Yet another tiresome big-screen adaptation of a
popular video game, which really makes you wonder why they bother. In this WWF wrestler, turned action movie star,
The Rock (real name Dwayne Johnson) plays the commanding officer of a group of space marines, which includes a
young Karl Urban, who are transported to a research station on Mars to find out why they've sent out a distress
signal.
Once there, they're told that something has attacked the scientists involved in the archaeological digs in the lower levels of the complex. But as all communication has been lost beyond the airlock, they don't know exactly what has happened or if anybody is left alive.
So into the depths they go in search of survivors, where the film quickly descends into a retread of "Aliens", with strange creatures leaping out of the dark at them. The film also gets very confusing from here-on-in, as the soldiers continually run round in circles and it becomes unclear which parts of the complex any of them are meant to be in at any given time. Not to mention all that stuff in the sub-plot about genetic experiments mutating people.
Indeed, the plot is so difficult to fathom that the film seems to waste most of its time trying to explain what's happening, rather than getting on with the action. In fact, the only decent bit of action comes right near the end where one of the soldiers goes around shooting all the monsters "video game" style from a first person perspective.
If you're a fan of the game you may enjoy this, otherwise you would probably be wise giving this confusing mess of a movie a miss. OK, "Resident Evil" may not have been a cinematic masterpiece, but at least the story was semi-cohesive. Perhaps director Andrzej Bartkowiak should stick to cinematography as he's never going to make a name for himself directing stuff like this.
