Resident Evil (2026)

Video games do not typically make for prestige movies.  There have been some impressive adaptations - the recent Fallout television series being an example - but for the most part these franchises have rightfully gone to schlock directors as the studios, both on the movie and video game side, were more interested in making a quick buck.  Notably, the original Resident Evil movie was handled by Paul W.S. Anderson, a director who built most of his career on the cult film Event Horizon.  His movies are usually good looking but hollow, and the original Resident Evil series played more like a vanity project for his wife Milla Jovovich.  Despite this I found most of that series to be quite entertaining, particularly Resident Evil: Extinction which brought in another classic b-movie director, Russell Mulcahy.  

Despite the worldwide phenomena that the video game series is I have never played Resident Evil or any of its sequels, spinoffs or reboots.  They have their audience but, from the descriptions I have heard, they seem to be something that would utterly frustrate me.  However, I was aware that the original series of films bore little resemblance to the games other than certain characters and situations.  It was more of an "inspired-by" concept and, honestly, so is Zach Cregger's recent attempt.  However, since he is a fan of the game, he tried to do something that was more in line with the Resident Evil world. 

Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a medical courier whose girlfriend Michelle (Sara Paxton) is pregnant.  Their relationship has just hit a turning point and he should be getting back to her, but something irresistible comes up: an expensive delivery to Raccoon City General.  The only problem is that it's a dangerous drive through isolated icy roads and, sure enough, things take a turn when Bryan hits a woman (Andrea Miltner) who stumbles out into the road.  He attempts to give her a ride to the hospital despite her strange behavior, only to fall afoul of a local officer (Johnno Wilson).  

Soon Bryan figures out things are more than just a little wrong when he is attacked by a mutated dog and later the same woman.  Soon he finds out what his package really is and how important it is to get to the top of Raccoon City General.  However, time may be running out both for him and the rest of the world. 

This is one of those films where knowing key plot points early on can ruin it as, like in a good video game, we are along with Bryan for the ride.  There are camera angles and references to gaming used throughout and, despite the fact Cregger could have phoned it in for this one, there is also quite a lot of his meticulous filming.  It doesn't do the time jumping or the epic scale of mystery like Weapons, but even in stripped-down form Cregger's style is still there. 

The result is a tense film for the good part of the runtime.  Even without the obvious video game homages the movie doesn't waste any time getting moving on its simple and tight plot.  Other than the relationship issues between Bryan and his girlfriend there are no romantic side plots and pretty much the reason everything happens is revealed without long exposition dumps.  This does mean that, other than Bryan, we really don't have any characters to latch on to, but they are the equivalent of NPCs anyway and have the same amount of depth.  

The one thing that does get a bit frustrating is the ending.  Not how it ends precisely, but events that lead up to it in the last 10 minutes of the film that do not make a lot of sense.  It makes for some good comedy but doesn't make for a great ending to the film.  Still, what came before it is a great popcorn film and proves that not all video game adaptations have to sad shadows of their source material.

Resident Evil (2026)

Time: 94 minutes

Starring: Austin Abrams, Andrea Miltner, Zach Cherry

Director: Zach Cregger