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Every time I bring up Weapons, my girlfriend rolls her eyes and a fairy dies somewhere. I’ve so far committed fairy genocide, and my girlfriend’s migraines have magnified. In short, I loved it, and director Zach Cregger is back with another amusingly scary horror flick, this time a new take on Resident Evil.
I played the original computer game once or twice back in the 1990s, but outside of the trashy-but-sometimes-fun [but mostly trashy] Milla Jovovich series, I have neither deep understanding of the lore nor allegiance to the source material. With this new Resident Evil, Cregger is less concerned with being faithful to the game plots than he is to recreating the sensation of playing the game. As our lovable lead character Bryan (Austin Abrams) ventures down an icy road into the dark woods on his way to Raccoon City, you know that something or some things twitch in the shadows. You know that at any minute something can and will jump out at you. And you know that once he makes it to the city, even worse creatures lurk about.
Similar to Weapons and Barbarian, Resident Evil is a tale of two experiences. Cregger loves a mid-story pivot, and while Resident Evil is more straightforward and predictable than his last two ventures, it has two distinct halves.
The first half is downright perfect, with Bryan trying to get help after hitting a woman with his car in the middle of nowhere. It’s just him, the darkness, and a monster or two to keep him company. Cregger leans into his talents and delivers a suspenseful, anxiety-inducing thrill ride that, despite a lean 90-minute runtime, takes its time to develop. Cregger’s Resident Evil is funny but scary, silly yet frightening. Through it all, he builds incredible tension.
The second half is different. It’s still fun. Still ridiculous. But not as deliciously satisfying as the first. When Paul Walter Hauser shows up, the tone awkwardly shifts, if only momentarily. Cregger literally drives us from his singular, claustrophobic monster movie to the next evolution of his Resident Evil adaptation, and it takes a few minutes to recalibrate.
That said, once recalibration kicks in, Cregger is once again off to the races, hurtling Bryan from one obstacle to the next as he pinballs toward his destination. It’s a blast of a movie and a thousand leagues above the Milla Jovovich series in terms of quality and terror (I haven’t seen the previous Resident Evil movie, and based on reviews, have no plans to).
Abrams, by the way, is terrific. Abrams delivered one of the underappreciated performances last year, playing the sad-but-lovable drug addict in Weapons, and he’s at it again here. He’s a sensational actor and expertly walks a tightrope between bumbling protagonist and sincere Scream King. His only flaw is that his character stops to stare way too freaking much. Run, man, run!
Whereas I absolutely loved the ending to Weapons (there goes by girlfriend’s eyes, and a fairy just popped, the little f**ker), Cregger slightly misfires with Resident Evil’s conclusion. It’s still a lot of fun, but ultimately it’s a disappointing end to what is otherwise a wild ride.
Resident Evil is not as strong as Cregger’s other works, but it’s a refreshing take on the video game franchise, a lean, mean, fast-paced thrill ride full of monster mayhem and things that go bump in the night.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.