Also known as: Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Nemesis (working titles)
Release Date: August 23rd, 2004 (Tokyo premiere)
Directed by: Alexander Witt
Written by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Based on: Resident Evil by Capcom
Music by: Jeff Danna
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Jared Harris, Mike Epps, Iain Glen, Zack Ward
Constantin Film, Impact Pictures, 94 Minutes
Review:
“We’re assets, Nicholai. Expendable assets… and we’ve just been expended” – Carlos Olivera
Since I’ve never actually watched these films in their entirety, I figured that I’d work my way through them. The first movie wasn’t great but it was an enjoyable way to spend 100 minutes. I assumed each entry in the series would take a step down but I actually like this film a bit more than the first one.
To start, the story is better, more interesting and more fleshed out. You understand what’s happening at a deeper level and Alice is coming into her own, remembering her past. Also, she has been modified genetically to essentially be a super soldier.
The special effects, while not perfect, are better than what we got in the first movie. The CGI is more fine tuned and the director was smart enough to keep some of the imperfections obscured in darkness and shadow. The Lickers looked better because they weren’t in brightly lit rooms but instead, confronted our heroes in a dark old church.
Additionally, the urban setting was much more interesting than seeing the heroes fight zombies and dogs in a generic looking lab.
Best of all, we get the Nemesis character. He looked pretty f’n good considering the budget, the difficulty in the design and the weak effects of the previous chapter in this series. I thought the big fight between Alice and Nemesis was actually quite good and a throwback to grittier late ’80s/early ’90s sci-fi action movies. It had a lot of near-cringe CGI work but the practical effects were nice to see and worked well.
One complaint though is the fighting style, which uses a lot of Hong Kong style wire work. While I get that Alice is an acrobatic super solider, it looks hokey in spots and my brain just can’t accept the shoddy physics. While it doesn’t bother me in Hong Kong cinema, because it is very much the Hong Kong style, it is a visual distraction that pulls me out of the movie in regards to its use here and in other Resident Evil movies.
But I didn’t watch these expecting any sort of perfection. I watched these to have some fun and to finally give this franchise the respect that maybe it deserves just on its ability to stay relevant, to pop out constant sequels and for being the highest grossing film franchise based on a video game property.
Anyway, I enjoyed this and being two films deep, this series is still engaging. Maybe I’ll be surprised and continue to enjoy the four other sequels after this one.
Rating: 6.5/10
Pairs well with: the other Resident Evil films, as well as other horror video game films from the same era: the Silent Hill series and Doom.
Talking Pulp 