Resident Evil (The Movie)

I know that many people out there will probably take objection to this opinion, but I love this movie. Undeniably, it has shortcomings all throughout its script, acting, special effects, believability.. well pretty much every where, but I don't care. Its still damn cool.

*Warning* Spoilers

[CORPORATE INTERESTS]

Now, debatable film quality aside, I want to point out a few topics of interest that arose. If you've seen the movie, you'll recall that it begins with a bit of narration explaining the Umbrella corporation, its economic interests, and political power. I found this story element interesting because, while I don't think we're quite there yet, I believe the idea of an organization of this size and power coming into existence to be a very real possibility.

Already, the world is home to numerous corporate conglomerates with resources easily surpassing those of small countries. Is it hard to imagine that someday one might wield the influence of a world superpower? It isn't that much of a stretch.

It is certainly easy to recognize that virtually any corporation would be interested in the biological properties of an agent such as the T-Virus. War and Medicine are big business, and both hold the promise of astronomical financial profit. Regardless of the risk, research would undoubtedly be initiated.

On the upside, I think it is reasonably safe to assume that any major organization would go to great lengths to ensure containment and safety, but we all know that nothing is certain. It takes nothing more than a disgruntled employee, a system malfunction, or a brief moment of distraction, and before you know it, you\'re at war with an army of the undead.

[ZOMBIE PHYSIOLOGY]

Now, an aspect of the story that I find a little far-fetched is the T-Virus's ability to rapidly mutate living organisms into super-monsters. I know, I shouldn't ignore any possibility, but I'm pretty comfortable with my belief that major genetic change takes many generations to evolve and emerge. I am also not certain how the story's creators are distinguishing between someone succumbing to the T-Virus via zombie bite, and the corporation's experiments with injecting the virus directly into living tissue. Perhaps it is supposed to be a different strain of the virus, or perhaps different species simply react differently. Regardless, those are dramatically different results.

This brings me to another questions of interest, do we need to fear infected animals? There are a wide range of opinions voiced throughout zombie film and literature, and I find myself standing somewhere in the middle. I believe that there is certainly the potential for a virus of this nature to jump species, but whether it will inherently adapt to every living creature it encounters, I'm not so sure. I have to confess that I am a little skeptical about the prospect of zombie fish (as at least one particular film exhibited), but it seems likely that at least some other species might be susceptible to the virus.

There are a number of other points that could be discussed, but I'd rather just encourage readers to check the film out for themselves. It\s far from perfect, but it's still fun.