I have only seen 'The Three Musketeers' & 'Pompeii', I gave them both 3/10. As for the rest of his oeuvre, I have no interest in seeing them (not a horror fan).

Disagree. Firstly, your premise is wrong as all the would-be cool kids love to diss PWSA. Secondly, with a few exceptions like "Pompeii", most of his movies are fairly watchable for what they are. Not every film needs to be a perfect masterpiece and most of PWSA's movies do what they set out to do: provide a couple of hours of escapist fun.

I've been gratified to see that in the last few years "Event Horizon" has finally gained recognition and more recently "Mortal Kombat" has started to be seen as much better than people originally decided. Next stop: "The Sight". I've always wanted to know where this was going to go.

@M.LeMarchand said:

Disagree. Firstly, your premise is wrong as all the would-be cool kids love to diss PWSA. Secondly, with a few exceptions like "Pompeii", most of his movies are fairly watchable for what they are. Not every film needs to be a perfect masterpiece and most of PWSA's movies do what they set out to do: provide a couple of hours of escapist fun.

I've been gratified to see that in the last few years "Event Horizon" has finally gained recognition and more recently "Mortal Kombat" has started to be seen as much better than people originally decided. Next stop: "The Sight". I've always wanted to know where this was going to go.

Event Horizon is decent, I will give you that but how can you defend the Resident Evil films? Have you watched them? In other words, are you a masochist?

@bratface said:

I have only seen 'The Three Musketeers' & 'Pompeii', I gave them both 3/10. As for the rest of his oeuvre, I have no interest in seeing them (not a horror fan).

To be fair, he doesn't have a whole bunch horror films. The RE films wouldn't really be considered horror. They are more like schlocky action films with lots of things go boom boom. And please don't bother unless you have insomnia because for that, they are a cure.

@movie_nazi said:

Event Horizon is decent, I will give you that but how can you defend the Resident Evil films? Have you watched them? In other words, are you a masochist?

I have seen the entirety of his theatrical directorial output (not necessarily theatrically!). The only ones I actively dislike are "Pompeii" and "Shopping" (which I haven't seen since I saw it pre-release). The Resident Evil films are fun action romps that are generally entertaining. I've not played any of the games, so don't really care about canon etc. I would also argue that, had "Retribution" borne another director's name, it's intro would be highly praised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUhVLaxlZc

@bratface, Mme LeMarchand won't generally watch "horror" movies but has enjoyed most of the RE series. She is partial to action films, though.

The Resident Evil flicks are a guilty pleasure of mine. Pure brainless action with mind numbing explosions and stuff. By the time the credits finish I've forgotten the plot.

Despite the cringe, I think they'll go down in cinematic history as significant because they were part of the "badass chick action hero franchise" wave that hit America in the early 00s (Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Underworld). Afaik these were the first American movies to feature a female action hero and span 5 or more films? Before these, Hollywood was really entrenched in the macho man formula which was really limp by the mid 90s.

Note: China & Japan had been featuring badass swordfighting chicks since the 70s, and maybe it was the Chinese action breakthrough in America that actually planted the seed (Crouching Tiger, 2000), so that's where credit should really go. But still, someone had to get the ball rolling and I guess that's what Tomb Raider, Resident Evil & Underworld did. Right place, right time.

But seriously, I can't remember a single plot of any RE movie. Something about a virus and zombies I think lol

@M.LeMarchand said:

@movie_nazi said:

Event Horizon is decent, I will give you that but how can you defend the Resident Evil films? Have you watched them? In other words, are you a masochist?

I have seen the entirety of his theatrical directorial output (not necessarily theatrically!). The only ones I actively dislike are "Pompeii" and "Shopping" (which I haven't seen since I saw it pre-release). The Resident Evil films are fun action romps that are generally entertaining. I've not played any of the games, so don't really care about canon etc. I would also argue that, had "Retribution" borne another director's name, it's intro would be highly praised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUhVLaxlZc

@bratface, Mme LeMarchand won't generally watch "horror" movies but has enjoyed most of the RE series. She is partial to action films, though.

