Revisiting the First Resident Evil Movie

The first Resident Evil movie was released in 2002. It is loosely based on the first video game of the same name. The film should be seen as its own thing because it deviates from the game significantly.

Plot Summary

The movie opens with a viral outbreak at an Umbrella research facility. The AI, later named Red Queen, locks down the facility and kills all the workers. This is when we meet our main character, later named Alice, as she wakes up in a bathroom. She has amnesia due to the mansion’s defense mechanism.

Some random dude, later named Max, meets her, and then commandos from Umbrella break in. Alice becomes our fish out of water character, and the commandos explain what is going on to her and the audience. They re-open the Hive and try to figure out what happened.

As they enter the Hive, our heroes come across Spence. He also has amnesia, and we learn he is “married” to Alice. The two are Umbrella employees who guard the mansion entrance to the complex built below the mansion.

This raises my first question: Do all the employees in the hive live there, or do they all commute to the mansion to get in? The movie’s structure suggests that these people commute daily to the mansion to enter the Hive. I guess I’m not supposed to think about this.

Our heroes find a secret lab/warehouse that isn’t on the facility’s map. This is where the biological weapons are being made. In this movie, we meet the Lickers. This is also where the laser scene is, and it is one of the more memorable things about the movie. It looks really cool and is a way to kill off some of our commandos.

The power gets turned off, letting the zombies out. They find our heroes very fast! This is where the chase begins, as the good guys run from the zombies.

While all this is happening, Spence and Alice start regaining their memories. We learn more about what happened at the beginning of the movie. It is nicely done.

Spence caused the outbreak by stealing the T-virus and the anti-virus. The group breaks up as he realizes that he’s evil. This is a little strange and doesn’t make much sense, but we need another bad guy, so whatever.

Spence gets eaten by a Licker that escaped earlier in the movie. The survivors make it to the train, get the cure, and start to make their escape. The Red Queen gets shut down again.

The Licker attacks the train and kills one of the remaining commandos. Rain, the last living commando, turns into a zombie at the same time. Alice and Max defeat the Licker and Rain. Max gets injured during the fight.

On the way out, Max starts to mutate. Umbrella shows up and takes him away while subduing Alice. This is when the Nemesis project is mentioned.

Alice wakes up in a lab. She breaks out of it and finds herself in Racoon City after an outbreak. The city is already destroyed, and it sets up the sequel. It is a good ending leading to the second movie and draws inspiration from the next two games.  

Similarities and Differences with the Games

A few games were out at the time of the movie’s release. The first film was released in March 2002, so we can ignore the games that came out after it. Also, in 2002, Resident Evil 0 and a remake of Resident Evil were released. These both came out after the film.

Here is a list of the games that were on the market at the time of the film’s release:

• Resident Evil (1996)
• Resident Evil 2 (1998)
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
• Resident Evil Survivor (2000)
• Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica (2001)
• Resident Evil Gaiden (2001)

The movie takes a few things from the first three games but tries to be something different. The mansion, laboratory, and the outbreak are all here. The problem is all of the stuff it leaves out.

The STARS are gone, the recognizable characters aren’t here, and the ending is totally different. The mansion is destroyed in the game, and there are more survivors. The movie also makes Umbrella out to be this corporation that is above the law, which wasn’t the case in the games.

Here is a list of the differences I noticed:

• Changes to the Main Characters
• No STARS or Racoon Police. (Max says he’s a cop, but that is probably bullshit.)
• The Red Queen
• Reasons for the Outbreak. I don’t think it is explained in the first game.
• The Licker replaced the Tyrant
• Mansion isn’t destroyed
• Heavy focus on action

Despite the changes. I think this is an entertaining movie. It isn’t great, but it isn’t the worst movie out there. It is good that the movies tried to be their own thing.

Final Thoughts

The movie has several big moments. There are some cool scenes, and this makes for a decent zombie film. It is more action-packed than other zombie movies, but that was the style at the time. Directors didn’t want to make a George Romero movie with a message behind the zombies.

Separating it from the games for a bit, it is a perfectly fine movie. If you’re one of the people who care deeply about the game’s lore, you probably won’t like this very much. I like this one and the second movie. The rest of the series goes off the rails, and I don’t like it that much.

This is a very 2000s horror/action movie. It absorbed many of the tropes that were popular at the time, such as slow-motion Matrix fights and constant jump scares. This isn’t a scary movie; it is an action movie that tries to scare you.

While the game had jump scares, it was less of an action game. It also used camera angles that obscured the enemies from your view in an attempt to build tension. The game did a better job of trying to be scary than the movie.

The other movies would take this plot in some confusing directions. They would also incorporate more things from the games over the years. I’ll talk about them as I work my way through the other films.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts on video game movies, such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.