Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Resident Evil’

Written by Scott Edwards

How difficult it must be for people that work in a place where they do not agree with the ethics of their employer. I have dealt with this situation with some past managers during my long working tenure and most of the time, those managers were released from their position. I will never say that I am a perfectly ethical employee, but when something is not being done to better the business, it has no place in the office and I have made it known that I will not be a part of it. But there are so many people that keep their mouths shut when it comes to confronting their leadership about what is right and wrong and instead of taking a stance, they wind up leaving without saying a word. Keeping that inside of you over time is not healthy and when someone starts to do something wrong at your new job, you end up releasing your fury from the last one that left you scorned. 

Waking up in the shower while it is still running, Alice is lost and confused. Being able to find clothes to dress up in, she starts to take a tour of the large house surrounding her, but there is one problem, she has no idea who or where she is. When making it to the front door, she is grabbed by Matt who says he is a police officer, but before she is able to confirm his story, the house is breached by a group of elite soldiers. Trying to get a report out of Alice, Group Leader One sees that she will not be any help to him and the group must make their way down to the Hive to find out what set off their alarms.

With reports that the main computer, the Red Queen, killed everyone in the Hive, the group is forced to find out why. Being able to gain access to the Hive, which is buried under Raccoon City, the group is joined by one more person who was hidden on the train. Spence is suffering the same affliction as Alice and has no idea what is happening around him. While Alice starts to get brief flashbacks about her life, she is forced to continue moving with the soldiers until they reach the main power supply of the Hive. Not finding anyone alive in the facility is frightening to the group and without any answers as to why the Red Queen turned homicidal on all of the people in the facility, they must keep their guard up.

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Arriving at the core of the Hive, the group of soldiers are cut in half by the computer's defenses, but the system is eventually rebooted. But unlocking all of The Hive’s secrets will give the remaining force much more to think about as the doors open to reveal what happened to the people working here, because the Red Queen did indeed kill everyone in the facility and took it one step further by making use of the classified experiments that went on in the Hive, bringing the dead back to life in the process and unfortunately, the group finds out first hand that the experiments have worked all too well. Having to fight off a horde of zombies, there is still something more sinister hiding in the shadows and the Umbrella Corporation has not been very forth coming about what they are really up to in their underground facilities. 

​While finding out what she is capable of when fighting the undead threat, Alice starts to gain more memories about who she was before being knocked out in her home. Finding out what the Hive was really doing, she was going to take a stand against Umbrella, but now has to fight for her life and the lives of the other survivors instead. In a race against time, the remaining few are forced to take steps and come to terms that their survival is completely dependent on the computer program that they came to kill and they will have to play by its rules until they are able to find a way back to the surface.

I have never gotten into the Resident Evil games, so I am not sure how the movie really translated, but I liked how the storyline came together. Watching as Alice started to finally understand who she was and what her task is was great. I did however develop a soft spot for Matt as he was one of the ‘rebels’ against the Umbrella Corporation that wanted to take it down and had lost a sister in the process. With a ton of action, there is something for everyone, and even a couple of laughs before the credits roll. I would hate to see what would happen if there really was a T-Virus and how it could infect the world if it broke free from a laboratory, it is kind of scary if you think about it. A strong start to the series and I hope that the rest of the movies keep my attention as much as this one did. Stay Scared.

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