Why Are There 4 Resident Evil Movies?
I realize that, including RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION, there are actually going to be five RE movies once RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE hits theaters this Fall. Let’s stick to the live action films for now, the films that, other than by name, a few specific characters, and a certain virus, have nothing to do with the original video game universe. Perhaps I’m not wording this correctly – the films that are based on one of the most important video game franchises of all time and completely change everything.
By the time the original film, RESIDENT EVIL, came out in 2002 there were approximately eight versions of the video game, give or take a couple months between release dates. Why did they have to create a completely random character (Alice) that has no real connection to an already proven universe? Sure, she has some scattered traits of a few of the heroes throughout the games but for the most part, if I can get topical for a second, it would be like doing a spin-off movie of ‘Lost’ after all six seasons and having it focus on a brand new character, on a brand new island, with a couple cameos from familiar faces, and some references to the Dharma Initiative. At some point, within the first ten minutes or so, you’re going to ask yourself – What the fuck?
So back to my original inquiry, what is the drive behind this film franchise? I can’t imagine lovers of the games feel the same way about these movies. Is it possible that two completely different fan-bases love the Resident Evil brand for two completely different reasons? Have fans of the films given in to curiosity and popped in the video game only to have the shit scared out of them when they realize how horrifyingly intense the plot was supposed to be? Do they keep waiting for Alice to show up and strike her gun-pointing pose? I’ve never seen something be so successful and so ignored within the same generation of fans.
Maybe it’s the booze talking but I think the whole time on the island was in Jack’s imagination. Wait, what? Maybe it’s the booze talking but I would have bet good money that these films would have gotten the re-boot treatment by now. Instead, they keep churning out a bizarro timeline that pays very little attention to the stories that they’re adapting.