I remember looking forward to Resi 4, but after several recent releases failed to inspire (RE0 and the Outbreak series) I didn’t look into it much, and boy was I surprised! An entirely new control and view set up, a larger focus on action over horror, and a very weird new type of enemy that’s far more intelligent and capable than a zombie. Damn good fun it was too! Let’s take a look then, shall we?
Wow, things sure as hell escalated quickly! I paid so little attention to these films that I had no idea Extinction was so literal and that the Resi films departed from the games so much. So yeah, we’re in a complete zombie apocalypse world now, with small bands of survivors. Thankfully most of my criticisms of the previous entry are not present in this one, leaving a much more pleasant watching experience… though it still wasn’t exactly great or anything. Want more info? Read on!
So after a short detour, we resume our look at the core Resident Evil game timeline thanks to the on-going Live Action Movie to Game Marathon, though at this point the games and movies have very little in common! Really, I should have just reviewed Code: Veronica X on the PS2, but I played through the Dreamcast version several times back in the day, but only played through X once (for the sake of the new cutscenes) so I felt I had to include it as well. That means I’ll be looking at both, and with the differences being so minimal it doesn’t really matter. Let’s take a look!
So, we reach film #2 in the Resident Evil movie franchise, and this is where my experience ended. I put this movie on after being pleasantly surprised with the first one, and switched it off half way through. While the second game (or even the third that this is clearly more based on) was still more horror than action, this is just action, and action with a super-powered heroine at that. Still though, is it any good at all now, with fresh eyes and a need to sit through it no matter what? Let’s find out!
Hey, I know what you’re thinking “This is the second Resi film, why is he reviewing the prequel game?” Well, it’s simple: I’ve already reviewed Resident Evil 2 and its Remake, and if I review this now (given its close ties to the original REmake) and Code Veronica tomorrow, then Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 will match up with the fourth, fifth and sixth movies, which will be … fitting, I guess (though technically not accurate!) So with all that out of the way: Resident Evil Zero, the prequel that could have been a great idea, but instead is pretty poor and messes up the timeline a bit. Ah well, let’s take a look anyway!
So this marathon has finally made me sit down and watch the Resident Evil live action films… You’d think I would have seen them already given how much I like the game series, but half way through the next film I was out, and never returned (more on THAT tomorrow…) This film, while nothing like the original game (or its remake!), does at least capture a lot of parts that regularly appear in the games, and by creating a whole new cast means they were free to do what they want without upsetting the game fans. So what was it like? Let’s find out!
Thanks to already having reviewed the original Resident Evil, I’ll be tackling the far superior remake up against the film of the same name, which is vastly different in every way despite being released in the same year! The Resident Evil Remake still remains one of the most legitimately tense and atmospheric games I’ve ever played, as well as one of the more challenging for newcomers… Let’s take a look!
Although it didn’t match exactly up like I’d hoped (I still have to review the original two Tomb Raider films) given it’s nearly Halloween and doing some sort of countdown / marathon to do with it is all the rage, I thought I’d get the six Resident Evil films “out of the way” in my Game to Live Action Movie Marathon, so I’ve tied them together! Over the next six days, starting tomorrow, they’ll be one set of a movie and a game from Resident Evil each day, ending on Halloween itself November 1st, because I can’t count, apparently… (note some of the games don’t match thanks to the first three games, plus the remake of 2, already having been covered on the blog!)
Did I enjoy the films after years of avoiding them like the plague? Find out!
When does “so bad its good” go too far? Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is the answer to that! The original Mortal Kombat was a fun, cheesy watch, even if it wasn’t meant to be, but this?! Yikes… Our first sequel in this marathon is quite the disaster, and killed the movie franchise dead. Annihilation is a very apt title, though Armageddon would have been just as good! (Yeah, that was a poor way to link the two reviews, but ah well!) Let’s take a look anyway…
When it comes to the sequels to movies, which often begin to follow their own continuity, I thought I’d review another entry in the game series rather than stick rigidly to the release sequence (plus, let’s face it, my review of Mortal Kombat 2 would be pretty damn similar to my review of MK1!) Therefore we have Mortal Kombat: Armageddon reviewed alongside Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, two MK:A’s, but vastly different in how much fun you can get out them… Let’s have a look!
Hogan Reviews 