Resident Evil: A Masterpiece of Schlock

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Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

As was discussed in my thread about Video Nasties, I have a special respect for film that exists purely as a commercial product. There is something very satisfying about filmmaking that abandons all pretensions of art and exists only to make profit.

Even notable "frauds" like Michael Bay or Joel Schumaker cannot escape a level of pretension that their big stupid movies would otherwise claim to avoid.

If we are to look at the purest form of filmmaking as commodity, I would point to the exceptional schlock of the Resident Evil film series.

I want to make it clear that I am not talking about enjoying this film series "ironically". The respect I have for this film series is entirely sincere. This series is an experiment in what happens when a film series exists only as something to watch. It is less a narration than a series of images. The Qatsi films are ultimately more coherent in their narrative.

To understand the Resident Evil franchise, one has to understand the unique position the franchise was in as a commercial product.

First, let's take a look at budget vs. domestic gross

RE - 33/40
RE:A - 45/51
RE:E - 45/50
RE:AL - 60/60
RE:R - 65/42
RE:FC - 40/26

As you can see, despite lasting for a near unheard of six films, the budgets of the film never went higher than a rather anemic 60 million. Keep in mind, these films are CGI heavy action films, which makes the level of financial investment all the more intriguing. In addition, despite the length of the franchise, the level of gross never really increased relative to investment. And, as we can see, it began to run a net loss by the final two installments.

So why six films? Popular word of mouth? No. Here are the overall metacritic scores and cinemascore rankings of each film.

RE - 33/B
RE:A - 35/B
RE:E - 41/B-
RE:AL - 37/B-
RE:R - 39/C+
RE:FC - 49/B

Neither in critical nor popular opinion were the films ever stronger than an �ok�.

So why did these barely profitable, low reviewed, bad movies get made six times?

The foreign market.

Overall, the Resident Evil film franchise has made a billion dollars in profit from the overseas market. The international gross of the final film in the series was higher than the production budget of the entire franchise. While the domestic gross of the series remained stagnant for its entire run, the international gross would more than double by midway through the franchise.

What this meant, ultimately, is that the director and studio were producing American films, in English, almost entirely for non-American, non-English speaking audiences.

And this is what makes the film franchise fascinating to me.

Resident Evil: Degeneration

It is fitting that a series ostensibly about the dead rising as shambling soulless husks would, itself, eventually become a zombie franchise. By the time the fourth film rolled around, the pretense that these movies were movies was almost entirely rotten away. These were not films. These were images. There was no endeavor for the films to be logically, tonally, visually, or emotionally consistent. Plot holes were gleefully ignored. Entire set-ups and narratives would be dropped by a single line in a follow up. The film manages to have the most important event in the series explained away with a brief opening monolog not once, but twice.

One of the things truly interesting about this series is that each movie is demonstrably its own product. The films are not a continued narrative, but six distinct narratives with a thin veneer of cohesion. By looking at the films as attempts to exploit trends, rather than tell a story, we actually get a rather effective history of action filmmaking as the series progresses.

One of the great flaws of the Resident Evil series discussion is the suggestion that they are video game movies. This is false. While the set dressing comes from a video game, nothing about the game franchise itself ever actually influenced the spirit of the films. From the very beginning, the Resident Evil movies never concerned themselves with representing the Resident Evil game series. Ironically, the game series would eventually grow to mimic the movies more than the movies ever mimicked the games.

Resident Evil instead, is a film series about action movies. It is about changing audience tastes, the growth of the international market, and the growth of spectacle cinema. Resident Evil is a gleeful, wonderful product wholly devoid of art. I love it.

For this thread, I am going to go through each movie in the series, talking about what it reflected or stole from the zeitgeist, and explored how the films themselves decayed in narrative to the absolute and incredible clusterfuck that is the last movie.

Join me, won�t you?

