On Wednesday October 7th I was able to go see the newest addition to the Resident Evil family. This movie, directed by Zach Cregger, has to be one of the best I’ve seen all year. It’s an amazing mix of horror and tension with just the right amount of humor added in. It takes such a beloved game series and adds onto it in such an amazing way.
This movie is such an improvement from the other Resident Evil movies out there. Instead of just turning an already existing story into a life action, the film created a new one. Zach Cregger took the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3 and gave us another story to see. Not one about a professional agent, or a cop, but just a regular guy who ended up in a bad situation.
What I truly love about his movie, coming from a fan of the games, is the fact that you honestly don’t need to play them. You can walk into this movie with no knowledge of who Leon Kenedy is or what Umbrella Corp is, the movie may take place in the same universe, in the same city, at the same time, but it’s its own story.
This movie isn’t just great because of its connection to the games, while that is obviously a bonus, it’s great because you can feel the emotion in every scene. You can understand the main character’s actions, you can feel his anger at his situation and his understanding that he has to power through for the greater good. That’s truly what I love about this movie, not just that it has amazing visuals and perfect sound design, it shows the story of a man growing in real time. Resident Evil is the story that so many people walk right past when playing the games. They ignore the tapes, they skip the story, and they don’t care about the citizens. This movie makes you care, it makes you understand all the zombies you kill in the game were people, they had a story.
I liked the fact that Bryan, the main character, is just a medical courier who probably wouldn’t have been in Raccoon City that day if he didn’t take the job. Even with how obviously terrified he was throughout this movie you can see his kindness coming through in every action he takes. To not spoil anything I will obviously not go into details, but at the start of this movie Bryan is truly struggling with the changes happening in his life he isn’t sure he’s ready to face them, and throughout this movie we see just how ready he is. While he doesn’t notice it, it’s obvious to the audience through his action just how ready he is, and by the end he does know he’s ready, and he wants to make the change.
I will personally hold this movie in high standing for a very long time, and while I am aware that many people, even myself a little, would’ve loved to see a new adaptation of our favorite characters, it was nice to get to see a new story. Everything about this movie is amazing, the special effects, the horror, the tension, the action, it all adds up to create a beautifully directed and amazingly captivating movie that, I will admit, made me spill some popcorn and latch onto my friend out of fear
So I truly think that if you have the time, whether you’re a fan of the games or not, you should get out to a theater to see one of the best horror movies of the year.