"Resident Evil" starts off with a slam-bang double-opening - inside an ultra high-tech underground research-and-development facility, something goes terribly wrong and a gas escapes as the facility's emergency system kicks in, locking down the building and resulting in the apparant deaths of hundreds of employees;  at about the same time, above ground, a young woman named Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up inside a grand mansion with no memory of who she is, only minutes before the place is stormed by a group of well-armed commandoes.  Thus begins the successful movie adaptation of the "Resident Evil" series of video games.