Resident Evil Review

The Resident Evil franchise has a long and winding history in the world of film. Prior to Zach Cregger ever announcing his plans to work on a new-age Resident Evil film, there had been seven movies released under this banner already. Seven! This franchise has endured not only in the gaming landscape, but the movie industry for over two decades now, and despite the generally negative reception to pretty much every Resident Evil adventure put to screen, this train just keeps on chugging. With this new 2026 Resident Evil movie, however, Cregger looks to put a stop to the trend of critically-panned Resident Evil movies – and all it took was a bold reinvention.

So, let’s talk all about it! I’m a huge fan of the Resident Evil franchise (check out my ranking of every Resident Evil game here), so this was easily one of my most anticipated horror movies of the year. Did it live up to my expectations? Well, in a way it did, and in other ways, it completely circumvented them. With that being said, let’s get into the review.

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Resident Evil Review

Image by Sony Pictures

I think the question on everyone’s mind when it comes to Resident Evil is fairly simple – is this a faithful homage to the Resident Evil franchise? Well, the answer to that is pretty complicated. On the one hand, Resident Evil is extremely faithful to the source material, given that it feels more like playing through a video game than practically any other video game movie ever made. In many ways, I think that this movie feels like playing through a DLC focused on a Raccoon City civilian, and wouldn’t feel out of place at all in Resident Evil 2′s ‘The Ghost Survivors’ DLC. Now, is this film faithful to what we know of the Raccoon City outbreak from the original trilogy of Resident Evil games? Not even slightly, but I think the expectation of what this movie was going to be in something worth talking about a little more.

I think that Resident Evil is Zach Cregger presenting his own take on what it would be like to move through the Raccoon City outbreak, and I think his reinvention of the source material would be worthy of a little more outrage if Resident Evil wasn’t a franchise that constantly reinvented itself anyway. To claim that Cregger’s Resident Evil challenges the consistent identity of the Resident Evil franchise is to claim that Resident Evil has had a consistent identity as a franchise in the first place. Back in 2005, Resident Evil 4 turned the series on its end, with its bold change of location and side-lining of the Umbrella Corporation and T-Virus. Then in 2017, Resident Evil 7 reimagined what a Resident Evil protagonist should be, stepping away from the hardened agents of games past, and allowing Ethan Winters, an everyday family man, to step into the spotlight. This film is simply another take on a franchise that is constantly welcoming fresh takes, and it’s a little disappointing to see the reception to this movie be so shrouded in faux concern for tonal and narrative consistency, when that’s never been an essential element of the Resident Evil identity.

Austin Abrams’ Bryan is the newest protagonist to be welcomed into the Resident Evil mythos, and personally, I think he fits in perfectly well. I absolutely love Abrams’ performance here, and after this, and Weapons, I think that Zach Cregger has found a perfect, and invaluable, partner for all of his upcoming horror outings. Resident Evil is a fairly short movie by modern standards, coming in at only 95 minutes, but the fact that Abrams is able to hold the audience’s attention for the entire runtime is pretty remarkable. This is his movie, the world around him feeling incredibly empty for most of the film. Sure, Bryan makes some questionable decisions, but I felt that they were always made with kindness behind them, as opposed to blatant indiscretion. I think that the bad-ass protagonists of Resident Evil projects have made us feel that a cool-head is something most should be able to keep in situations like this. Bryan is likely the most realistic depiction of what an ordinary person would do in this sort of scenario, and even then, he holds his own extremely well against what he’s faced with.

Image by Sony Pictures

Bryan is far from a fool, though he is a little slow to realise what’s going on around him. This trait, however, feels like it was applied to his character in this film’s pursuit of humour, which I think is one of the potholes that Resident Evil stumbles into. Don’t get me wrong, the comedy here is actually very, very funny. Just like in Weapons, Abrams proves himself as a comedic force to be reckoned with, and plays off of the characters around him very well. However, while Resident Evil is often very funny, the focus on comedy does muddle the film’s tone a little, given how often it bounces between extremely funny, and extremely sad. The Resident Evil is no stranger to humour – Leon S. Kennedy is a wisecrack machine, and even Ethan found time to knock out some one-liners while navigating his personal hell. However, while Resident Evil Village is likely the saddest Resident Evil game, it was never as funny as this movie. And, while Resident Evil 4 is easily the funniest Resident Evil game, it was never nearly as sad as this movie.

