Movie Review: ‘Resident Evil’

Zach Cregger takes on the video game adaptation franchise

Resident Evil
SOURCE: Sony Pictures Releasing
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Zach Cregger takes on the video game adaptation franchise

To begin with, please note that my opinions are coming from someone who has never played the Resident Evil video games. If I’d been more proficient at with my Playstation 2, or had more free time back then to become so, maybe I would’ve tried the more complex story-driven games such as this iconic series.

So, even though the accompanying film series has received mixed reviews from fans of the games, I have generally enjoyed the movies. Except for The Final Chapter, which was an utterly garbage way to end the original series. I even quite liked Welcome to Raccoon City, which I find to be an underrated little horror film.

When it was announced that current horror wunderkind Zach Cregger was tapped to attempt a new reboot, I was intrigued. Thus, here we are with a new entry, simply titled Resident Evil.

Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a medical courier, someone who transports coolers with organs or samples from one medical facility to another. After dropping off what’s supposed to be his final delivery of the night, he gets asked if he can go on one more run. Despite needing to get back to his girlfriend so they can finish having a serious discussion, the lure of double pay is too much to say no.

So, it’s off to Raccoon City he goes, up into the mountains, on snowy roads, with no four-wheel drive or chains on his tires. After an accident, where a woman suddenly steps out into the road and he hits her, Bryan’s night goes from just a routine delivery run to a fight for his life survival run.

Resident Evil takes the series in a new direction, creating an original story not based on any of the games or centered around any of their characters. Cregger’s direction keeps things tight and tense, with plenty of scares and just enough humor to help release the tension.

RESIDENT EVIL – Official Trailer (4K)
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That humor is aided by a great performance from Abrams, who has to essentially carry the entire film by himself. He gets some brief help from terrific character actors like Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis and Zach Cherry, but this is pretty much Abrams’ show.

He moves through the film like someone playing one of the video games who has little-to-no experience with a system and its complex controller. In other words: How I would probably stumble through one of them.

He examines everything, including plenty that he shouldn’t. He makes dumb decisions, some enough to make me talk back to the screen (under my breath, of course). He does arm himself when he can, but he’s a terrible shot.

Cregger makes the proceedings feel like a video game without being overt about what he’s doing. Bryan’s journey is a series of figuring out how to keep going, finding the best path and anything that might aid his quest. Cregger also has it periodically cut to Bryan’s point-of-view when he’s carrying a weapon, a view much like that from a first-person shooter game.

While some Resident Evil die-hards might be turned off by the idea this doesn’t follow any of the games or characters, any fan of either the games or, like me, simply the other films who can keep an open mind should have a heck of a fun time with this new vision.