I have a bit of a history with Resident Evil, but I wouldn’t consider myself a die-hard fan of the franchise. I’ve played some of the games over the years, I’ve experienced the survival-horror side of what makes this franchise so popular, but I’m not someone who has played every installment or knows every piece of the mythology. Because of that, I went into Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil without a huge list of expectations. I wasn’t looking for a perfect recreation of a particular game, I just wanted a good horror movie, and thankfully, that’s exactly what I got.
What immediately worked for me was the pacing. Resident Evil doesn’t waste much time getting where it wants to go, and once the movie starts moving, it just keeps building. The sequences are constantly throwing something new at the characters, and I really liked the feeling of progression throughout the movie. It almost has that mission-based quality of the games, where you accomplish one thing only to realize you’ve created an even bigger problem for yourself. Supplies are dwindling, the situations become increasingly impossible, and every time I thought the characters might finally catch a break, the movie finds another way to put them through hell.
That’s where I think Cregger really understands the appeal, I could feel that survival-horror DNA running through the movie. It feels like you’re watching someone work their way through a game, except you’re sitting in a theater watching it unfold rather than holding a controller. I think that makes the movie accessible even if you don’t have much experience with the franchise.
There’s a real energy to this movie that kept me engaged from beginning to end. The sequences are well constructed, the movie keeps moving, and Cregger does a good job of maintaining the same overall tone throughout — that’s something I really appreciated. There are funny moments, disturbing moments, big action sequences, and plenty of horror, but the movie never feels like it is desperately trying to change its personality depending on what’s happening, it establishes what kind of movie it wants to be and sticks with it.
I do wish there was a little more seriousness to it, not enough to completely change the movie into something else, but there were moments where I wanted him to let the horror sit a little longer. My mind kept wandering into that little corner of “What if this were scarier? What if certain sequences had gone on a little longer? What if the movie had pushed some of these situations just a little further?” There are moments where I could see the potential for something genuinely terrifying, and part of me wanted the movie to go there. I think there was another level of horror sitting underneath the movie that I would have loved to see explored.
And that’s probably connected to my only big criticism: I wanted more.
It’s actually pretty rare for me to leave a modern blockbuster thinking that I wish it had been longer, but Resident Evil is one of those movies. I could have easily watched another major sequence or two… I wanted a little more time with the main character, a little more exploration of the world, and maybe another opportunity to build the tension before throwing everything back into chaos. At the same time, I understand why the movie moves as quickly as it does. There’s something refreshing about its lean approach, it doesn’t spend forever setting up what it wants to do, it gets you into the nightmare and keeps going. The editing gives the movie a real sense of urgency, and I never found myself checking the time or wondering when the next sequence was coming.
Visually, I also enjoyed what cinematographer Dariusz Wolski created. The movie looks polished enough to feel like a major studio production, but it still has an unsettling quality to it. I especially liked the way things move in and out of the light as the movie doesn’t have to make every frame pitch black to create atmosphere.
Sometimes it’s what you can’t quite see that works best and that’s something that connects back to the games for me. Some of the best survival-horror experiences aren’t necessarily about showing you everything, they’re about making you wonder what’s waiting for you around the next corner.
The movie isn’t without its problems. I thought the final stretch was a little less satisfying than everything that came before it. I enjoyed the build-up, the escalation, and the increasingly ridiculous situations more than I did the eventual wrap-up. It felt like Cregger was having more fun throwing his characters into the chaos than he was figuring out how to bring all of that chaos to an ending. That doesn’t ruin the movie for me, but it did leave me wishing the final moments had landed with the same impact as some of the earlier sequences.
There’s definitely a better, scarier version of this movie that exists somewhere in my imagination, but the movie that Cregger actually made is one I had a hell of a good time watching.
Cheers,
Matt.
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