Gamers of Resident Evil have been like redheaded stepchildren when it comes to adaptations on the big screen. 99% of the time, when Hollywood comes calling, they want to make a movie that resembles the game, for obvious reasons. But nah, that wasn’t the case for Capcom’s iconic horror, which got a franchise that only resembled it on a surface level, and less so as time went on. The astonishing thing about Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is how it confidently captures the essence of what makes those games great, and by doing so, it is one of the nuttiest, most entertaining movies of the year.
Cregger’s Resident Evil is apparently centered on events parallel to 1998’s Resident Evil 2 game, but you don’t need to know any of that. In fact, it might be good not to think about it at all. The script by Cregger and Shay Hatten isn’t going to force-feed you any of the lore; it’s not going to casually drop the name Claire Redfield or Leon Kennedy or anything that might count as an “Easter Egg”. I love that about this movie. It’s just no bullshit.
The story is lean and mean, running for just 95 minutes. Austin Abrams, who had a small but key role in Cregger’s Weapons, plays Bryan. It’s about to be a shitty night for Bryan. He’s a medical courier working in a snowstorm. He just learned that his girlfriend’s pregnant, and he did not take the news well. They’re supposed to have a big, serious talk after he gets off work. Maybe avoiding that is why he agrees to transport a priority package to the infamous Raccoon City.
Cregger fills Resident Evil with nightmares both big and small. Somehow, he’s able to rattle us even before the night starts to get really insane. A drive up the snowy, icy mountain is nerve-racking. When Bryan suddenly hits a woman, she starts acting strangely, and before long she’s chasing him around the car in a bloody game of tag; mutant creatures start dropping from the windows, and so much more that’ll take your breath away.
Bryan isn’t a character Resident Evil gamers would recognize, but with just one movie he’s already one of the best, most likable, and fully realized. The stuff he’s going to go through is unimaginable, and his reactions are genuine and hilarious. I mean, who could ever fathom that the dog barking a few feet away is going to sprout tendrils and try to kill you? He didn’t handle the pregnancy news very well, but Bryan seems like a pretty good guy who thinks he’s delivering a heart to a sick kid or something like that. Little does he know.
As the movie progresses, Bryan, who starts out looking like a bit of a dope, has to become more resourceful. He also learns from his experiences, utilizing guns when he has to, and whatever he can find just to stay alive. A particularly MacGyver-esque scenario found him trapped in an elevator with an acid-spitting monstrosity above him, melting said elevator, and an octopus-like creature climbing up the shaft. How he gets out of this jam is clever and just an incredibly exciting sequence.
Resident Evil also looks and sounds amazing, with Cregger maximizing the fleshy squishy stuff, and DP Dariusz Wolski making Raccoon City look beautiful. The nocturnal setting and wintry landscape is both intoxicating and grotesque, with the snow often drenched in thick layers of blood and gore. This movie is rated R for a good reason.
Years of bad video game movies set a very low bar, but recently it’s been the opposite. There have been a lot of good movies for gamers lately, but Resident Evil is a great one, maybe the best of them all. It hits hard and gets out quick, and is one of those movies you can watch over and over again. It’s possible that a sequel will tie in more with the games; I kinda hope it doesn’t. Cregger has shown that you don’t need it. Make an awesome horror flick first, and worry about the franchise stuff later…or maybe never.
Resident Evil is in theaters now from Sony Pictures.
