The Live-Action Movies: Good Films, Guilty Pleasures or Wastes Of Time?

[JHJ]

I know that this thread is going to be divisive, but I'm interested to see how people react.
The subject of the live-action RE movies is one that I've seen splits fans into three camps: those that love them, those that hate them, and those that consider them guilty pleasures. I have to admit, I'm in the third camp.
Yes, I know that the films aren't that great, the story is inconsistent and contradicts itself, and the game characters are wasted, but there's something about them, that I can't define, that keeps me coming back to them.
What about you guys?

 

[Hel]

but there's something about them, that I can't define, that keeps me coming back to them.

It's called boredom. You're sitting at home either with nothing to do or not wanting to do whatever you're supposed to do, so you start looking for a distraction and one of the RE films happens to be on - voilà! Everyone knows that feeling.

To answer the question: I think they're a waste of time. For me, they work neither as good movie adaptions of the videogame series nor as good movies by themselves. The only thing I think they do better than the games is focus on one virus and exploring everything that virus can do instead of throwing a new one into the mix every time, even though the viruses/parasites/whatever bring about pretty much the same results anyway and they're just called differently. I would like the games to do the same, otherwise I'd take them over the films any day. However, I do not judge anyone for liking the films, if someone gets enjoyment out of them for whatever reason, that's fine by me.

 

[ResidentDevil]

They're pretty good, I enjoyed RE movies and I look forward to watching the Final Chapter.

 

[Flipqy42]

I dislike like them, but will still watch them out of boredom. I'll probably see the Final Chapter, just to see how the trainwreck of a story ends.

 

[meg5493]

Definitely a guilty pleasure they're bad movies but hey they kinda resemble the games so why not and with them finally ending the movie series I'll go see the final chapter.

 

[Cheer]

The movies are good but can be better. There are a couple of things i didn't like about the movies.

1. The only way i could describe him is they took a Lickers head, cut its tongue, planted an eye, Add more skin to it, and then attached it to a Terminator's head.

2. Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield.

Spoiler: for those who haven't watched the last movie

Killing Barry

 

[Deathstroke]

The movies are good but can be better. There are a couple of things i didn't like about the movies.

1. The only way i could describe him is they took a Lickers head, cut its tongue, planted an eye, Add more skin to it, and then attached it to a Terminator's head.

2. Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield.

Spoiler: for those who haven't watched the last movie

Killing Barry

To be fair Wentworth Miller is awesome in anything and everything. Because he is Wentworth Miller. Yeah he wasn´t a faithful Chris Redfield at all but this is one case where I cannot even care that he isn´t because he is just always awesome. he could have played a phone book in that movie for all I care and I still would have loved it. Though of course nothing beats his Captain Cold for me (which he plays on the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow TV shows). And the Prison Break references in the movie were hilarious.

As for the movies - I see them as what they are. Fun, brutal shoot and slice no brainers. They are not meant to be an adaptation of the games or the games universe so I just don´t view them as such. Maybe it´s easier for me because I am a die hard comic book fan and in comic book universes you have actually multiple different Earths, each set in it´s own universe and each of these Earths has their own version of the characters and history. For example there is a Batman on Earth 2 with his own history and you have another Batman on Earth 1. He is also Bruce Wayne but some things about him can be different or his history can be different or the design can be different. This concept is called a Multiverse.

So thats how I see Resident Evil too. It´s a Multiverse. There is one Earth where we have the characters, canon and histories of the games (and CG films) and then there is another Earth where the live action films take place, which have different versions of the characters and RE world and canon. Both is RE but they are different universes with each universe having their own style, variations of the characters, history etc. So once you start viewing it like that and stop comparing the movies to the games every two minutes and just accept that it´s another universe they are a lot of fun to watch. The movies are not the games and never will be. And they also don´t want to be. It´s another version of the same universe and its characters, basically it´s own Earth. Like the games are Earth-1 and the movies are Earth-2. They are not related and need to be seen as something of its own.

Superhero comics have been doing that kind of thing for over 50 years.

 

[Venomous Oddball]

I love to hate them. I only watch them so I can point out everything wrong with them and annoy my family.

 

[JHJ]

OK, quite a few responses, and a lot of good points made.

It's called boredom. You're sitting at home either with nothing to do or not wanting to do whatever you're supposed to do, so you start looking for a distraction and one of the RE films happens to be on - voilà! Everyone knows that feeling.