# ? Feb 14, 2019 16:08

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 07:59

sponges: Sep 15, 2011

I own the entire series on blu ray

# ? Feb 14, 2019 17:18

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

sponges posted:

I own the entire series on blu ray

I am tempted to get the digital collection for 44 dollars rather than watching the movies through Amazon voodoo

# ? Feb 14, 2019 17:20

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Mel Mudkiper posted:

As was discussed in my thread about Video Nasties, I have a special respect for film that exists purely as a commercial product. There is something very satisfying about filmmaking that abandons all pretensions of art and exists only to make profit.

Even notable "frauds" like Michael Bay or Joel Schumaker cannot escape a level of pretension that their big stupid movies would otherwise claim to avoid.

If we are to look at the purest form of filmmaking as commodity, I would point to the exceptional schlock of the Resident Evil film series.

I want to make it clear that I am not talking about enjoying this film series "ironically". The respect I have for this film series is entirely sincere. This series is an experiment in what happens when a film series exists only as something to watch. It is less a narration than a series of images. The Qatsi films are ultimately more coherent in their narrative.

To understand the Resident Evil franchise, one has to understand the unique position the franchise was in as a commercial product.

First, let's take a look at budget vs. domestic gross

RE - 33/40
RE:A - 45/51
RE:E - 45/50
RE:AL - 60/60
RE:R - 65/42
RE:FC - 40/26

As you can see, despite lasting for a near unheard of six films, the budgets of the film never went higher than a rather anemic 60 million. Keep in mind, these films are CGI heavy action films, which makes the level of financial investment all the more intriguing. In addition, despite the length of the franchise, the level of gross never really increased relative to investment. And, as we can see, it began to run a net loss by the final two installments.

So why six films? Popular word of mouth? No. Here are the overall metacritic scores and cinemascore rankings of each film.

RE - 33/B
RE:A - 35/B
RE:E - 41/B-
RE:AL - 37/B-
RE:R - 39/C+
RE:FC - 49/B

Neither in critical nor popular opinion were the films ever stronger than an �ok�.

So why did these barely profitable, low reviewed, bad movies get made six times?

The foreign market.

Overall, the Resident Evil film franchise has made a billion dollars in profit from the overseas market. The international gross of the final film in the series was higher than the production budget of the entire franchise. While the domestic gross of the series remained stagnant for its entire run, the international gross would more than double by midway through the franchise.

What this meant, ultimately, is that the director and studio were producing American films, in English, almost entirely for non-American, non-English speaking audiences.

And this is what makes the film franchise fascinating to me.

Resident Evil: Degeneration

It is fitting that a series ostensibly about the dead rising as shambling soulless husks would, itself, eventually become a zombie franchise. By the time the fourth film rolled around, the pretense that these movies were movies was almost entirely rotten away. These were not films. These were images. There was no endeavor for the films to be logically, tonally, visually, or emotionally consistent. Plot holes were gleefully ignored. Entire set-ups and narratives would be dropped by a single line in a follow up. The film manages to have the most important event in the series explained away with a brief opening monolog not once, but twice.

One of the things truly interesting about this series is that each movie is demonstrably its own product. The films are not a continued narrative, but six distinct narratives with a thin veneer of cohesion. By looking at the films as attempts to exploit trends, rather than tell a story, we actually get a rather effective history of action filmmaking as the series progresses.

One of the great flaws of the Resident Evil series discussion is the suggestion that they are video game movies. This is false. While the set dressing comes from a video game, nothing about the game franchise itself ever actually influenced the spirit of the films. From the very beginning, the Resident Evil movies never concerned themselves with representing the Resident Evil game series. Ironically, the game series would eventually grow to mimic the movies more than the movies ever mimicked the games.

Resident Evil instead, is a film series about action movies. It is about changing audience tastes, the growth of the international market, and the growth of spectacle cinema. Resident Evil is a gleeful, wonderful product wholly devoid of art. I love it.

For this thread, I am going to go through each movie in the series, talking about what it reflected or stole from the zeitgeist, and explored how the films themselves decayed in narrative to the absolute and incredible clusterfuck that is the last movie.

Join me, won�t you?

