Resident Evil 2 -- reviewer Lee Pletzers

Resident Evil 2
Director: Alexander Witt
Starring:
Milla Jovovich
Sienna Guillory
Mike Epps
Oded Fehr
Jared Harris


This
is an awesome movie, the hype killed some of the thrill, but I wasn’t
expecting much. What I got was an action packed zombie movie with all
the bells and whistles and a few plot holes. Some things didn’t match
up, I’d like to think this was due to some bad editing choices.

The movie was tight and it stayed that way all through to the end. Even had some good one-liners.

Resident
Evil 2 carries on the story of Alice and the T-virus. At the end of
number one, we see her walking out on a city of death, she picks up a
shotgun from a police vehicle and here’s where number one ends. Part 2,
shows us in flashback mode what happened to her after they carried her
into the hospital. Not all is given away here, only a taste of what the
scientists did to her.

We are shown the hours before the
zombies escape, and the scientist ordering the Hive to be opened.
They’re going in. Unfortunately the zombies come out. An evacuation of
the city is ordered and the only exit point is Raccoon city bridge. The
virus quickly finds it’s way here and the exit gates are closed,
leaving thousands trapped.

Viewers get to meet Dr. Ashford the
creator of the T-virus and the reasons why he made it involves his
daughter who is trapped at her school. This shows itself to be the
overriding storyline of part 2. Alice meets up with three others, one a
TV reporter, and 2 cops -- one of whom is bitten early. The other cop
is Valentine, a tough as nails, disgraced female cop. We learn this via
newspaper articles pinned to her wall. Somehow she knows of the
infection and goes to the city police station, where cops are trying to
restrain the zombies and she shoots them in the head saying, “They’re
infected!”

Dr. Ashford enlists the help of Alice, Valentine,
Terry (reporter) and later also enlists the help of Umbrella Corps.
special police force, who were standard in Raccoon City to fend for
themselves.

All in all, five go in search of his daughter at her school. A bonus note here: The dogs are back. Gotta love the zombie dogs.

The
action in this movie is hard and fast, non-stop all the way. A real
thrill ride. If you are expecting horror due to the zombie elements -
don’t. This is an action flick.

A good cast fills this movie
(wish I could remember all the names) and they run with the storyline
to the ‘max’ extent. Making this a great movie to watch and pure
enjoyment. And it is here, that I must mention some bad stuff about the
movie. Sorry about this, but…

“Hello plot-holes!”

It’s
true and I wish most of it was because of poor editing choices. First
off, when Alice meets up with Terry and Valentine, how does she know
they are hiding in a church? How does she know there are Lickers there?


Dr. Ashford explains the T-virus he created for his daughter but doesn’t mention why he didn’t use it on himself.

This
movie is about the T-virus and the people it affected, so how the heck
did the dead rise from their graves and attack Alice and the others??

****Warning
- a spoiler kind of, I mean it was predictable, so I have no worries
mentioning it here: Dr. Ashford gets shot in the head. How did he
become a zombie? No bites and he was never anywhere near the action
until the ending where he was, as I mentioned, shot. This boggles the
mind. I must have missed something important.

Some Alice’s
lines are wooden and I thought a third grader had written them. All the
rest of the cast had decent lines. And often her acting is lacking.
It’s like after a quarter of the movie has passed before she finally
gets into it and does a wonderful job. In all fairness, though, I
believe that part of the woodenness is acting, as Alice has to come to
terms with a new feeling building inside her.

On another point
the action and martial arts were excellent but too fast to actually see
what was happening. And the stunts were over the top and beautiful.

This
is a wonderful movie to spend your time watching, if you can ignore the
stuff mentioned above. The action in this flick helps with that. If
you’re looking for an SF action movie with zombies and a little bit of
blood, tense action and a few shocks, see this movie. You won’t regret
it. If on the other hand you want to see a horror zombie movie with
blood and gore -- this movie isn’t for you.

One last point: If you liked Resident Evil 1, you’ll like Resident Evil 2.

I
rate this movie as 8/10 for action, storyline and a great blending of
the two movies, you could watch one and two, back to back -- no
problem. Because of the plot holes and being a writer myself, I’d have
to rate the overall story 5.5/10.

In short: Very watch-able and enjoyable and F.U.N.