To answer the question: I think they're a waste of time. For me, they work neither as good movie adaptions of the videogame series nor as good movies by themselves. The only thing I think they do better than the games is focus on one virus and exploring everything that virus can do instead of throwing a new one into the mix every time, even though the viruses/parasites/whatever bring about pretty much the same results anyway and they're just called differently. I would like the games to do the same, otherwise I'd take them over the films any day. However, I do not judge anyone for liking the films, if someone gets enjoyment out of them for whatever reason, that's fine by me.

I dislike like them, but will still watch them out of boredom. I'll probably see the Final Chapter, just to see how the trainwreck of a story ends.

I agree that boredom is a factor when it comes to the films. However, I personally get a weird enjoyment out of them, as well.

To be fair Wentworth Miller is awesome in anything and everything. Because he is Wentworth Miller. Yeah he wasn´t a faithful Chris Redfield at all but this is one case where I cannot even care that he isn´t because he is just always awesome. he could have played a phone book in that movie for all I care and I still would have loved it. Though of course nothing beats his Captain Cold for me (which he plays on the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow TV shows). And the Prison Break references in the movie were hilarious.

As for the movies - I see them as what they are. Fun, brutal shoot and slice no brainers. They are not meant to be an adaptation of the games or the games universe so I just don´t view them as such. Maybe it´s easier for me because I am a die hard comic book fan and in comic book universes you have actually multiple different Earths, each set in it´s own universe and each of these Earths has their own version of the characters and history. For example there is a Batman on Earth 2 with his own history and you have another Batman on Earth 1. He is also Bruce Wayne but some things about him can be different or his history can be different or the design can be different. This concept is called a Multiverse.

So thats how I see Resident Evil too. It´s a Multiverse. There is one Earth where we have the characters, canon and histories of the games (and CG films) and then there is another Earth where the live action films take place, which have different versions of the characters and RE world and canon. Both is RE but they are different universes with each universe having their own style, variations of the characters, history etc. So once you start viewing it like that and stop comparing the movies to the games every two minutes and just accept that it´s another universe they are a lot of fun to watch. The movies are not the games and never will be. And they also don´t want to be. It´s another version of the same universe and its characters, basically it´s own Earth. Like the games are Earth-1 and the movies are Earth-2. They are not related and need to be seen as something of its own.

Superhero comics have been doing that kind of thing for over 50 years.

The movies are good but can be better. There are a couple of things i didn't like about the movies.

1. The only way i could describe him is they took a Lickers head, cut its tongue, planted an eye, Add more skin to it, and then attached it to a Terminator's head.

2. Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield.

Spoiler: for those who haven't watched the last movie

Killing Barry

Wentworth is a good actor, and I enjoy him in the film, but I do think he was miscast as Chris. And I agree with you about Barry. Deathstroke, you do make a good point with the multiverse theory, though.

Definitely a guilty pleasure they're bad movies but hey they kinda resemble the games so why not and with them finally ending the movie series I'll go see the final chapter.

My feeling exactly.

 

[Capcomplicated]

I think a lot of the guilty pleasure part comes from our initial love for resident evil....we want to like these movies so much we actually do. Not because they're good movies but because its resident evil related. I think they are crap and should be destroyed from our memory so when they REmake the movies again we will have nothing to compare them to when we are watching the new films...and otherwise just enjoy them.

The movies and series at the moment are extremely disappointing because of their action bandwagon that everyone got on for some reason. Resi 4 got it right (for the most part) but 5 and 6 should just fall in a volcano and die

I bet if anyone was halfway interested in making new films based on the horror survival genre (that's not Michael bay or Anderson) you'd say man the old ones kinda suck. But because they are the only ones that exist we are forced to appreciate them.

 

[KevinStriker]

I have to be fair to Resident Evil: Extinction. It was the most visually interesting of the Resident Evil movies, thanks to director Russell Mulcahy's background in music videos and the original Highlander. Doesn't mean it's great, or even good, but it was nice to look at.

 

[meg5493]

I still think Romero's original script was better besides things like Chris not being apart of STARS or bravo and alpha being just one team I think it would have been great (

 

[JHJ]

Romeros script is good, however, the major problem I have with it, and this may just be me, is that it feels like George rushes through the story. There's not enough buildup in the first couple of scenes for me, no real setup for the story that I can see. Which is a little disappointing, considering it's a George Romero script. He's always been good at setting the story up.