The movies actually have the discernible style of foreign action movies--they're extremely silly, the plots are dimestore/fast and loose in the way you'd expect from foreign action films, and they're visibly filmed for nickels and make up the difference with unapologetically constant and bad CG effects. What I'm saying is there's a whole wealth of schlocky Asian action film in particular that RE seems to be aping for dollars.

I assume this is also why we got six Underworld movies (including an animation), and might have a seventh without even Beckinsale. Though I think her leaving might have finally killed that beast.

The emergence of foreign markets has been "good" in the sense that now there is a discernible layer of film industry that is totally unafraid to make really stupid movies. The reason these movies are more appealing at times is because they don't aspire to pretense and no one's trying to win an award. If anything they should get sillier if they really want to compete with the strangest foreign action curiosities, and I hope the trend continues that way. The Fast & The Furious franchise is really leading the way there (they make 3-4 times their domestic take overseas now--domestically, the last one was an outright failure).

# ? Feb 14, 2019 17:57

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Sodomy Hussein posted:

The movies actually have the discernible style of foreign action movies--they're extremely silly, the plots are dimestore/fast and loose in the way you'd expect from foreign action films, and they're visibly filmed for nickels and make up the difference with unapologetically constant and bad CG effects. What I'm saying is there's a whole wealth of schlocky Asian action film in particular that RE seems to be aping for dollars.

I assume this is also why we got six Underworld movies (including an animation), and might have a seventh without even Beckinsale. Though I think her leaving might have finally killed that beast.

The emergence of foreign markets has been "good" in the sense that now there is a discernible layer of film industry that is totally unafraid to make really stupid movies. The reason these movies are more appealing at times is because they don't aspire to pretense and no one's trying to win an award. If anything they should get sillier if they really want to compete with the strangest foreign action curiosities, and I hope the trend continues that way. The Fast & The Furious franchise is really leading the way there (they make 3-4 times their domestic take overseas now--domestically, the last one was an outright failure).

I think what sticks out to me about RE vs. Fast and Furious or Underworld or Transformers is that RE is completely narrativeless. Fast and Furious is a series of escalations in every film. Underworld is convoluted, but endeavors to be coherent. Transformers is incoherent within itself.

RE, on the other hand, has movies that are coherent within themselves, but are utterly unconcerned with inhabiting the same narrative or reality as the previous films.

I really recommend watching the RE films back to back as closely as possible because the level of apathy towards coherence is amazing.

Like, here are a few questions you want to ask yourself as you watch the series

1. Who is Alice?
2. Who is the Red Queen?
3. Who invented the T-Virus?
4. What is Wesker's job?
5. Who runs Umbrella?
6. Is there a cure for the T-Virus?

Every movie has entirely different answers to those questions and just throws out the previous answer, sometimes without even the effort of a throw away line.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 18:07

Splint Chesthair: Dec 27, 2004

The Resident Evil movies are the only good video game movies because they're the only ones that structure themselves in the same way video games do. How many times do they repeat the shot where Alice wakes up in a strange place? How many times has she been confronted with duplicates of herself? How many times has she been de-powered and re-powered? The dynamics of "extra lives," "continues," and "leveling up" are all front and center. Retribution even goes as far as having her progress through a series of simulated environments with their own unique enemies and mini-bosses - the "Tokyo level," the "suburbia level," the "Moscow level," etc. If you're entertained by watching other people play video games, these are the movies for you.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 18:59

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Liberal Idiot posted:

The Resident Evil movies are the only good video game movies because they're the only ones that structure themselves in the same way video games do. How many times do they repeat the shot where Alice wakes up in a strange place? How many times has she been confronted with duplicates of herself? How many times has she been de-powered and re-powered? The dynamics of "extra lives," "continues," and "leveling up" are all front and center. Retribution even goes as far as having her progress through a series of simulated environments with their own unique enemies and mini-bosses - the "Tokyo level," the "suburbia level," the "Moscow level," etc. If you're entertained by watching other people play video games, these are the movies for you.

