I remember watching the Doom film on TV about a year after it came out and thinking “well, it was generic, but still a good laugh”.15 years later and I feel half the same, in that it’s generic, but not really a good laugh any more. Now if you look at the original game you’ll see there isn’t much to go on, but that doesn’t mean they had to create the most cliché group of Space Marines ever conceived and remove all the demons! Ah well… let’s take a look!
“What?! The Atari Jaguar version, why the F-“ well let me cut you off there, weirdly enough this was the first version of the game I played (yes I owned a Jaguar back in the day… Hello buyer’s remorse!) and frankly, it’s likely to be the only chance I have to review a Jaguar game. I had, like, six or seven other games on the system, and I can’t see myself reviewing the others, with the possible exception of Alien vs. Predator… So yeah! The original Doom, inspiration for so… so many games to come after it, as well as a not so good film. Let’s take a ruddy good look!
We reach the first “Bonus Movie” of this marathon, basically that means there is no game to review alongside it. As I said in the previous entry, I never really played the game series, but I can still review this movie as not only am I familiar enough with the source material but it’s a sequel to a film I’ve already reviewed! So, how does “The Cradle of Life” hold up against the first film, which to be fair, wasn’t that great? Well, it holds up pretty much the same, if I’m honest…
Given the runaway success that was the original game, and the fact that not only was it set in an easily-realised-on-screen modern world but its main protagonist was an attractive female, this was a no brainer. Just hire a top actress who attractive and can do a half decent English accent (or not?) and there you go! But is Lara Croft: Tomb Raider actually good, or was it just like the Resident Evil films that came after it and just about the female hero looking cool?
Funnily enough I’ve never really been into the Tomb Raider series. I played the original quite a bit around various friends’ houses, and I THINK I played the second one, also around a friend’s house, but that’s it really. I know all about the series because, let’s face it, it was the first 3D series to actually become “Iconic”, with Lara Croft herself becoming a gaming icon in no time flat. Still, along with giving you a look at the game that inspired the film, how does Tomb Raider play in 2020? Well…
Well here we are, the *ahem* day after Halloween and we’ve reached the end of the Resident Evil Game to Live Action Film marathon… marathon, with the self-titled “Final Chapter”. Sadly, while there were some good ideas and set pieces, a lot of this film falls apart thanks to dropping a bunch of ideas and characters in favour of bringing back an already defeated foe as a final enemy, robbing any drama from the final showdown… Hooray! Let’s take a last look at a Resident Evil live action film then, shall we? (For now anyway…)
Ah yes, Resident Evil 6, a prime example of trying to do too much leading to a poor end result. Four separate campaigns, seven lead characters, several different themes and tones but all with the same slightly clunky-feeling controls… it wasn’t great, and thankfully the reception of the game (not including sales given it’s still CAPCOM’s third bestselling game) led to Resident Evil VII going back to a horror focus, but that game will have to wait for another time, right now we end our look at the core Resident Evil games via the Game to Live Action Movie Marathon with Resi 6!
After a … well, hot streak would be pushing it… after a decent streak, the Resident Evil films hit another snag with Retribution. Instead of doing another simple, self-contained story, they go crazy with franchise call backs, clones and action set pieces and forget about having even the previously simple plots they’d used before. Oh well, we’re nearly done now, so we may as well get this out of the way and move on to the finale!
Resident Evil 5 had a bit of a negativity swirling around it after release, for failing to live up to the previous entry, but I personally found it just as enjoyable to play (if still not very Resident Evil-y) but with the added fun to tying up the Chris-Wesker storyline. Ah well, at least 6 came along to take the heat off of it a few years later! So let’s take a look at Resi 5, on the same day we’re cover a film featuring Jill with her look and storyline from this game in it! Fitting!
Resident Evil: Afterlife’s posters all contain a big “3D” logo under the title, which is always a worry, and sure enough the film suffers from an over-reliance of objects going towards the camera and slow motion falling. Still, it’s not all bad, it has elements from Resident Evil 5 which were a good laugh, with the live action debut of Chris Redfield no less, and the plot is simplified (apart from the opening!) so… let’s take a closer look!
Hogan Reviews 