Transformers vs Resident Evil(Spoilers)

[Robimus]

I just got back from watching Resident Evil Extinction and was thinking on a few aspects of adapting this type of franchise for the big screen. What comes to mind is how virtually this whole series has failed while Transformers has succeeded.
This third RE film has more in commen with with the first of the series than the second, which is a complete disreguard for plot and characters from the video game series.
The Resident Evil video game series is probably one of the most successful franchises in its industry. I mean its not Mario Brothers but its up there I'm sure in terms of overall sales, sequels and fans. So armed with this knowledge some filmmaker decided it would be great to bring the franchise to the big screen. They then hired writers who basiclly decided to re-write the entire story, thus ignoring the key characters and plot from the video games. As a fan of RE I found this incredibly annoying, they created a whole new story and ignored almost every aspect of what made RE, well RE.
Now despite my complaints they seem to have made a success of the film franchise at the expense of its hard core fans.
Transformers by comparisson embraced the characters and a lot of the original elements of its franchise. We still have Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron and the like. They maintain much of their original characterism's. Sam is also included. Speilberg and Bay made a film which both hardcore fans and people who knew nothing of Transformers could enjoy. Thus it is a blockbuster hit.
Now I think back to RE and how much better the films could have been if they had a bit more respect for the original story. In the first film, zero characters from the games appear. Everything is new. No Chris and Claire Redfield, no Jill Valentine, no Leon Kennedy, no Albert Wesker. Now imagine Transformers without OP, Bumblebee, Megatron and even Sam. They took a sure fire Blockbuster in RE and turned into a moderately successful film.
Then came RE2 and the sudden introduction of a few of the characters from the games. Jill, Carlos, Nemisis and the Stars team. This made the film a lot more enjoyable for me as a fan although the acting an visual effects were certainly quite poor. Nemisis as a giant scary muppet I actually enjoyed for cheese factor. RE2 had a good run and outsold RE in overall boxoffice, even though it is an inferior film in overall quality the inclusion of characters and plot points from the game made it more successful, at least I feel they did.
Now RE3 goes completely backward in development. Jill Valentine has vanished, poof, like she was never in the secnd film. Claire Redfield appears out of no where for no reason, no back story, basicly replacing Jill's character. The entire film is spent killing both characters and connections to the game series to start over with a cliffhanger type ending promising a sequel which I hope never gets made.
I saw the film with three other people whom enjoyed the film but know nothing about RE. So to a point I guess they have succeeded again at the expense of the game's core fan base.
I'm just glad Transformers did not go this route which I'm sure it could have. For me Bay and Speilberg hit a homerun for both the regular movie goers and the hardcore fans. Transformers the movie feels like Transformers while Resident Evil's films generally feel like generic horror films 1,2 &3.

What do the other Resident Evil fans out in cyberland think. Am I way off base or do you share some of my feeling about RE's films?

[Protoman]

Oddly when I went to see TF IMAX yesterday (Saturday night, 2nd day of it's debut). It was split for TF IMAX or RE in terms of line ups. Nice to see that really.

[chisau]

you are doing this backwards.

Resident evil was a game first, then due to popularity, movies and other media pop up.

Transformers was a cartoon first so it's already a video media. then games where made to follow.

you have to consider the fact that game media and video media will not work well with each other. just think how many transformers fan hated the game. if the RE movies follow the game story lines, the movie would really suck.

I think RE3 was made very well, and i hope they will make another. But i also hated the RE games. so maybe that's why i like the movie so much.

[Robimus]

Thats fair Chisau, like I say I went with three people who enjoyed the film who were not fans of the game.
I don't think making a game into a movie is really that much different from making a cartoon into a movie. Imagine if they made the Transformers movie with no Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron or Starscream? You might still like it but I think most the hardcore fans would have trouble accepting the absence of those main characters. It's kinda the same for me with Resident Evil. For me those games were largely a cinematic experience. Almost like a movie in a game.

[Nyghtwynd]

I stopped reading at "This third RE film has more in commen with with the first of the series than the second, which is a complete disreguard for plot and characters from the video game series."

LOL give me a series based FULLY on the games!!

George Romero of Living Dead fame sent Capcom a script for RE1 that was amazingly close to the first game. It was rejected. Those asshats.

When i first heard Claire was in it, i was thinking "Oh, maybe they're making a movie adaptation of Code Veronica!" But then i see footage and i die on the inside. I'll stick with the games, thanks

[Aernaroth]

Now now, gentlemen. At least we can all agree, at least it wasn't directed by Uwe Boll.

[dak]

I saw RE3 last night. there were some pretty predictable moments. It felt like a combination of RE4 and Code Veronica. I found the creature they had in this one was better than the Nemesis. but I really hated the idea of turning Alice into a super hero'ish person. Some parts were cool, but it got a little extreme.

[Robimus]

"George Romero of Living Dead fame sent Capcom a script for RE1 that was amazingly close to the first game. It was rejected. Those asshats."

Yes, I heard about that as well. Romero would have been great, I loved Land of the Dead. Leguizamo and Hopper were both awesome. This may sound strange but I think zombie movies are always about the human characters, zombies are just the backdrop.

Also the scene in RE3 where Dr. Issacs(I think that his name) is training the zombie is like a direct copy and paste from Day of the Dead, a Romero film.