Barnes & Noble

This entry in the videogame-as-movie sweepstakes borrows equally from Japanese anime, comic books, martial-arts films, and -- most improbably -- John Cassavetes' 1980 thriller, Gloria. In terms of production design and action choreography, it most closely resembles the recent Aeon Flux, right down to the provocatively clad, emotionally distant female protagonist. And, like that Charlize Theron star vehicle, it takes place in a dystopian future that finds the remnants of humanity centrally located in a megalopolis ruled by an elite group of scientists. Violet (Milla Jovovich), one of a rebel faction infected with a virus that enhances physical prowess, is directed to find and seize a rumored super-weapon currently held by the city's totalitarian rulers. That "weapon" turns out to be a young boy named Six (Cameron Bright), whose mutant genetic structure may hold the secret to a cure for the virus. When Six becomes a target, Violet takes desperate measures to keep him alive. Director Kurt Wimmer might easily have made this frankly derivative mélange a delirious spoof, but he opts instead for a grim tone. Fans of Matrix-styled fights and shootouts may experience déjà vu amid Wimmer's impressive array of combat scenes, which hit the marks but break little new ground. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

In the late 21st a disease called Hemophagia has genetically modified nearly an entire race of people, leaving them with such enhanced speed, intelligence, and strength that they resemble vampires in nearly every way. Fear begins to breed within the power elite as the disease continues to spread and those infected prove to be truly superhuman, and now, a civil war is brewing between uninfected humans and those altered by Hemophagia. Caught dead in the center of it is an infected woman called Violet (Milla Jovovich), who is bent on vengeance and has little left to lose. Provoked beyond reason by powers that will not rest until she and her people are dead, she will become everything her persecutors feared her to be. Cammila Albertson

Product Details

• UPC: 043396145030
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Time: 1:27:00
• Sales Rank: 61,173

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Ultraviolet (2006) / Resident Evil
• Ultraviolet (2006) / Resident Evil

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