Zombie dogs, martial arts and a meet-cute: Resident Evil has it all
In 2009, actor Milla Jovovich married director Paul WS Anderson.Longtime partners and creative collaborators, the two met on the set of 2002’s Resident Evil, an adaptation of the Japanese video game franchise which pushed the limits of the PlayStation in the 90s.Starring the former and written and directed by the latter, the production – which would inaugurate a six-film, billion-dollar franchise – was not without its hiccups.The story goes that Jovovich, unhappy with script revisions which palmed her action scenes off to her co-stars, threatened to walk.But instead of leaving, she and Anderson spent hours amending the script: the genesis of a fruitful partnership, both professional and personal.
Most significantly, the rewrites returned to Jovovich’s character (the amnesiac Alice) the film’s defining scene, in which she runs up a wall, spins, jumps and kicks a zombie dog square in the face.The games that provide the source material were light on action and heavy on dread; they ostensibly ushered in the nascent medium’s “survival horror” genre.Less concerned with generic fidelity than sensory thrills, the film ports the games’ universe into the nu-metal action cycle of the early 2000s (see: The One, xXx), a period brimming with tactile, tacky pleasures – chief among them hard rock and martial arts.Onscreen, the wall-jump dog kick plays out in graceful slow motion with a guitar lick, a yell and the shatter of glass.Arriving at the halfway mark, it’s a turning point: with a single blow, Alice begins to regain both her memory and corporeal ability.
From here on, it’s her film.Like the games, the adaptation is set in a world under the purview of the Umbrella Corporation, a multinational conglomerate with their grubby mitts on everything from healthcare to military technology.When a hazardous viral material is let loose within one of their secret subterranean research facilities known as The Hive, the site goes into lockdown.You might’ve guessed what happens next: all the staff turn into zombies.Alice’s relation to these events is initially unclear.
She awakens, dazed, in an empty mansion,Before she can gather her wits, she’s swiftly ushered by a military clean-up crew, descending into a subterranean facility full of cold concrete and faceless steel to aid the investigation,Less post-apocalyptic sprawl than claustrophobic pressure cooker, the proceedings are decidedly intimate,It’s all smoke and corridors,As the crew progress deeper into the labyrinthine facility, Alice regains further fragments of her memory.
Flashbacks offer an echo of her identity: an insider feeding information to environmental activists in the hopes of exposing Umbrella’s illegal experiments.Like all great sci-fi, Resident Evil possesses a healthy scepticism of corporations and a distinctly anti-capitalist subtext.The film’s zombies aren’t mindless consumers à la Romero or hyperactive runners in the vein of 28 Days Later, but reanimated workers, cursed to roam the halls of their place of employment in the afterlife.In the image of Aliens, the franchise places proficient women at the forefront of the action.Alice is adept and adaptable.
At her side is the resilient special ops agent Rain (Michelle Rodriguez), a battler who staves off infection seemingly to grunt choice quips,“When I get outta here, I think I’m gonna get laid,” she jests, despite being bitten any number of times,All this, of course, made for humble beginnings for a long and loving marriage,Anderson is affectionately referred to in fan circles as the medium’s pre-eminent “wife guy”,Peruse his filmography and you’ll find film after film in which Jovovich plays lead and bestows balletic blows in slow motion, her body suspended in the camera’s loving eye.
