Only recently have I re-entered the world of gaming, after a decade plus absence from the hobby. I largely stayed away because honestly, who has the money to keep up with the trends? But more so than money, much of my reticence toward modern gaming comes from the fact that I much prefer to spend my free time indulging my case of terminal cinephilia. Am I really going to devote 25 hours to a game when I could use the same free time to watch many, many movies?
This changed recently when a friend of mine (Hi Stephen) pointed out that during my time away from gaming, video games had become their own form of cinema. He’s not wrong. I recently played the popular Spider-Man PS5 game, and I can confirm that it’s one of the best Spidey movies I’ve ever seen … and I would know, because for about 40 hours, I got to be Spider-Man. And I was a damn good Spider-Man if I do say so myself. I prevented a bridge from collapsing! I stopped Dock Ock from destroying New York!!
Anywho, video games are typically challenging to adapt to the big screen because the two mediums serve different goals. Namely, movies aren’t playable. The opposite is also true: movies are typically hard to adapt into video games because, well, movies aren’t playable.
Yet we try and try again, to a wide variety of results. Resident Evil, the latest adaptation of the most popular horror gaming series, comes after a long line of fun, video gamey run-and-gun flicks that, for all their silliness, are way better than their reputations. But when you watch any one of them, it’s very clear that they are based on a video game (and for a much more ham-handed approach to game adaptation, DOOM pulls a similar trick). This is where the miracle of Zach Cregger’s imagination comes into play. His Resident Evil, which does not follow the exact plot of any of the games, and is far from a run-and-gun actioner, marries the cinema of video games to the cinema of cinema, making a film that will surely please fans of the games just as much as it will fans of gnarly funhouse horror.
Take it from me, a guy who has never played a Resident Evil game, and who has only watched others play it here and there over the years. Horror games stress me out, and when I game I like to relax. I’m a story mode guy, through and through.
Cregger’s film starts at a clip and never lets up. Bryan (Austin Abrams), a hapless package courier has finished up his final delivery of the day: a much needed organ for transplant at the hospital. Before he can head home to his pregnant significant other, he is offered one last job … and the job pays double. Against his better judgement he takes the opportunity, as unprepared for the trip as he may be.
Naturally, there are monsters between he and his destination. It’s a Resident Evil movie after all.
Much like Barbarian and Weapons, there’s a streak of dark humor throughout the film that demands it be seen with a large, energetic crowd. Much like the game series, the film unspools as a series of set pieces, all reminiscent of rooms in a funhouse (or levels in a video game). Our hero must collect weapons, count his ammo, and weasel/fight his way in and out of escalating situations in order to get his package to the finish line. As such, the vibe of gaming is perfectly captured. And while the absence of playability would normally sink something like this, Cregger and team have isolated the cinematic elements of the game and translated them to the big screen without treating the adaptation as a novelty (there are no clips of the game, nor any HUD graphics or any of that malarkey).
This is indicative of what my friend Stephen pointed out to me: games have become cinema. The two mediums have spent the past few decades in conversation, undergoing mutual development. Resident Evil represents the best blend of the two formats I’ve ever seen.
One minor issue I have with the film is one I have with most horror flicks these days: occasionally the effects look gummy. As I understand it, most of what we see in Resident Evil is practical, but there are a few moments (most notably the elevator scene — which is still quite excellent overall) where the seams are visible in such a way that it took me out of the movie a touch. Even so, its head and shoulders above its ilk in this department.
My only other complaint is that Austin Abrams is so goddamn good while also being considerably younger than me. As I get older, things like this tend to sting a bit. How far the he so talented and so young?!? Alas, that’s a me problem. And it’s a problem that can easily be dismissed on account of the fact that it’s not really a problem, and because few things can’t be forgiven when you’ve got Paul Walter Hauser and Kali Reis two-handing one of my favorite scenes in any movie this year.
And they’re both roughly my age, which means I, Spider-Man, still have time to make something of myself.
Directed by Zach Cregger
Written by Zach Cregger, Shay Hatten
Starring Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser
Rated R, 94 minutes