The only other thing that annoys me with the script is Ada. The Romero version is too radically different. His versions of Chris, Jill, Barry and Wesker I can accept, because he captures the essence of the characters, more or less. Ada as written in the script, though, just doesn't feel right at all.

What I liked about the script, though, was the fact he used every enemy type seen in the first game, not just one or two. I would have loved to have seen the Tyrant on-screen. And even though they're not my favourite enemies, the Hunters would've been cool to see, as well. Anyone planning a future reboot needs to take them into account when writing the film.

 

[La Femme Fatale]

I don't find I fit into any of those categories - I don't love them, I don't hate them, and they're definitely not guilty pleasures either. I have a little bit of a soft spot for the first movie that I chalk up largely to nostalgia (and to a lesser extent the second), but the rest of them never managed to capture my interest long enough to warrant a second viewing.

 

[meg5493]

Its been so long since I've read the script but I'm sure if accepted Capcom and Romero would have done revisions but wasted potential if you ask me.

 

[ResidentDevil]

It's funny how most fans think that the first RE movie is the best and yet the first one actually doesn't have any RE character at all.

 

[Venomous Oddball]

It's funny how most fans think that the first RE movie is the best RE movie and yet the first one actually doesn't have any RE character at all.

I think that's actually why. They didn't include any game characters or the game's plot in the first one so they couldn't really mess them up, it felt like its own story almost. When they started adding things from the games, they just messed it up.

 

[Deathstroke]

What I liked about the script, though, was the fact he used every enemy type seen in the first game, not just one or two. I would have loved to have seen the Tyrant on-screen. And even though they're not my favourite enemies, the Hunters would've been cool to see, as well. Anyone planning a future reboot needs to take them into account when writing the film.

There was a Tyrant in RE: Extinction (Dr. Isaacs turns into one). They actually had a fair amount of enemy types from the games in these movies:

zombies
crows
Cerberus
Adjule
Tyrant
Nemesis
Licker
Executioner Majini
Majini

but yeah some of the most classic monsters they never had were the Hunters, would love to see them too in live action. Same as the Webspinners or Chimeras. Or of course the Regenerators or Rasklapanjes from the later games.

I think that's actually why. They didn't include any game characters or the game's plot in the first one so they couldn't really mess them up, it felt like its own story almost. When they started adding things from the games, they just messed it up.

I see it exactly the other way around. I find the first movie so boring and harmless (There is almost no gore at all in the first two films except maybe for the Licker in the first one. As an old school zombie fan that always bothered the hell out of me. I want splatter in such movies). The characters are lame, the action is without any teeth (pun intended), no gore, almost no elements from the games.

To me the movies only started to get REAL interesting with the second one (which is probably still my favorite) once they started to do the classic Raccoon City outbreak story and started to bring in more characters and creatures from the games. Of course some of it was silly (Nemesis) but at least it finally had the spirit of Resident Evil and Anderson really embraced the games elements. Hell he even copied entire sequences from the games in the sequel films. The only really gripe I still had with the second one was that there was zero gore. That movie with bloody headshots, decapitations, exploding heads or zombies ripping people apart and eating their intestines (cause let´s face it every cool zombie movie needs such a moment like the infamous ripping Rhodes into two pieces moment in Day of the Dead) would have been such an awesome RE movie actually.

Also while some of the games characters were not exactly portrayed ideally, one whom I absolutely LOVED was Sienna Guillory as a bit more edgy and sassy version of Jill Valentine. Jill is my favorite RE character anyway and Sienna really owned that role. She was definitely the highlight in the movies she was in (especially Retribution) and I am beyond mad that she won´t be in the final movie (and neither will Leon, Ada or Chris. What the frak is up with that?!).

The third film (Extinction) is probably the most fun of them all, mostly because they finally decided to make it GORY. The desert setting was interesting and had a cool Mad Max vibe to it and the action scenes were so enormously bloody that it was just such a ton of fun to watch. That level of gore in the 2nd movie would have kicked so much ass.

Also I have to give kudos to the movie version of Carlos. That is perhaps the only instance where the movie version was a LOT cooler and much better then the games version. movie Carlos was pretty awesome, especially in the 3rd movie. Oded Fehr did a really good job with it and brought a charisma to the role which the games Carlos never had and he really had that old school retro action hero vibe going. And he went out in style Too bad they had to kill him off.

