Resident Evil Review: Zach Cregger Revives Franchise With Another Big Success
Director Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) returns to the big screen for Resident Evil, a film adaptation of one of the most popular video games of all time.
Synopsis:
"Medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) unwittingly finds himself fighting for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos."
Cast: Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser
Release Date:
In Theaters Now
Cregger Brings Classic Direction to Known IP
I entered this film with no prior knowledge of the franchise, but as a huge Zach Cregger fan. Barbarian and Weapons are two of my favorite horror films ever, plus I'm just obsessed with his directorial style. That enjoyment I have watching his films absolutely continued here. Although this is a pretty large departure from those two horror projects he's done so far, you still get plenty of hints at his classic style. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but I call a big part of his style those "tracking shots" - where the camera shifts around the POV of the character in these insane situations. This creates an incredible amount of tension throughout this film, not only in those large scale action scenes but also in the slower moments.
This style works really well to make this film as scary as possible. As is the case for all of Cregger's horror projects, this film has plenty of jumpscares that will leave you on the edge of your seat. There were multiple times that I was taken off guard, with scares that would probably be predictable without the creative juices of Cregger behind the camera. They really play into the ridiculousness of the situation and that allows you to keep your guard down before a big scare comes out of nowhere. This film is also very creepy and gory, especially towards the end. But even throughout, the monsters themselves (which I'm sure are designs from the game) are horrifying to look at and we see that through the eyes of Abrams. There's many direct POV shots here and also multiple references to how many bullets he has remaining, two bits of creative direction I really appreciated. A world with the likes of Cregger, Jordan Peele, Curry Barker, Kane Parsons, Robert Eggers, and Ryan Coogler being the future of horror sounds good to me.
Lastly, I really appreciated how he kept this mostly contained in the world. There's references to the larger world and a plot that will keep you engaged, but it doesn't get bogged down by a more detailed screenplay. Making this more of an adrenaline shot of a film was definitely the right choice from Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten.
Great Balance of Seriousness and Humor
As I've mentioned before, this film is just hilarious. There were multiple times where our theater was dying laughing because of the way they craft this courier's absurd journey. A lot of that comes from Abrams' performance, which we'll discuss later, but it's generally just a very funny script. The filmmakers do a great job at putting him in these random scenarios just back to back to back and finding creative ways to get him out of them. However at the same time, this film is obviously R-Rated and very serious. This main character is fighting for his life and on the run 99% of the time, which makes for many terrifying sequences. The tension is really there the whole time, not only because of the horror scares but also the tone in the action scenes.
That's really where this film can shine - it can turn from serious to humorous at any time and not feel like a huge tonal shift. There's certain scenes where Abrams goes from one moment just riffing off some hilarious banter to fighting for his life. At no point does this feel like tonal whiplash, as both can actually co-exist at the same time. There can be a scene where one moment you are laughing, but also slightly cringing because you aren't exactly sure how he's going to make it out. This makes for a story you are invested in the entire time. They don't do anything crazy plot wise, but you'll come in for the horror/gore and stay involved because of the laughs (or vice versa).
Abrams is Perfect In The Lead Role
Although we do have some fun supporting performances from people like Paul Walter Hauser, Abrams is the character that we follow from the very beginning. We meet him in conversation with his partner, promising to go home as quick as he can, before accepting one final shipment. This is our main plot of the movie, with his character encountering many scares and near-death experiences along the way. Abrams is perfect for this because he is not only a good actor but also just one of the funniest people you'll ever see. As you probably saw in Weapons, the guy is great at playing the goofy idiot who is also somehow the luckiest guy on the planet. The way he goes about these crazy monster fights is incredibly comical and he anchors this movie in that humor. But as I said in the prior section, we quickly go from that humor to him proving his acting chops at many points. There's one scene with about 15-20 minutes left where all of the sudden Abrams just pours his heart out to his girlfriend and it's genuinly a phenomenal performance. This is not a movie that really requires that, but Abrams clearly gave it his all in every facet.
Slightly Repetitive And Short Runtime
Although I did think for the most part the action scenes were very creative, the movie does rely on them a lot. The entire movie is Abrams on the run from whatever monster or crazy threat is thrown his way, which for the most part is awesome. However, there were a few points around the middle that I started feeling myself get a little tired of the repetitiveness. Every sequence pretty much has the same setup and plot, with obviously the same main character, which just didn't engage me for every single second of the runtime. My other slight negative would be that this is a very short film, basically less than 90 minutes. I definitely think it was the smart choice to do something like this instead of adding 30 minutes of deep lore, but it does somewhat limit this movie's ceiling. It's definitely not as creative or twist-worthy as Cregger's other two projects, with this being much more straightforward in concept. That may work for others who weren't as into the more plot focused Weapons and Barbarian, but it was a slight issue for me.
Final Thoughts
Even without having really any interest in this IP going into it, Zach Cregger somehow got me invested into a film about this franchise. Obviously the fact that it is only taking the broader world and characters from the video game will ostracize a lot of people, but I think it was the right choice to appeal to a larger audience and create a better chance for success. Supposedly the ending of this is contoversial, which I can't talk about without spoilers, but I loved it! This has all the signs of a big box office hit and I hope you all see it in the theater!
Rating: 4/5 Stars
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