I am gonna discuss this in the post about the first movie, but I argue this is actually deeply incorrect. The problem is that the "videogameness" you describe was never a part of RE the game series until well after the movie franchise was established.

The RE movies do not represent the RE gameplay experience at all. They are not.movies about games. They are movies about movies.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 19:12

sean10mm: Jun 29, 2005; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

Liberal Idiot posted:

The dynamics of "extra lives," "continues," and "leveling up" are all front and center.

I kind of get Mel's point here. Those ways RE movies are videogame-y have nothing to do with the RE games themselves, and everything to do with arcade games, brought to you by the director of Mortal Kombat. It's very "insert quarter to continue" stuff.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 19:25

sponges: Sep 15, 2011

Mel Mudkiper posted:

I am gonna discuss this in the post about the first movie, but I argue this is actually deeply incorrect. The problem is that the "videogameness" you describe was never a part of RE the game series until well after the movie franchise was established.

The RE movies do not represent the RE gameplay experience at all. They are not.movies about games. They are movies about movies.

They sort of mimic the games. Not in specific events but in tone. They adequately reflect how crazy and stupid the games are.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 20:22

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

sponges posted:

They sort of mimic the games. Not in specific events but in tone. They adequately reflect how crazy and stupid the games are.

I am not sure I agree

They absolutely eventually match up, even getting to the point they copy a fight scene move for move from one of the games. Like, the RE movies match up tonally with RE 4-6 really well. Its just weird because they started during 3.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 20:35

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

RE games 1-3 are a coherent trilogy and still what most people probably think of when they think about Resident Evil, outside of maybe 4 which turned out to have the longest legs of the bunch with fans. Anyway 1-3 are fairly standard apocalypse scenarios and by current standards fairly contained stories. Someone lets a zombie virus out in the city, and also the lab that the virus got out from was developing it to make monsters as part of some vague conspiracy. By the end of each game the zombie part is incidental, you're fighting tentacle monsters in an underground base.

Then the game series started branching out more and more in terms of scope, locations, and how horror anime it was, so you get this weird combination of gritty horror and the saga of Super Wesker and a fly monster boss with 11 forms. The conspiracy gets more cartoonishly vast and stuff generally stops making sense or mattering.

So the movies are really those two factors grinding together, and if you are passingly familiar with the games, the movies "make sense" in the context of the games having certain monsters and tropes. So they hired a character actor to play X monster and how we get there in the script doesn't matter. The exact details like who works for who or why Alice's power level keeps fluctuating are not the point, the point is to shoot zombies while doing flippy moves around dodgy CG. Alice is not even a game character, she just meets the game characters sometimes and the movies mostly happen because Milla Jovovich won't stop doing them. Now you can get a boxed set of them to enjoy ironically, which I've thought about, but honestly these are pretty far down in the canon of so-bad-it's-good. They don't really have microbudget charm or big budget extravagance, and they are utterly unmemorable scripts.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:15

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Sodomy Hussein posted:

Now you can get a boxed set of them to enjoy ironically, which I've thought about, but honestly these are pretty far down in the canon of so-bad-it's-good. They don't really have microbudget charm or big budget extravagance, and they are utterly unmemorable scripts.

I hope part of my goal in this thread is to convince you otherwise

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:20

Slutitution: Jun 26, 2018; by Nyc_Tattoo

I have always enjoyed the Resident Evil film series' brand of shlock much more than other trashy series like Transformers, Underworld, and Fast & Furious. Resident Evil is delightful trash, and makes no apologies for it.

And I would argue these films are not just images. They do have some thematic elements - though admittedly superficial - to them such as feminism, big pharma/monopolies, artificial intelligence, surveillance, the environment, science, and dystopian futures.

That said, my favorites would have to be film #1, #3, #5, and #6. They all have the best environments and cinematography. Oh, and Iain Glen is in two of them.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 21:35

Tart Kitty: Dec 17, 2016; Oh, well, that's all water under the bridge, as I always say. Water under the bridge!

