I was a bit mixed on both of Zach Cregger’s projects so far in the 2020s, and that trend continues with his latest work.
This time, the writer and director helmed an adaptation of a video game. While it shares the “Resident Evil title, though, what’s shown on screen is a completely independent side story taking place outside of the saga that rolls out in the game series.
The movie stars Austin Abrams as Brian, a medical courier who takes on one more delivery late at night because of a good payout, requiring him to drive to another city in snowy conditions. On the way, he encounters a woman who’s out of sorts because of an illness. He soon learns that this illness causes terrifying mutations and has spread to the city he’s going to with the medical package.
“Resident Evil” is a good movie… to look at. The new film from Cregger certainly earns points for its style. From a great use of lighting to raise tension and colorization to establish atmosphere, as well as a mix of camera angles and movements to properly capture the horror and suspense at play, the picture is on point when it comes to visual identity.
The rest of the movie, well, is a rough experience. The main two detriments in the flick are an over-reliance on jump scares and way too many injections of comedy. Regarding the former, there are so many moments in this flick where there’s some big shock for its audience, and usually it’s a fake out. That gets tiring quick.
The other matter is the film’s incessant push of humor. It also becomes exhausting, having every moment sapped of suspense or emotion because the characters are spouting off dialogue meant to evoke laughs or the tone turning toward levity.
Now, to be fair, yes, the video games feature both. The source material can be comical or campy at times. I remember “Jill Sandwich,” too. There are also quite a few moments of jump scares especially in the old Racoon City Police Department where characters walk through in the second and third games.
But an important thing to remember is video games and movies are different. In a video game, you can take immediate control of how you react to a jump scare. You control the character, you decide what happens next, you can adapt to the situation and the moment fills you with adrenaline for what the next challenge is in the playthrough.
In this movie, meanwhile, after a jump scare you have to watch a protagonist that’s hard to care about bumble and stumble his way through whatever’s happening without much enjoyment. The same can be said about the comedy. “Resident Evil” games are less narratively driven, and more about the intensity of survival, meaning bits of levity offer some momentary reprieve before diving back into whatever obstacle you’re trying to overcome.
In a film, though, a viewer is supposed to be more engaged by the story, characters and how things unfold. Horror comedies of course do exist, but they’re often done with a level of cleverness and satire, while being overall tongue-in-cheek. This movie, on the other hand, wants an audience to be genuinely creeped out, with a legitimate freaky atmosphere and frightening creatures, while also making a play for laughs with cheap gags.
Then there’s the protagonist and his schtick of being a slacker guy who doesn’t really care but still kind of cares and has a consistently stunned expression gets taxing on an audience fast. Abrams played a somewhat similar character in “Weapons,” which was fine as that’s an ensemble and his persona has to bounce off others. Here, though, he’s usually the only person on screen, and it’s not very compelling or fun to spend time with him.
“Resident Evil” is a frustrating horror watch as it’s hard to care about the main character and its tone is a mess. The film does earn a lot of good will from its visual flair and creativity when it comes to thrilling set pieces. Those positive aspects aren’t ultimately enough to save this one from its detriments, though, including what was already mentioned and an ending that makes a person want to give the screen the middle finger. 2.35 out of 5.
Photo courtesy Sony Pictures
