A video game adaptation that sets the bar in the stratosphere with Zach Cregger perfectly utilising elements of the games to push his narrative.
- Director – Zach Cregger
- Runtime – 95 minutes
- Certificate – 15
- Country – United States
And despite what Resident Evil fans on Twitter will tell you – that is how you adapt a game. He absolutely nails the feeling of playing one of these games and in reality if any regular person was in this situation, we would be behaving exactly like Bryan (Austin Abrams). Running out of ammo and having to preserve it and then missing the easiest shot ever. An absurd amount of padlocks and blocked paths. Progression of guns. Inventory management. Stupid Umbrella scientists. Monsters that make you say ‘what the hell is that?’ Raccoon City. A stalker enemy. The film literally has all the core components of a Resident Evil game and yet people will stay say Cregger shamelessly slapped the ip onto it. I guarantee if it wasn’t a Resident Evil film and not attached to the ip and just a Zach Cregger horror film the same people would be saying it’s reminiscent of the games.
You’ll also see fans complain saying it’s not tonally similar and that it’s not serious enough. As if Chris Redfield punching a boulder is the height of seriousness. Cregger’s dna is also riddled with his now iconic humour. It’s an understatement to say this film is funny. I was surprised at how funny it is. But it’s all relatable situational humour. When Bryan sees an enemy running towards him and then he starts panicking while swearing to himself is something I’ve done over a thousand times while playing these games. And sometimes it isn’t so much the situation it’s how he handles it. At the start with the police officer and they’re discussing the woman and who she should ride with. Some may say it undermines the tension but to me that’s how I see the Resident Evil games too – by rationalising it to myself.
While the script is endlessly humorous, it’s really Austin Abrams who sells it. He’s basically a one-man show and the film relies on him. So if he wasn’t working at the level he is the film would fall completely flat. His comedic line reads are some of the funniest in recent years and the shrieks he lets out rivals Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys. As for his actual character I think I’m more interested in him than most people. Someone who’s afraid of growing up and becoming a father and then being thrown into this nightmare scenario is actually quite good.
The one thing that is common throughout Cregger’s films is that his absurd (complimentary) ideas sometimes get a bit too absurd for its own good but here it’s almost the opposite. I didn’t think it was explored enough. At times it made me reminiscent of David Lynch’s Eraserhead with its fears of being a father. The scene with the little girl in the RV and the end of that scene, and then the maternity ward scene. There could have been monsters in there that reflected his fears but instead they were just kind of generic monsters.
Resident Evil games infamously have messy third acts and the film also follows suit but honestly, I actually liked it. There’s no ending open to interpretation or one that’s drawn out – it just ends. The fate of Raccoon City is well known and you know what happens so there’s no need to show it. Sure there could have been cool ways to have show it but Cregger is a skilled director that knows what he’s doing and I think if he went with a more obvious ending than it already is it would have left a sour taste in my mouth.
The abrupt end, for me, reflects the pacing of the film. It is paced beautifully. The film is non-stop, barely giving Bryan time to breathe and process what happened and not one scene overstays its welcome. Even watching it at midnight where I was starting to fall asleep just a couple of hours before getting to the cinema, it flew by.
I’ve just realised that I’ve been so focused on how he adapts the core gameplay that I haven’t really talked about it on a technical level which is also really good. Again he adapts the first-person perspective to build tension so well.
Seeing the barrel of a shotgun peer round the corner into darkness without knowing what monster awaits Bryan is just like playing the games.
The film, apart from some dodgy cgi at the end, looks fantastic. The aesthetic of Raccoon City in the snow is so pleasing which creates some stunning images.
However, the best technical aspect was the sound design and score. It’s phenomenal. Capturing both the dread of the situation Bryan finds himself in and the absurdity of it all. It is also incredibly reminiscent of the games. You could show me the score for this I would assume it’s from one of the games.
Zach Cregger is only getting better with each film and with Resident Evil he perfectly adapts the games by making you feel like you are there with clever structuring, fustrating situations that everyone who’s played the games finds themselves in, terrifying soundscape and most importantly having a fun time. Those games are some of the most fun I’ve had playing games and this film is some of the most fun I’ve had the cinema this year.