,787,401 worldwide.[6]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 36% based on reviews from 132 critics and an average rating of 4.6/10. The consensus reads, "Like other video game adaptations, Resident Evil is loud, violent, formulaic, and cheesy."[63] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 35 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[64] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[65]
Robert K. Elder from the Chicago Tribune thought the film "updates the zombie genre with an anti-corporate message while still scaring its audience and providing heart-pounding action".[66] Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly noted: the film is as "impersonal in its relentlessness as the video-game series that inspired it".[67]
Resident Evil and its sequel appeared on Roger Ebert's most hated films list, published in 2005.[68] In his review, Ebert described it as a zombie movie set in the 21st century, where "large metallic objects make crashing noises just by being looked at", and criticized the dialogue for being a series of commands and explanations with no "small talk".[69]
In 2014, filmmaker James Cameron named Resident Evil his biggest guilty pleasure.[70][71]
Accolades
Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Golden Schmoes Awards
|
Most Underrated Movie of the Year | Resident Evil | Nominated | [72] |
Best Horror Movie of the Year | Nominated | ||||
Best T&A of the Year | Milla Jovovich | Nominated | |||
2003 | 29th Saturn Awards | Best Horror Film
|
Resident Evil | Nominated | [73] |
Best Actress | Milla Jovovich | Nominated | |||
German Camera Awards | Outstanding Editing in a Feature Film | Alexander Berner | Nominated | [74] | |
2004 | Golden Trailer Awards | Most Original | Ignition Creative | Nominated | [75] |
Sequels
After commercial success at the box office, a sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) was released. It was followed by Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016). Anderson did not direct the second or third films due to filming commitments with Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Death Race (2008).[76][77]
See also
References
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