Every Resident Evil Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

As is true of so many movie franchises, the first Resident Evil remains the best.

The irony is that Anderson's original 2002 Resident Evil has less in common with the video games than most of the movies that followed, and yet, it has a stylish-yet-grounded confidence and propulsive energy that prompted even James Cameron to call it "quite beautifully made."

Resident Evil basically has one foot planted in the source material and every other limb planted in George A. Romero's zombie movies, which is fitting given that Romero himself wrote an earlier draft of the script.

Centering the film around an entirely new character, Alice, was an undeniably odd choice, but Jovovich's charismatic performance ultimately won fans over, not to mention the entertaining supporting cast, namely Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Salmon, and James Purefoy.

The action may seem positively quaint compared to the later films, but the stakes also feel far more palpable. The iconic laser hallway sequence remains by far the single best moment in the entire movie franchise.

As much as Anderson is often rightly criticised for his sloppy filmmaking, this is a genuinely well-crafted piece of work that, if not invoking much of the games aesthetically, at least captures the tone and spirit relatively accurately.