It is extremely appropriate for one of the installments to have been directed by Russell Mulcahy.

# ? Feb 14, 2019 22:52

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Returning to the idea that Resident Evil is inspired by video games, I would like to posit that the entire series is just a series of remakes of Aliens.

Like, this movie series has three Newts

The only movie that isn't Aliens is the third one, which is The Road Warrior

One of the things that is truly fascinating is finding out how many scenes and tropes are directly stolen from other movies. This series has stolen from Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Robocop, the OTHER Dawn of the Dead, etc.

# ? Feb 15, 2019 15:34

The REAL Goobusters: Apr 25, 2008

I remember watching the last one in theaters just kind of being amazed that it was even released. That poo poo was awful lmao

# ? Feb 15, 2019 23:36

Tart Kitty: Dec 17, 2016; Oh, well, that's all water under the bridge, as I always say. Water under the bridge!

No discussion of the Resident Evil movies is complete without mentioning Marilyn Manson's completely appropriate score to the first movie that played a major part in setting the tone for the franchise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxtaUxq70xM

That is not sarcasm.

# ? Feb 16, 2019 02:20

Chairman Capone: Dec 17, 2008

Fart City posted:

No discussion of the Resident Evil movies is complete without mentioning Marilyn Manson's completely appropriate score to the first movie that played a major part in setting the tone for the franchise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxtaUxq70xM

That is not sarcasm.

That opening theme really is good.

# ? Feb 16, 2019 03:27

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

I never realized it was Marilyn Manson but yeah that theme is killer

# ? Feb 16, 2019 04:27

Slutitution: Jun 26, 2018; by Nyc_Tattoo

It's also amusing how the first film in this series is credited with - alongside 28 Days Later - reviving the modern zombie genre.

# ? Feb 16, 2019 05:58

Strokavich: Jan 17, 2019; Joshi Wrestling fanatic
Youtube Channel

How in the living hell did people rate that garbage movie a B. Are you kidding me the final resident evil movie is one of the worst movies ever. At least terrible b movies can mostly keep continuity.

With that said I liked the first movie. It was good, that's about it.

# ? Feb 16, 2019 06:59

Assepoester: Jul 18, 2004; Can't post for 10 years!; Melman v2

Do any of the modern streaming/bluray versions of Resident Evil 1 preserve that movie's sublime commentary track?

As for the rest of them, I think this is one place where even RLM really get it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCxgvxjwAD0&t=70s

# ? Feb 16, 2019 18:07

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Resident Evil � A Bad Videogame Movie that isn�t that Bad.

There are three primaries watchings of the first film in the Resident Evil franchise. You can view it as a Resident Evil film (an adaptation of the game), a Resident Evil film (the first in the hexology), and as a film called Resident Evil. Each perspective will bring a different level of enjoyment.

Viewing Resident Evil as an adaptation of the game series is likely to be the least enjoyable way to watch the film. The film, as a representation of the gameplay experience, is an absolute failure of tone. The original trilogy, up to that point, had two primary characteristics. The first is that it was slow, haunting, terrifying, and deeply atmospheric. The other characteristic is that it is completely goofy in terms of acting. The voice acting and early live action cutscenes were hilarious even on release. Jill Sandwich and all that.

Unfortunately, the first film fails to meet either of these criteria. The most atmospheric part of the entire film is in the admittedly excellent main theme. Otherwise the film is overlit, fast-paced, and almost totally lacking in a consistent and tangible atmosphere. In the same way, the film is too well made to hit the ironic enjoyment of a police chief shouting �THE ULTIMATE BIO WEAPON.� One of the things my rewatch of the series has given me is a newfound appreciation for how good of an actress Milla Jovovich actually is. While her dialog and inflection will never be good, she is capable of a level of emoting that is rare. Her face is probably the best actor in the entire franchise. The rest of the cast is equally competent, meaning that any ironic enjoyment is ultimately limited.

