Movie Review: “Resident Evil” 2026
“Resident Evil”
By Bob Garver
The streak is over.
The last time I started a review with that phrase, it was to mean something bad – 2022’s “Lightyear” was the first Pixar movie that I didn’t recommend. This time, it’s something good – Zach Cregger’s new take on “Resident Evil” is the first movie based on a video game that I do recommend. Not surprisingly, the man who directed Amy Madigan to an Oscar last year for “Weapons” brings enough good ideas to the table that I actually found the movie to be worth my time.
Perhaps even more impressive is that the film comes from a property that has already failed me on several occasions. This isn’t based on some newer game that nobody has tried adapting before and doesn’t have a history of failure. It’s “Resident Evil,” the zombie horror franchise that had an awful six film run from 2002-2016 and an unsuccessful 2021 reboot. I was perfectly okay with saying that I’d seen more than enough of zombies from the Umbrella Corporation wreak havoc on Raccoon City. But Cregger, no doubt a fan of the games, thought the property deserved one more chance on the big screen, a stubbornness that has paid off.
Austin Abrams stars as Bryan, a down-on-his-luck medical courier whose day is already going pretty badly. His girlfriend may be pregnant (unwelcome news to him), nobody at a hospital will sign for a delivery, and there’s a snowstorm outside that his car is not equipped to handle. An opportunity comes along to make a high-priority delivery that pays double. A few lies about his car later and he’s off to make some extra cash and maybe get to play hero once he reaches the destination: Raccoon City General.
Bryan’s day goes from bad to worse when he hits a woman who runs out in front of his car. His day goes from worse to worser when a cop pulls him over with the injured, barely-responsive woman in his passenger seat (the movie earns my respect by having Bryan tell the cop the truth, where a lesser movie would have him try to “comically” B.S. his way through the situation). Things go from worser to even worser when the woman is the opposite of grateful for Bryan and the cop’s assistance. Things go from even worser to… I can’t keep doing this, things will keep getting worse for Bryan for the duration of this movie, which will eventually include a city-wide zombie riot. The scariest one does cartwheels.
Any time poor Bryan thinks he’s caught a break, there’s some new obstacle to threaten both his life and his ability to make the potentially-lifesaving delivery. He has to survive by keeping his cool and thinking clearly. Just kidding, nine out of ten times he only survives through a series of desperation moves mixed with luck. Since this movie is based on a video game, most of his decisions are the equivalent of mashing all of his brain’s buttons at once and hoping for the best. In fact, the movie is structured very much like a video game, with each new challenge representing a new level and a higher degree of difficulty, even though Bryan probably thinks that he can’t even repeat what he did to get to that point.
This version of “Resident Evil” is the first video game movie that I recommend, and it’s not a high recommendation. Bryan has few words in his vocabulary other than F-bombs, he slows down and stops at points where it doesn’t make sense (except for dramatic effect), and even with necessary urgency, the ending feels rushed. Still, this is unprecedented high quality for a video game adaptation, and Cregger’s stock in Hollywood is only going to rise because of it. I don’t see it winning any Oscars, but it doesn’t deserve to get chopped up by an Axeman either.
Grade: B-
“Resident Evil” is rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout. Its running time is 95 minutes.
Contact Bob Garver at [email protected].
