Movie Review – Resident Evil (2026)

When the Rotten Tomatoes score for this film landed and everyone was like, “It’s the highest rated video game movie ever,” I was ambivalent. Video game adaptations rarely translate to film well and even if they do, there is always discourse on some level and I’m almost never impressed by them. Honestly, the 2006 Silent Hill adaptation is probably the most tolerable for me, and a couple of the Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil films are watchable on some level. Other than that, I usually skip them. Then, someone pointed out that the new Resident Evil was the highest rated horror film of this year. That I was impressed by because, let’s be honest, it’s been a great year for horror films.

Zach Cregger’s adaptation has nothing to do with the previous films and Hallelujah for that. It follows Bryan, a courier who apparently specializes in delivering donated organs between hospitals. Personally, there is some backstory about him not responding well to his girlfriend wanting to have a kid. On an adult level, this guy is barely handling the small stuff and doesn’t really seem like he could handle the big stuff. Then, he gets sent to the hospital in Raccoon City to deliver some sort of organ or medication and it’s a rush so the pay is double.

Along the way, Bryan encounters one bizarre horrific thing after another and barely escapes each time. Some of his escapes are shear dumb luck including a bit with a ladder that – I’m embarrassed to admit this – reminds me a lot of how I play video games. I like the cute ones. The Animal Crossings and Mariokarts and Luigi’s Mansions. When I go into serious games, its to play whatever Legend of Zelda game is voguing at the moment and I played a lot of Mortal Combat as a teen. I only played one of the Resident Evil games back in 2003 and I found it to be a fun yet stressful experience that I never repeated and I totally would have thrown that ladder which was needed to escape another exit down at the dog chasing me and then swore at myself for my own stupidity. Perhaps that is why I found Bryan to be so unlikeably likable. He reminded me of how I handle the stressful WTAF moments in violent video games. Even in Breath of the Wild when battling certain bosses I would utter things to myself in the same way that Bryan does which is why I laughed so hard whenever he would mock himself for how much he sucks at guns. Same, Bryan. Same.

The crazy horror that this film embodies, from the combining of the corpses into disturbing monsters to the disgusting dude puking acid down an elevator shaft, is so wonderfully gory, Bryan’s reactions to it so human, that the film really is a great watch. It even has a little heart when Bryan takes a moment to leave his girlfriend a message when he believes he is going to die. The wintery, snowy setting and the dark of the forest area leading up to Raccoon City add a lot of creepy ambiance to a film that would have been fine without it. It elevates this film a bit.

The film builds at a nice pace, starting slow and picking up speed the closer Bryan gets to Raccoon City. Once there, the adventure becomes an urban nightmare that includes a jaunt through the sewer and bodies falling from buildings. The ending, something that even the decent video game films never seem to get right, is just about perfect. Seeing what Bryan turns into despite having almost gotten the cure is like watching humanity destroy itself even though the tools they have to save themselves are right there. I think there’s some allegory there, especially given that it was a manmade pathogen that started the whole mess to begin with. The film felt like a video game, but also felt like a film and I think it’s time we gave Zach Cregger whatever the hell he needs to make horror films. He’s three for three.

4.5 out of 5 stars.