So, the film fails as an adaptation of Resident Evil. Also, as a �resident evil� film, meaning a film in the resident evil franchise, it still lacks much merit. Just as the games were defined by atmosphere and irony, the movie are defined by absurdity and incoherence. For a film franchise that would end up routinely coughing up progressively more ridiculous action scenes, the action in this film is relatively straight-forward. Coming out of the post-Matrix wire-fu action craze, the action is still more or less plausible. The only notable exemption of this is the infamous showtime kick to a zombie dog. But, compared to future installments, that kick is barely notable.

In the same way, the plot is relatively clear and straightforward. There is an outbreak, they enter, get stuck, have to get out, the end. It is the first of the movies to directly steal from Aliens, and it will not be the last. It is far from the surreal incoherence of the later films in the series. In fact, one of the things that stands out about the film is that it is effective. It has a job and it accomplished it without much wasted motion. The bloat of later installments creating canon by dice-roll is not present here.

I would argue the film is best enjoyed as a film isolated from both the franchise that inspired it and the franchise that it would inspire. In isolation, the film is effective and enjoyable. Also, by separating it from either context, you are able to appreciate smaller elements of the film that work successfully within itself, but not as a part of a larger whole. Two of these scenes stick out. The first is the automated killing of the facility staff by the Red Queen. It manages to create a level of tension that is absent from the rest of the film. Of particular note is that bit role of �lady stuck in elevator� who delivers an Oscar caliber performance of a woman stuck in an elevator. I suspect she was not told she was in a film. The other scene is the iconic �laser hallway� that would end up becoming a staple of the franchise, and of the game series retroactively. I find it hard to put my finger on why this scene is so iconic and memorable, but it has managed to endure as probably the singular image of the both the film and the franchise.

Ultimately, the films best viewing experience is as a mid-rate action film that audiences could leave going �yeah, that was ok�.

# ? Feb 18, 2019 17:15

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

The elevator scene in question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGy02Exgw44

I would argue 1:02 should be in a line reading hall of fame

# ? Feb 18, 2019 17:34

Marmaduke!: May 19, 2009; Why would it do that!?

Mel Mudkiper posted:

The first is the automated killing of the facility staff by the Red Queen.

And adds appreciation for the final film's plot point of "red queen cannot harm Umbrella employees", in case anyone was still expecting any consistency.

# ? Feb 19, 2019 01:26

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Marmaduke! posted:

And adds appreciation for the final film's plot point of "red queen cannot harm Umbrella employees", in case anyone was still expecting any consistency.

I was gonna bring that up when I got to that movie, but yeah, that got me too. The worst thing is that its not even in the top five retcons in that movie. It's just such an absolute mess.

I just rewatched Apocalypse and, like most film nerds, I sing the praises of practical effects over CGI. This movie may have been the first time I ever said "Man, CGI would have been better." The Nemesis costume is like sub-60s kaiju levels. It is the rubberiest looking rubber monster suit I have seen in an American film in decades

# ? Feb 19, 2019 05:57

Tart Kitty: Dec 17, 2016; Oh, well, that's all water under the bridge, as I always say. Water under the bridge!

My favorite part of the first RE movie is when a trained group of black op soldiers has to be instructed to shoot their enemies in the head for maximum effectiveness

# ? Feb 19, 2019 06:36

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Fart City posted:

My favorite part of the first RE movie is when a trained group of black op soldiers has to be instructed to shoot their enemies in the head for maximum effectiveness

I mean, it makes a bit of sense because you are trained to aim for center mass.

It makes less sense in the sequel when the same level of black ops soldiers specifically know they are fighting zombies and still do it

# ? Feb 19, 2019 13:55

esperterra: Mar 24, 2010; SHINee's back

sponges posted:

I own the entire series on blu ray

hell, same

# ? Feb 19, 2019 16:25

esperterra: Mar 24, 2010; SHINee's back

Fart City posted:

No discussion of the Resident Evil movies is complete without mentioning Marilyn Manson's completely appropriate score to the first movie that played a major part in setting the tone for the franchise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxtaUxq70xM

That is not sarcasm.

