The Resident Evil Franchise [2002-2012]: from Alright to Being Weird

Okay, so I was having a little chat with my friend some days back about movies, movie reviews and about The Movie Geek’s Blog. He asked me if I am only going to maintain a blog that praises every film, or I am going to be harsh as well to those who deserves.

This remark was like an eye opener for me, and I rushed to check my previous reviews and I found out that most of the reviews I write are for the films I liked.  How can I call myself a movie critic when I am resisting to grab all my chances to criticize films I hated watching. I am not being funded by Warner Bros or the Fox studios, I have all the rights to let go my words, however abusive it may sound. Following the advice he gave, I decide to write about a film franchise, which went from Alright to Bad to Garbage after every new part that came. I am talking about the Resident Evil Pentalogy [I don’t even know if that word exist or not]. So I watched Resident Evil: Retribution [the 5th part] a few weeks back only because I have this syndrome to finish off movie franchises I started, and I had to watch this film and I will continue watching it even if they come with a 6th part, which they will.

When the original film; the part 1, Resident evil came in, I kind of enjoyed it [okay I watched it in 2005, forgive me for saying that], it was one of the first few zombie films I watched. I can’t fake to be sophisticated enough saying I did not like it at all and totally trash this film; instead I admit I liked the first film of the franchise. The whole concept of the Umbrella Corporation was fascinating; they remained untouched even after the greatest of apocalypse.
Zombie films are a very dangerous investment for the producers if they are looking for some critical reception; most zombie films fail because of several reasons. The authorities do not consider such films for any form of accolades or awards, critics do not prefer rating them anywhere above a 6 on a scale of 10. These films have to be extremely innovative to climb the ladder of success and critics &  user ratings. 

Some of the coolest zombie films I saw in the recent times are Shaun of the Dead, Zombie land and Go Goa Gone. They were successful because they used the element of humor in the background to present the supposed Horror. Resident Evil on a completely different note tried a serious approach to present an apocalyptic tale that failed miserably as it became more and more unrealistic with every new addition to the franchise.  A zombie film is kind of a fantasy film itself, so in a good zombie film, there should be no other fantasy element. This keeps the horror intact, while in this franchise, you will come across a dog with 4 faces, zombies with 4 tongues, some characters that never die, characters that multiply, laser beams and many more things that you will ultimately regret being a witness to a crap like this. I will make some honest remark that you can like the 1st part as it had a story to go after and save the curiosity of the viewer till the end, you can continue to see what happened later to Alice and the others she befriended in the 2nd part.

In the 3rd part, you can see some really nice cinematography and lots of brightness and sun in this otherwise dark patched film also do not miss the little section that showcased Las Vegas covered in deserts after the T-Virus infected everyone. 

Do not go any further; if you are into good movies only, the 4th and the 5th part are real shame to this otherwise entertaining franchise. If you are only into great cinema, do not bother yourself to watch any part of the Resident Evil franchise. Let’s rate the parts individually and then the whole franchise,  Resident Evil [2002]: 6/10 RE: Apocalypse [2004]: 5/10 RE: Extinction [2007]: 6/10 RE: Afterlife [2010]: 4/10 RE: Retribution [2012]: 2/10 Overall Movie Geek’s Rating: 4.6/10 Cast: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr. Directed by: Paul W.S. Anderson [Part 1, 4 and 5], Alexander Witt [Part 2] and Russell Mulcahy [Part 3]. ------------------------- Author: Amrit Rukhaiyaar