It would seem 2026 has finally brought us the first two great movies based on video games. Coincidentally, they’re both based on horror games, and both films have a similar emotional thrust. The first was Japan’s Exit 8, about a man trapped in an endless loop of subway tunnels. Now comes acclaimed director Zach Cregger’s (Weapons, Barbarian) take on the endlessly popular Resident Evil franchise, which — although the Mila Jovovich vehicles have a certain D-list charm to them — has never gotten a properly great movie… until now. I’m not a gamer myself; I mostly stick to Madden and whatever Batman games come out that I think look cool. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about this franchise, but I can tell you that Cregger’s vision for this film was right on the money.
Completely starting from scratch and unconnected to any Resident Evil film before it, Cregger’s film follows down-on-his-luck medical courier Bryan (Cregger veteran Austin Abrams) as he attempts to deliver an mysterious package to a hospital in Raccoon City (a location in the games). Unaware of the package’s full significance, Bryan swerves along a snow-covered road on a dark night whilst having a tough conversation with his girlfriend. His journey is interrupted by a crazed woman infected with something, who steps out in front of his car but only seems paralyzed by him running her over. Bryan is accordingly freaked out by this, and some of the first bits of humor in the film are of Bryan explaining this insane situation to a police officer, who begins to give him an escort to the hospital until all hell breaks loose. If you’re familiar with the games, then you’ll know that where there’s one infected person, several more are likely to follow, mutating and attacking in increasingly bizarre and terrifying ways.
The humor starting early and being injected at the proper points really helps the film evolve into the wild ride it becomes. As in his previous work, Cregger knows exactly the right times to maneuver between physical comedy, verbal comedy, and the type of levity that can only come from a good scare. Resident Evil is certainly not as ambitious a storytelling feat as Weapons or Barbarian, but it doesn’t pretend to be. It’s just a rip-roaring ride and a hell of a good time. However, one area where Cregger does continue to evolve as a filmmaker is in his visual prowess. This is an incredibly fluid piece of visual filmmaking, well realized by legendary cinematographer Dariusz Wolski and crisply edited by Cregger veteran Joe Murphy. A good chunk of the film was shot specifically for IMAX, and I think if this is the kind of film that interests you, it’s definitely worth seeing in that format.
The visuals combine with the humor to make a three-course meal out of what other directors might make merely an airline snack. It feels as though Cregger was the perfect director to come along and inject real personality into this film franchise, and hopefully that sets the intellectual property on the right course for the big screen moving forward. It’s too much of a hit as a video game franchise for the proverbial Hollywood Charlie Browns to stop trying to kick the proverbial football. This time, Lucy couldn’t pull it away fast enough, and a game-winning field goal has been scored. | George Napper
