Resident Evil

It sounds fairly redundant— and is a horrible pun — to call a zombie movie brainless or brain-dead. But like it or not, it's a fair assessment of the gory but dull "Resident Evil," the latest — but not the last — movie based on a video game that's actually less fun and decidedly less challenging than playing the game itself.

This is what happens when someone like Paul Anderson (the director of "Event Horizon" infamy, not the "Boogie Nights" guy) makes a zombie movie instead of someone like George Romero ("Night of the Living Dead" and its two sequels). (Actually, rumor has it Romero wrote a "treatment" for the movie and was originally approached to direct, but was eventually replaced by the more frugal Anderson.)

In many ways, this plot-thin horror-thriller is a "prequel" to the video game as a team of commandos is sent into a vast underground "city," called the Hive, where an experimental virus has been released. They're supposed to stop the virus' spread and find out how it was released, but there are several obstacles in their path — including the city's artificial intelligence system, which calls itself the Red Queen and which has activated its lethal defense systems.

Also, thanks to the virus, there are hordes of reanimated corpses wandering around the Hive looking for food. And if that isn't already bad enough, the soldiers have only an hour to get out before they're trapped inside with the undead.

Writer/director Anderson apparently doesn't understand how to scare an audience, as witnessed by his many "startle" scenes, which might jolt some viewers but certainly won't frighten them.

As far as his star is concerned, Milla Jovovich's icy aloofness doesn't hamper her performance here, but the sight of a supermodel who probably weighs less than 100 pounds wreaking havoc is just ridiculous.

You also have to question what the talented supporting cast — Eric Mabius, Michelle Rodriguez and James Purefoy, all of whom have appeared in some fairly decent films — saw in this project . . . aside from the paycheck.

"Resident Evil" is rated R for intense horror action and violence (gunplay, zombie attacks and explosive mayhem), graphic gore, frequent use of strong sexually related profanity, drug content (use of hypodermic needles), glimpses of full female nudity and brief simulated sex. Running time: 100 minutes.

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