PLOT: An unlucky medical courier (Austin Abrams) is asked to deliver an important package to Raccoon City, only to find himself in the middle of a grotesque biomedical outbreak.
REVIEW: First, a confession — I am far from a Resident Evil expert. Later this weekend, one of our big gamers on the site is going to do a thorough breakdown comparing the movie to the games. That’s not what this review is going to be. My only knowledge comes from watching the old Paul W.S. Anderson movies, as well as the more recent reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City. So, as to how faithful this is to the franchise, I can’t say. But what I can offer up is that Zach Cregger’s film is among the most propulsive, lean horror-action films in recent memory, with it rocking the packed audience I saw it with, many of whom were cosplaying as their favorite Resident Evil characters.
Rather than try to tell a complex story that digs into the mythology, as has happened in the other films, this is wholly experience-based. The experience of watching the film nearly replicates playing a video game like this for the first time, as you are immediately, after a brief prologue, propelled into ever-escalating action, with Austin Abrams’ Bryan forced to navigate increasingly high stakes in a multitude of different environments, with each new creature he encounters more grotesque than the last. He also has to carefully hoard resources, with him coming into possession of a couple of different types of guns, all of which have finite ammo and can only be used in certain contexts.
It’s a fresh approach to the video game movie, and watching Resident Evil, I couldn’t shake the idea that I might be watching a new classic. Certainly, it’s among the most exciting films in recent memory, with Cregger packing in enough action and gore for multiple movies in his ultra-lean ninety-five-minute running time. The trailers have done a good job of not spoiling too much of the film, so I’m going to tread lightly.
Bryan, our hero, is having a bad day, with his girlfriend revealing to him that she’s pregnant, which is news he doesn’t take particularly well. Wanting to get home to her to talk things out, he’s convinced to take a package to Raccoon City for double pay, but it isn’t long before he hits a woman who stumbles out of the woods and doesn’t seem quite right. It begins a creature-filled nightmare for Bryan, who, as the film goes on, finds himself in a race against time, increasing the stakes significantly.
While Cregger could have just made Resident Evil a ride and folks would have still gone to see it, he actually gives the film some real humanity, with Bryan a likable character you root for. He’s a regular guy, utterly terrified but far from helpless as the film goes on. He learns from experience what the infected’s vulnerabilities are and how to escape various scenarios as he works his way toward possible salvation. Abrams demonstrates a ton of star power, with his comic chops on point but mixed with a nice degree of sincerity. Toward the end, his physical performance is heightened, with him perhaps the most gifted serio-comic horror lead since Bruce Campbell wielded a chainsaw as Ash.
Cregger has also made a stunning film, with gorgeous cinematography by Ridley Scott’s favored DP Dariusz Wolski, while the score by Hays and Ryan Holladay nods to everything from John Carpenter to the soundtrack for Eyes Wide Shut. The hard-R rating is well earned, with tons of gore and carnage, as Bryan is forced to kill his way through a variety of spaces, with an elevator shaft battle and his antics in a nursery being particular highlights. But you also want to see Bryan somehow make it through his ordeal, which makes the film unexpectedly gripping.
As for director Zach Cregger, with each new film, he seems more assured. While I enjoyed Barbarian, I felt it fell apart in the second half, while Weapons was a significant improvement. Resident Evil feels like he’s truly becoming a master of his craft, and this will become a giant blockbuster that hopefully Hollywood learns the right lessons from.
At the end of the day, mythology and franchises are secondary to the experience one has watching a movie. Hiring directors with bold, one-off takes such as this one is the way we get new classics. This just might be one of those.
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