It’s one of action cinema’s great pleasures.Resident Evil is streaming on Stan in Australia and available to rent in the UK and US.For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
England fall to heaviest T20 defeat as Mandhana century sparks India rout
England’s one-sided series against West Indies last month was merely a dress rehearsal: India was always going to be the main show. And so the curtain finally went up on the Charlotte Edwards-Nat Sciver-Brunt era for a Trent Bridge Saturday matinee.The audience, though, went home disappointed after witnessing an England performance akin to The Play That Goes Wrong, bowled out for 113 inside 15 overs, to hand India a 97-run win, England’s heaviest T20 defeat in terms of runs.Edwards’s calling-card has been about transforming England into a side that plays smart cricket and find ways to win. With the honourable exception of Sciver-Brunt – whose 66 from 42 balls was the only contribution of note – this performance failed on both counts
F1: Lando Norris on pole for Austrian GP with Max Verstappen down in seventh – as it happened
Well deserved! The McLaren driver has been dominant all weekend and finishes in style – half a second faster than Leclerc with a time of 1:03.971. It is his first pole in Austria!Giles Richards was at the Red Bull Ring and here is his verdict:For Norris this was just the result he required after his title hopes took a battering when he made the misjudged move against Piastri in Montreal, dropping him to 22 points behind the Australian.At the Red Bull Ring this weekend Norris had insisted his error in Canada had ultimately resulted in a positive outcome, that he and the team emerged stronger now the seemingly unavoidable clash had finally happened.Certainly Norris looked enormously comfortable in qualifying, which has been his achilles heel this season
Lando Norris storms to Austrian F1 GP pole as angry Verstappen slumps to seventh
Lando Norris enjoyed the stirring satisfaction of proving he still has skin in the game in the most emphatic fashion, taking pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix by more than half a second here on Saturday. His show of reinvigorated strength could not have sat in starker contrast than with the frustration and disappointment of Max Verstappen, whose seventh place in what he called an “undriveable” car will only have fuelled speculation about the defending world champion leaving Red Bull.That was addressed by the Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, after qualifying. “It’s a lot of noise, I think Max gets quite annoyed by it,” he said. “We’re very clear with the contract that we have with Max until 2028
Tomos Williams injury leaves Farrell’s Lions facing race to fill scrum-half slot
The British & Irish Lions are weighing up their scrum-half options after an injury to Tomos Williams that threatens to sideline the Welshman at the busiest stage of the squad’s Australian tour.The head coach, Andy Farrell, said a decision on calling up a replacement would be made on Sunday, with Scotland’s Ben White among the leading contenders to replace Williams at No 9.Williams contributed two tries in a fine all-round performance as the Lions eased to a 54-7 victory over Western Force but tweaked his left hamstring while diving over the line for his second score. It leaves the Lions with only two fit scrum-halves, one of whom – Jamison Gibson-Park – has been managing a strained glute muscle.Farrell said Gibson-Park would be fit to face the Queensland Reds on Wednesday but the Lions will need some cover if Williams is ruled out even for a short period, with Alex Mitchell as the only available option in the position
Western Force 7-54 British & Irish Lions: rugby union – as it happened
Robert Kitson’s match report in PerthThanks for your company, join us again later in the week for the next Lions fixture v Queensland RedsRobert Kitson’s match report in PerthAndy Farrell has some reflections“In some respects the intensity went up, but this is still a newish team and our discipline in first half was an issue. Second half our defence intensity increased and discipline improved. The Force took it to us, they played a tough high percentage game and we kept them in a good position through our poor discipline so made it tough for ourselves.“This was a lot of the lads’ first game, so we’re up and running and we’ll keep pushing it forward. There were some fantastic tries, but the play of the day was Mack Hansen going up and down the field [to set up Mitchell try]
Lions cut loose with eight-try win over Western Force for solid start in Australia
A convincing first tour win for the British & Irish Lions in Australia and plenty for the management to ponder. There was much to admire in the way the Lions unzipped a gallant but outgunned Western Force side, not least the playmaking vision of their fly-half Finn Russell and the youthful energy of Henry Pollock, but this eight-try triumph did come with one uncomfortable caveat.The scrum-half Tomos Williams, one of only two Welshmen on the tour, contributed a pair of tries but was left clutching his left hamstring after completing a brilliant team score in the right corner. With the Lions facing a hectic series of fixtures in the coming fortnight, they may well have to whistle up some emergency cover.The first-half penalty count was also too high but, for the most part, this performance will have alerted the Wallabies to the Lions’ counterattacking potential and collective depth
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