Viruses and monsters actually pay off

By Kelly Benedict

Death and taxes were once sure things. Death has now been ruled out.

A technological thriller dabbling in the genres of both action and horror, Resident Evil is a unique twist on the status quo of cinema. Four years in the making, it’s an edge-of-your-seat ride with amazing images and heart stopping special effects.

The multi-million dollar Um-
brella Corporation secretly carryies out illegal research in an underground laboratory called the ive. Every aspect of the lab is controlled by a computer called the Queen Bee, and it houses high-tech science experiments. One of these experiments is the T-virus. Once released, the virus is impossible to destroy and highly deadly.

After a vial breaks and the virus seeps into the hive, Queen Bee takes swift action to stop its spread-the computer locks down the compound and tries to exterminate the occupants. A special clean up unit, including Alice, played by Milla Jovovich and Rain, played by Michelle Rodriguez, is dispatched before the lockdown to discover what went wrong. Ill prepared, the team soon discovers the mission will be more troublesome than they originally expected. Racing the inevitable shut down of the only exit, they try to kill the victims of the massacre-the living dead, with a desperate hankering for human flesh.

Jovovich puts in a stellar performance filling the demanding role of Alice, a special agent unsure of her role in the corpor-
ate massacre. Her many fight scenes are impressive as she is faced with a desperate shortage of standard weaponry and an abundant need for it. Pummeling corpses, drop kicking skinless dogs and wielding an axe all seem common place.

Michelle Rodriguez was well cast as Rain. The acid tongue
and abruptness of her character seem natural, almost second nature.

While the acting is deft, realist special effects are the true stars in this flick. The flesh eating
zombies, mad dobermans, mutating beasts and melting eyeballs are quite believable. The detailed cinematography creates an imminent danger, and evokes irrepressible fears in the viewer. Dangerous spans of time during which I didn’t breathe were all heightened by the movie’s high-tech suspense sequences.

A futuristic plot, with unheard of viruses and monsters, has potential to leave the viewer wanting. For Resident Evil, this wasn’t the case. Skillful acting and superior special effects inevitably lend to the creditability of this movie–even if you’re undead.