I am a fan of the video games but the plot and acting in them is just as bad as the films and no, the film does not follow the canon one bit. But that is not why I dislike the films. I dislike the writing because the story is not conhesive from one film to the next. The plot is retconned between each and every film to fit whatever ridiculous story they have cooked up for the next one. Narratively, its just a big jumbled mess. I can forgive bad acting. I can forgive bad pacing, heck I can even forgive bad editing (for shame!) but I can absolutely never forgive bad writing.

@rooprect said:

The Resident Evil flicks are a guilty pleasure of mine. Pure brainless action with mind numbing explosions and stuff. By the time the credits finish I've forgotten the plot.

Despite the cringe, I think they'll go down in cinematic history as significant because they were part of the "badass chick action hero franchise" wave that hit America in the early 00s (Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Underworld). Afaik these were the first American movies to feature a female action hero and span 5 or more films? Before these, Hollywood was really entrenched in the macho man formula which was really limp by the mid 90s.

Note: China & Japan had been featuring badass swordfighting chicks since the 70s, and maybe it was the Chinese action breakthrough in America that actually planted the seed (Crouching Tiger, 2000), so that's where credit should really go. But still, someone had to get the ball rolling and I guess that's what Tomb Raider, Resident Evil & Underworld did. Right place, right time.

But seriously, I can't remember a single plot of any RE movie. Something about a virus and zombies I think lol

Heck yeah! Ever watch Lady Snowblood ? Fun flick! Lady Snowblood

I'm all for badass chicks. Heck , half of my video game characters that allow you to create your own are chicks but that doesn't mean I won't point out crap when its crap. But obviously there is an audience for it. Fast food sells but that doesn't mean it's good.

@movie_nazi said:

@rooprect said:

The Resident Evil flicks are a guilty pleasure of mine. Pure brainless action with mind numbing explosions and stuff. By the time the credits finish I've forgotten the plot.

Despite the cringe, I think they'll go down in cinematic history as significant because they were part of the "badass chick action hero franchise" wave that hit America in the early 00s (Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Underworld). Afaik these were the first American movies to feature a female action hero and span 5 or more films? Before these, Hollywood was really entrenched in the macho man formula which was really limp by the mid 90s.

Note: China & Japan had been featuring badass swordfighting chicks since the 70s, and maybe it was the Chinese action breakthrough in America that actually planted the seed (Crouching Tiger, 2000), so that's where credit should really go. But still, someone had to get the ball rolling and I guess that's what Tomb Raider, Resident Evil & Underworld did. Right place, right time.

But seriously, I can't remember a single plot of any RE movie. Something about a virus and zombies I think lol

Heck yeah! Ever watch Lady Snowblood ? Fun flick! Lady Snowblood

I'm all for badass chicks. Heck , half of my video game characters that allow you to create your own are chicks but that doesn't mean I won't point out crap when its crap. But obviously there is an audience for it. Fast food sells but that doesn't mean it's good.

Dude, Lady Snowblood rocks my world! I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and it changed my life lol. I read that Tarantino based Kill Bill on the Lady Snowblood movies, so he was apparently impressed also.

But yeah, Resident Evil is greasy fastfood compared to classics like that. As much as I like Milla Jovovich, her character Alice was nowhere close to that level of badass. Hollywood still has a long way to catch up, and Paul W.S. Anderson certainly aint gonna get us there!

While you may dislike his style, Anderson's films often target specific audiences. The "Resident Evil" franchise, for example, caters to fans of video games and action movies, and has achieved financial success despite mixed critical reception. His films often rely on spectacle, action, and familiar tropes, appealing to a certain segment of viewers.

@neilson1 said:

While you may dislike his style, Anderson's films often target specific audiences. The "Resident Evil" franchise, for example, caters to fans of video games and action movies, and has achieved financial success despite mixed critical reception. His films often rely on spectacle, action, and familiar tropes, appealing to a certain segment of viewers.

This is absolutely why he has been given a blank check all these years. Love them or hate them, his films make money. I will say though, most Resident Evil video games fans despise his Resident Evil movies mostly besides being as far remove from canon as possible, the characters from the games that appear in the films are mostly used as props rather than real characters intricate to the plot. Its like Bobo fan service to say, Hey isn't that Ada Wong? Or isn't that Leon Kennedy? What a coincidence they also survived the apolocalypse. Funny that. " . 🙄