Gaming fans have been anxiously awaiting this screen adaptation of the Resident Evil series. The good news is they won't be disappointed, for Paul Anderson's slick sci-fi thriller is, if anything, more violent, trashy and mindless than the popular games that inspired it.

Conceived as an explanatory prequel to the Resident Evil titles, the movie has amnesiac soldier Alice (Jovovich) leading a team of commandos into The Hive, a vast underground research facility whose workers have been turned into zombies by a deadly virus. A maze of perils awaits them, from lethal laser beams and undead dobermans to genetically mutated monsters. And if they don't complete their mission in three hours, the malevolent T-virus will overrun the earth...

In flicks like this one you know that everyone is expendable, nothing will make sense and there'll always be something more nasty around the next corner. Anderson - who directed "Mortal Kombat" and the critically lambasted "Soldier" - has enough sense not to let the pace flag for a second, filling the screen with ravenous flesh-eaters, explosions and special effects. When all else fails he lets the camera linger on the lissome Ms Jovovich, who spends the majority of the film scantily clad and soaking wet. Yes, guys, there is a god.

Shot in Germany with a predominantly English cast, the film's other big draw is Michelle Rodriguez of "The Fast and the Furious" fame - exactly the person you want on your side if you ever find yourself in the middle of a zombie firefight.