★★★★☆ out of ★★★★★
I’m not a big horror-movie fan. I mean, I sort of am, but when you lack buddies to talk about it with afterward, it loses some of its charm. Perhaps dictating my review like this—speaking my truth, if you will—might serve the same purpose. We’ll see.
I did not play the Resident Evil games, so I have no frame of reference there. I have, however, seen the Milla Jovovich versions, and this is a mighty big swing away from that formula.
First, though, a complaint: the opening credits are severely redundant with the producers’ names. This is Bob and Joe*. This is a Bob and Joe* production. Bob and Joe* made this film. I did not appreciate that. It felt like Hollywood glad-handing, and all I could think was, What the hell? And the actual title sequence didn’t arrive until roughly fifteen minutes into the movie!
The movie itself is almost a one-man show. Our hero, such as he is, is Bryan, a hapless medical courier who describes his work as something like a fancy version of DoorDash. His employer appears to be called Right Foot—at least that is what I could make out on the back of his jacket, partially obscured by the carrying straps. Good branding, I guess: put your right foot forward.
We become involved in Bryan’s life while he is arguing with his girlfriend. He seems like a perfectly reasonable yet stupidly selfish kid. For a while, I thought the movie might pull the old trick of making us care about a character and then immediately killing him. Bryan comes very close to dying at the beginning—but he doesn’t, and the movie sticks with him.
After delivering a standard red organ carrier, Bryan is offered one last, top-flight assignment: take a mysterious green carrier to Raccoon City. He protests that he needs to get home, but they offer him double. Nothing bad has ever come from accepting a double-pay offer at the last minute, has it?
The job requires chains or studded tires because it is snowing heavily. Bryan assures them he is prepared. Of course, he isn’t. Off he goes into the snow toward Raccoon City—and, quite frankly, video-game adventures ensue.
The video-game perspective is persistent and appreciated. Bryan picks up guns as he finds them. He has to figure out how to load and use them. He makes discoveries just as I would want to make them if I were playing the game myself. The story progresses in a clear, logical sequence, but Bryan remains hilariously unprepared for all of it. At one point, he reassures himself, “I didn’t shoot a kid in the face. I like kids.” That self-mocking humor works because it also connects to the personal problems waiting for him back home.
Several very distinct forms of zombie are on display. There’s a guy who vomits acid, a zombie tumbleweed that begins with two bodies fusing together and keeps collecting more as the movie progresses—there may be a dozen bodies in it by the end—and a huge, bloated man whose stomach splits open and spills out what look like rats. Players will probably recognize some of the evolutionary bloodlines even when the creatures aren’t taken directly from the games. I just thought they were cool and gross at the same time.
The movie has genuine comedy, but it also has good jump scares—the ones that feel earned, not merely inserted to make you jump. It is visually stunning, and the cinematography is excellent. I did not see it in IMAX, but I can absolutely understand how IMAX would benefit it.
Bryan grows throughout the movie. When he senses what is coming, even as he keeps hoping for something better, he makes a final confession into his phone. He has no connection; he is simply making a recording meant for Michelle, without knowing whether she will ever hear it.
Throughout the movie, Bryan faces setback after setback, but he continues on. He does things he never expected he would be able to do. He keeps going. He learns. He grows. He suffers. He still continues. And then, when all seems lost, he keeps going on.
Bryan. Never. Gives. Up. Until he does.
This movie does not end with a Hollywood ending. It doesn’t even end with a video-game ending. But it does end.
I don’t want to spoil it. This movie is worth seeing. It is a lot of fun, and I think you might enjoy it as much as I did.
It surprises me to say this, but I’m giving Resident Evil four stars. Not because it isn’t a well-made movie—it is—but because, as I said at the beginning, I don’t generally gravitate toward horror movies.
Hopefully expressing all of this now, in the way I am, will prevent the night terrors.
Cast and Credits
- Austin Abrams as Bryan
- Directed by Zach Cregger
- Written by Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten
- Cinematography by Dariusz Wolski
- Based on Capcom’s Resident Evil video-game series
* Not the actual producers’ names. You’ll see it, and you’ll know it.