Jayden Pinto is The Eight30’s lead entertainment columnist. Find him on Letterboxd for more immediate reactions on new releases: @JaydenP0205
After the release of Weapons, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil film was my most anticipated horror movie of the year, and it did not disappoint. Just from the opening credits, the mood was set; it did not take long to get into the meat of the story. The main character Bryan, Austin Abrams, is a meth-addicted medical courier tasked with delivering something important to Raccon City General Hospital. On his way there, he is arguing on the phone with his girlfriend and hits a woman in the middle of the road.
In typical Resident Evil fashion, Bryan goes into the unknown to investigate the woman. I don’t want to spoil what comes next, but the movie completely spirals from here, leading Bryan to a house where he upgrades from a pistol to a shotgun, encounters an infected dog, and even has to make his way out by opening a padlock (a common occurrence in both the games and the rest of the film).
From the jump, it was clear that Cregger is a big fan of the games, as he used the games first and third-person perspective here to make the viewer feel as if they were playing a new game themselves. Even the lighting and general atmosphere at points were on brand for the series. While leaning mostly into the horror, Cregger still added in some comedic moments, and my theater probably laughed more than anyone was scared. That’s not to say this movie wasn’t scary, because it was downright horrifying at points to me, and really got me with some jump scares.
It also felt as though Cregger took some inspiration from The Last of Us series, with the main virus acting in a similar way to the coordysceps infection from that series, especially the tv show adaptation. In many ways, it also felt like some inspiration was taken from the Silent Hill series, as the deeper, more emotional story here felt on brand for that rather than a Resident Evil game. I still loved that though, all of these series are some of my favorites I’ve played, so in a way we witnessed an adaptation of the survival-horror genre as a whole, and it worked really well.
However, the final act and ending left a lot to be desired. This was especially prominent once Bryan entered the sewers, funny enough, an area in both Resident Evil 2 and 3 where many fans have a problem with. The film kind of rushed through that portion, and I just felt like it didn’t add much to the overall story.
Then, once Bryan reaches the hospital, Bryan’s “issues” start to become a problem, and he’s racing against the clock. Here, he makes his way through the hospital’s infected maternity ward (once again, with the personal connection it had to his character, it felt very Silent Hill-esque).
Afterwards, Bryan has his final encounter with the stalker enemy that’s been chasing him the entire film, and in typical Resident Evil fashion, it’s mutated into a giant monster beyond our comprehension. While Bryan didn’t use any extreme weapons to defeat it, he was still able to outsmart it and defeat it for good before finally delivering the package. Leaving viewers with one of the most bizarre endings in years, and one I really didn’t expect. Even a few days later, I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about the ending. I like the perspective some fans have mentioned, which is that the entire film feels like the backstory to a boss you’d encounter in the games, which I liked. However at the same time, this movie is set completely in it’s own timeline and I wish there’s was an ending here that fit more for THAT.
For as much as I didn’t enjoy the last 20 minutes of the film, I still loved the entire film as a whole. With only an hour-and-a-half runtime, it moves fast and was an extremely enjoyable and fun experience. Some of my friends and I are already planning to go watch it again. I’ve been a huge fan of the series since I first played Resident Evil 2, however, anytime I saw something from the adaptations, I never had any interest in watching anything outside the games.
This movie finally gave the fans something worth enjoying, and it makes me hope we can get more movies in this style for the franchise. However, I highly doubt that will happen; they caught lightning in a bottle here, and if Cregger isn’t involved in any future films, I can’t imagine they would be any good.
Overall, Resident Evil was one of the most fun movies I’ve seen this year, and what I’m about to say may shock people. But I think I may have even enjoyed this more than Obsession; maybe that comes from me loving the series, but I felt like a little kid at a candy store watching this. While it wasn’t perfect, it’s hard for me to say I didn’t enjoy this, so I’m giving Resident Evil a 9/10. I loved the references and overall feeling, as I mentioned, made me feel like I was just playing another entry in the series.
FINAL SCORE: 9/10