A lot of people hate on the 4th film (Afterlife) but I actually enjoyed that movie quite a bit. Mostly because there were a lot of elements from the later games in it (Executioner, Adjule, Wesker fight etc.) and it had a decent level of gore (funny enough that movie was rated FSK 16 here in germany while the almost gore-less Apocalypse was for some reason rated FSK 18) and some pretty cool action scenes (The Alice with Katanas scene at the beginning is one of my all time favorites cause I am a HUGE fan of katana action - my most fav weapon in the world and I have a few myself).

the fifth one (Retribution) was hit and miss. the clone story was interesting and I get that the whole Alice/Becky relationship was supposed to be a callback to Ripley/Newt in Aliens (which is one of Andersons all time favorite movies ever) but it dragged the movie down. The huge ass Mega Licker was fun though maybe a bit over the top lol. Also Leon (one of the biggest RE characters ever) really felt wrong. he looked the part but there was just no charisma to him whatsoever. Barry however was done actually pretty damn good.

However two things I absolutely loved in that movie were Jill and Ada. Sienna stole every single scene she was in and Li Bingbing was actually a pretty cool Ada and her introduction was a really nice callback to RE 4.

 

[JHJ]

I agree with you about Sienna Guillory and Oded Fehr, they both did a great job with the characters, and if you listen to the commentary Oded did with Milla, you realise he's got a sense of humour, not only about himself, but the film as well. And I didn't even notice the gore issue until you pointed it out.
That being said, my main issue with Apocalypse is the final fight with Nemesis. Or more precisely, how the fight was edited. I couldn't make out what the hell was going on. The rest of the film I enjoyed, it's just that last fight that almost ruined the film for me.

Extinction I thought was the better film, it was more fun, but I was disappointed with the Tyrant. The makeup FX were pretty good, he just didn't seem menacing enough to me.

I liked that they decided to depower Alice in Afterlife, it made her vulnerable again, which made the film more enjoyable for me. The fact that they reversed that decision in Retribution is slightly annoying. And the Wesker/Chris/Claire fight in Afterlife was ridiculously over the top, but I still liked it.

I enjoyed Retribution, but not as much as the previous films. My favourite part is the opening, the fact that they played it in reverse showed that Anderson was at least trying to do something different with the film, which I can respect. The rest of the film was OK, but I don't like the way Leon (my favourite RE character) felt like a complete nonentity.

 

[Deathstroke]

I agree with you about Sienna Guillory and Oded Fehr, they both did a great job with the characters, and if you listen to the commentary Oded did with Milla, you realise he's got a sense of humour, not only about himself, but the film as well. And I didn't even notice the gore issue until you pointed it out.
That being said, my main issue with Apocalypse is the final fight with Nemesis. Or more precisely, how the fight was edited. I couldn't make out what the hell was going on. The rest of the film I enjoyed, it's just that last fight that almost ruined the film for me.

Extinction I thought was the better film, it was more fun, but I was disappointed with the Tyrant. The makeup FX were pretty good, he just didn't seem menacing enough to me.

I liked that they decided to depower Alice in Afterlife, it made her vulnerable again, which made the film more enjoyable for me. The fact that they reversed that decision in Retribution is slightly annoying. And the Wesker/Chris/Claire fight in Afterlife was ridiculously over the top, but I still liked it.

I enjoyed Retribution, but not as much as the previous films. My favourite part is the opening, the fact that they played it in reverse showed that Anderson was at least trying to do something different with the film, which I can respect. The rest of the film was OK, but I don't like the way Leon (my favourite RE character) felt like a complete nonentity.

Yeah Oded and Sienna are awesome. Oded will next be in Marvels upcoming Most wanted TV show so I am pretty excited about that.

Actually the Wesker/Chris/Claire fight was perfect because that was almost shot for shot an exact copy of the Chris/Sheva/Wesker fight from RE 5 (throwing sunglasses and all). Especially as RE fan these are the things I really love in those films, those tributes and references to the games. I love when they do that stuff.

Agree on Leon though. He was a total throwaway character that did not do him justice at all. So much wasted potential there. Not the best actor either.

I will outright boycot the final movie though. Removing virtually all my favorite characters (Jill, Ada, Chris, Leon) instead of going all out for the final movie and have them ALL team up (Which is what I was hoping for) has ruined every shred of excitement I had for the movie. I am going to ignore this movie completely.