I'm always sad Manson hasn't done a lot more movie scoring, his work for Resident Evil owned bones.

e: also someone mentioned the commentary track for the first movie, which i am p sure is in fact the best movie commentary of all time

esperterra fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Feb 19, 2019

# ? Feb 19, 2019 16:34

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Mel Mudkiper posted:

I just rewatched Apocalypse and, like most film nerds, I sing the praises of practical effects over CGI. This movie may have been the first time I ever said "Man, CGI would have been better."

Considering the cgi in the rest of the movies it probably would've looked worse.

# ? Feb 19, 2019 16:37

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Marmaduke! posted:

And adds appreciation for the final film's plot point of "red queen cannot harm Umbrella employees", in case anyone was still expecting any consistency.

I actually liked it for the Robocop homage.

# ? Feb 19, 2019 16:38

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

Alhazred posted:

I actually liked it for the Robocop homage.

Homage seems a kind word for it

I felt like it was more ripoff

Alhazred posted:

Considering the cgi in the rest of the movies it probably would've looked worse.

See, I am genuinely not sure. I think we have become accustomed to bad cgi in a way our ancestors were accustomed to bad costumes.

Seeing such a bad rubber suit in a modern movie ends up feeling anachronistic

# ? Feb 19, 2019 16:46

Tart Kitty: Dec 17, 2016; Oh, well, that's all water under the bridge, as I always say. Water under the bridge!

esperterra posted:

I'm always sad Manson hasn't done a lot more movie scoring, his work for Resident Evil owned bones.

e: also someone mentioned the commentary track for the first movie, which i am p sure is in fact the best movie commentary of all time

The first flick unironically has a good score. If nothing else, Manson has a pretty good ear for ambience. I agree it�s a shame he didn�t explore scoring further.

# ? Feb 19, 2019 17:57

Mel Mudkiper: Jan 19, 2012; At this point, Mudman abruptly ends the conversation. He usually insists on the last word.

I am gonna have to look into the commentary track because I never heard of it

# ? Feb 19, 2019 18:25

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Mel Mudkiper posted:

See, I am genuinely not sure. I think we have become accustomed to bad cgi in a way our ancestors were accustomed to bad costumes.

If anything people have become accustomed to good cgi, which makes the cgi in the Resident Evil movies even worse.

# ? Feb 19, 2019 18:33

sean10mm: Jun 29, 2005; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

The Apocalypse monster is such a dull design that it would look like poo poo in CGI or rubber.

Fun fact: they took the rad style of gatling gun Predator used in the 1980s, and cut it up and modified it until it looked like a cheap piece of poo poo. You would never guess it was a built on a real machine gun by looking at it.

sean10mm fucked around with this message at 18:53 on Feb 19, 2019

# ? Feb 19, 2019 18:51

the_enduser: May 1, 2006; They say the user lives outside the net.

I enjoyed the RE movies enough. I would like them to do a serious one though similar to the 7th Game that came out recently.

# ? Feb 20, 2019 10:24

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

sean10mm posted:

The Apocalypse monster is such a dull design that it would look like poo poo in CGI or rubber.

Fun fact: they took the rad style of gatling gun Predator used in the 1980s, and cut it up and modified it until it looked like a cheap piece of poo poo. You would never guess it was a built on a real machine gun by looking at it.

Taking a rad idea and cutting it into a piece of poo poo is a good description of the RE movies. The last one is basically Mad Max with zombies and it's still a bad movie.

# ? Feb 20, 2019 12:04

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 07:59

evobatman: Jul 30, 2006; it means nothing, but says everything!; Pillbug

I have only watched 2-6 once each, but I can rewatch the first movie over and over again. It's so naive and fun. The movies aren't just fully commercial products, they are also gifts from Paul WS Anderson to his beloved wife.

# ? Feb 20, 2019 12:45

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Resident Evil: A Masterpiece of Schlock

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