Resident Evil (2026 Movie)
As a lifelong fan of the game series, I have never cared for the live action Resident Evil movies. I found Paul W.S. Anderson's movies to be a stain on the reputation of the series which is sad because I understand why he was selected to make the adaptations. I enjoyed his Mortal Kombat movies and Event Horizon quite a bit. But I agree with the theory that it feels he just used this series to promote his wife, Mila Jovovich, which is whatever to me but his method in doing it, he basically destroyed all the characters that fans loved from the games. For games that in the horror gaming landscape where its characters are known for being trained professionals with both a balance in physical and intellectual capability, the choice of Anderson to make the characters to be so incompetent in the movies just to make the new character for Mila to play, just so she can appear more capable in comparison. Of course the movies are also to blame for the pivot towards action the game series took. As action movies they work and I can understand why people would find them entertaining but for me it was just too brain breaking. Then Welcome to Raccoon City, the next live action adaptation came. It felt promising like it would be closer to the games storyline, with no new protagonists introduced and be a faithful adaptation. But it somehow managed to be even more of an insult as it attempted to do fan service but failed as it felt like it was written by someone who read the Wikipedia entry for the games twenty years ago and decided to try to write the movie out of nowhere.
So when I heard a new adaptation was being made and it was being made by the new up and coming horror director, whose movies have been highly recommended to me by friends, I was curious. Then I learned this new one would not be an adaptation of the story but rather a bringing of the feeling of playing the games into the film medium. I was actually happy with this because then this gets rid of the burden of doing justice for the game series, at least its story. I was more interested to see what unique story Zach Creggar would be telling here as we got that in the games with the Ethan Winters games in the seventh and eight entries in the series so this has potential. I would say Creggar succeeded in what he intended to do and it was very enjoyable to watch.
What made this so interesting was instead of having direct story easter eggs like you normally get with adaptations, you have the feelings being replicated and put on display which ironically made the story more compelling in general and not just for fans but also for people who don't have play games. This works off of a simple story structure of raising the stakes in regards to the conflict experienced by the main character in their journey. There are little references to specific moments in the games but not being aware of them doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the movie. I'd say this method of fan service works perfectly where it doesn't feel like a crutch to make a dull story interesting but rather works to be an extra treat for those who know because if you know, you know.
Before this movie, I've never seen a Zach Creggar movie and this has me wanting to see more. I absolutely enjoyed the blend of horror and comedy in its realistic tone of how people would react to absurd situations. Austin Abrams was absolutely phenomenal in showing his ability to carry the movie from start to finish with his believability in portraying Bryan. The only complaints I've seen about his performance are from people who seem to me like they take themselves and everything too seriously and find his reactions to be too comedic or as they saw it as being too MCU like in its fourth wall breaking kind of vibe. I feel that this is more of what makes the film feel so real. This is a character trait that is overused in MCU movies but the problem isn't its existence in the first place like I've seen other reviews criticize with it here but rather the issue in MCU was because every superhero was given this trait even if their character didn't have this trait before it was made popular by Peter Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I think that's what made Peter Quill such a popular character as this is a trait that many identify with and I feel Bryan in the Resident Evil movie having the same trait makes for an interesting exploration of the world of this story.
Now the main criticism I have with the movie is that by the end of it, it does feel a little like it was jumping the shark which with some time to think about it, I feel more mixed now than the initial negative sentiment I felt right after watching the movie. I feel mixed feelings now because in a sense, this actually tracks with the games in how once the games reach their climax, things kind of start to jump the shark like when Wesker pins Chris or Jill against the Tyrant or William Birkin or Nemesis just keep growing and coming back to the point of just becoming a giant blob and not having an actually form or shape anymore or the last half of RE5 or to the point of RE6 as a whole. So it feels when things got really out of hand, that actually was appropriate for continuing his adaptation of the feeling of the games to the big screen.
My initial thought after finishing the movie was mostly thinking this movie could have been its own thing. It felt more like an homage to survival horror games in general rather than a Resident Evil adaptation. It did have some references more direct to the games but most of it was a salute to the genre more. But in the end, Resident Evil pioneered and made the survival horror genre as we know it. It didn't originally create it but the original PS1 trilogy made the survival horror genre the way it was when it exploded with all the games being made for it back in the late 90's and 2000's. RE4 evolved it to becoming the action powerhouse it became in the later 2000's and after stealth horror was taking over in the 2010's, RE7 and the RE2 remake brought balance back from the oversaturated Stealth Horror market with modernizing Survival Horror for where the genre is today. So yes the movie is a salute to the genre but in doing so, there's no better IP that it uses for that salute than the one that gave it life again and again through the decades, just like the zombies and BOW's coming back in the games themselves. I'd recommend that fans of the game give the movie a try and make up their own mind with it but more so I'd recommend fans of horror who are curious about the games to see this one, more than any other Resident Evil movie because even though this one is the furthest from adapting the story as it doesn't mention any characters or much in general from the games besides a guy journeying into Racoon City that is devastated by a company called Umbrella, this adaptation is the closest to adapting what makes the games so enjoyable to film.