Now, to be fair to Cregger, Resident Evil has been taking a more sombre approach to its subject matter in recent years, as well as highlighting the civilian casualty far more than it ever did before. Remember the ‘Evil Has Always Had a Name‘ teaser for Resident Evil: Requiem just earlier this year? With that in mind, it’s no surprise that this movie leans into the more heart-breaking side of Resident Evil‘s lore. The problem that Cregger has here is that he bounces between extreme comedy and extreme sadness with far too little caution. A great example is the RV scene, where Bryan is forced to shoot an infected child. The horror of the moment is dwelled upon for a moment, but whereas we, the audience, are left disturbed by what just went down, Bryan seems to, in a semi-disassociated state, find some time to be funny about it. Horror and comedy go hand-in-hand perfectly, but not when they’re exchanged this suddenly.

This isn’t my only issue with Resident Evil however. Let’s talk about the ending, which has been the main source of complaint from fans who have seen the movie already. While I’m not completely opposed to Bryan failing to obtain the cure – after all, if fans were unhappy with the plot feeling inconsistent before, imagine if this guy was the one to solve the T-Virus outbreak – I did feel that it was a little too depressing and flat of a note to end the movie on. For the most part, this movie feels like a thrill ride, and the ending felt like being jolted to a sudden stop before one final drop, as you slowly have to make your way out of the ride cart feeling just a little let down by the whole situation. I did like that the weaker, lab-focused final act felt like a direct homage to the infamously subpar ending sequences of practically every Resident Evil game, but I didn’t like it enough to completely excuse some of the absolutely ridiculous decisions that led up to this ending. I’d like to hope that scientists in the real world aren’t this incompetent, but given the state of the news each and every day, who knows?

Image by Sony Pictures

With my highs and lows of the plot out of the way, let’s talk about the technical side of Resident Evil. This movie is phenomenally well-shot, and features no shortage of incredibly inventive, exciting, and memorable set pieces. The opening hospital sequence is amazing, and really sets the tone perfectly. The scene where Bryan encounters his first zombie in his car is beautifully well-done, his car windows and mirrors all coated in a sleek red, contrasted gorgeously with the pristine white snow outside. The sewer section, albeit brief, was incredibly effective and claustrophobic. By far my favourite scene though, was the moment where Bryan sprints through the streets as zombies hurl themselves down on top of him from the buildings flanking him. It’s a shame so much of this stuff was shown in the trailers, because I would’ve loved the surprise, but I adored these scenes all the same.

Now, the question I always ask when it comes to horror movies – is it scary? Well, yes and no. I think that Bryan as a character brings levity to just about every scene he’s in, so in that way, the suffocating horror of the situation is a little undercut. However, Cregger loves jumpscares, and Resident Evil is no exception, so if you’re jumpy, be prepared for that. I wasn’t a fan of his use of jumpscares in Weapons, given how much I think that movie benefitted from psychological, slow-burn horror. Resident Evil, however, is a thrill ride of a movie, so I think the jumpscares work here. Overall, I don’t think that this movie will give you nightmares, but it will certainly earn a few unexpected jumps throughout its runtime.

As a Resident Evil fan, I’m a perfectly happy camper when it comes to this movie. I’m likely to watch it again, given how short and exciting it is, and as for the backlash regarding this movie’s consistency with the established Resident Evil lore, all I can say is that I think any true Resident Evil fan is well aware of the liberties that this franchise often takes with its own mythos, and this is no different. This is a new outlook on the fall of Raccoon City, and given the fact that we’ve seen the main Resident Evil team from the games be brought to the screen so many times, and seen it fail tremendously so many times, I’m perfectly happy to see a new take on the big screen. Sure, I would’ve liked to see someone we know show up in a post-credits scene or something, but that would be opening the door to some sort of sequel starring Leon, Jill, Chris, or Claire, and that would likely, as it always has in the past, lead to a disaster that would make Raccoon City look like child’s play.

See also: The Top 10 Resident Evil Heroes, Ranked

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Where to Watch Resident Evil?

Image by Sony Pictures

Resident Evil has just hit theatres, so be sure to check it out if you’re interested! I’m hoping we might see a digital release just in time for Halloween, but who knows! If Resident Evil does well at the box office, we might see it hang around in theatres for a while yet!

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