We all know the game and how iconic it is, this film adaptation is less than iconic. Not that its a bad film though, surprisingly it keeps to the original source material and is actually made for adults only, one of its better qualities.

The plot flies close to the actual game story within the manual with certain aspects like the Mars location, teleportation experiments and the UAC corporation. From there on the film goes off on its own tangent which encompasses all manner of regular sci-fi cliches. Alien remains found on Mars with extra chromosomes allow humans to become immune to disease and heal faster, experimentation's on subjects cause them to mutate into monsters which of course break free and kill everyone.

The really silly part is the fact that once inside a human host these alien chromosomes somehow are able to choose whether or not to turn the host into a monster or superhuman. It does this by determining how evil the host is or if the host has the capacity to be evil, indeed.

This basically gives the excuse for lots of undead like space zombies which I hated. So so so unoriginal and completely cliched sci-fi/horror, humans becoming the walking dead *yawn!*. The videogame is mainly about demons and monsters coming through a portal from hell I think, end of the day its more about monsters than undead humans. The disappointing aspect of the film for me was the fact that all the creatures seemed to be merely mutated humans and not real monsters from another world or dimension.

The disappointing plot changes aside the film isn't too bad really. Of course it plays exactly like 'Aliens' from the point of the marines (what sci-fi film with soldiers doesn't) and offers the usual over the top macho nonsense you might expect. The character names are all quite amusing and again totally cliched, but admittedly its based on a videogame so I guess they adhere to that well...Reaper Destroyer Duke The Kid etc...
It always amuses me how these type of films include a Hudson character, its like common practice now to do this. The character of Portman is easily the Hudson clone here, more of a perverted creepy womaniser this time but he still has that rebellious loose cannon characteristic which makes him the best guy to watch. Richard Brake portrays Portman and am I the only one thinking he could make a brilliant Joker the way he looks in this film?

Rest of the cast are all your regular types with nothing much to hold your attention. Dwayne Johnson as the Sarge is reasonable but not quite the face you need for this really, the guy is too nice. Early role for Urban here and he looks a bit chubby to me.

Core of the film is effects and horror and whether it could pull it off. In my opinion it does pull it off just about and offers a decent slice of sci-fi action and gore. The film isn't top heavy with blood but it does get going from the midway point with some nice monster designs, slow increase of profanity and of course the classic FPS sequence towards the end which is very nicely done and dare I say quite cool.

Not the overblown CGI fest you might have expected! yes I'm amazed too. Most of the creatures are men in rubber suits and detailed mockups which do look pretty good courtesy of Stan Winston's creature shop. Clearly effort was made to go down the 'Alien' route rather than the current trend and I applaud that.
Its a run of the mill standard gun totting action flick grounded within the common sci-fi setting of steel corridors and medi labs. It has its moments and is certainly not as bad as you might have expected, it beats 'Resident Evil' easily.

An entire film designed around getting to the climax, the POV action shots in the final minutes of the film ... replicating the video game that inspired this Aliens clone. Considering the source then, and the desired audience, well, it doesn't come off so badly.