Is The ‘Resident Evil’ Movie Worth Watching?

A quick disclaimer before I give my review: I have (unfortunately) never played the Resident Evil video game. I know, please don’t send a hybrid mutant monster to my home. I still promise to give an honest, fair, and heartfelt review of this movie — cross my heart and hope to resist infection. 

You may be wondering why I went to see this movie with no previous lore. The answer is, my roommate made me. She wishes for you to know that she is a Cinemark Movie Club member and close to getting her platinum status. This was not a hostage situation. Or was it?

So was it actually good? Surprisingly, yes. I would rate Resident Evil an 8/10. Considering I had never played the video game, I was expecting to be fairly confused the whole time, but I actually had a great time. 

I credit the movie for how funny it was. From the moment it started, I was laughing — which is not what I expected from a horror movie. I was expecting two hours of jump scares,bloody monsters and a variety of bad decisions. Don’t get me wrong, there was still plenty of that, but the movie still had a surprisingly good sense of humor. There were several moments where I found myself laughing out loud in the theater, either at the script or just how absolutely ridiculous the situation was. 

The acting quality also surprised me. Austin Abrams, who played the main character, was genuinely amazing. I don’t think they could have found anyone better to play this role. Regardless of my previous knowledge of Resident Evil, this actor actually made me care about his character and what happened to him. He also did a great job balancing humor and the serious situations he found himself in. Abrams carried this movie for me. 

The movie also did a great job with the jump scares. I personally think there could have been more (considering I basically paid money to be scared), but the ones that they had did make me jump in my seat. 

Fair warning, though: If you are someone who doesn’t enjoy seeing people absolutely mutilated on screen, don’t go see this movie. There were some pretty brutal moments, including heads being blown off and infected people jumping off of buildings and not exactly sticking the landing, if you know what I’m saying. At some point I got desensitized to the disturbing images and instead started to wonder just how much of the production team’s budget went towards their fake blood supply. 

But the ending is where the movie lost a couple of points for me. Without giving away too much, I will say that there were PLENTY of opportunities to just stick the main character with the freaking cure, and no one did it. As someone who didn’t know how the movie would end because I had no prior knowledge of the video game, I got incredibly frustrated;however, my roommate later explained to me that the ending was accurate to the game, so I can appreciate that. 

My roommate, who is a big fan of the video game, loved the movie. She said, “ It was so funny, and it was the perfect mix of thriller and comedy. As someone who has played the game, I loved all of the easter eggs, and I actually loved the ending, and it was important to the plot.” 

So, to answer the big question: Is the Resident Evil movie worth watching? I would say yes, it is. But viewer discretion is advised.

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