Frequently, I find myself really hating it when Hollywood decides to reboot a beloved film franchise.
Take the latest “Resident Evil” flick’s entry into what began as strictly a videogame franchise.
Honestly, I think that this movie only worked so well because it was a host of nobodies that had no ties to any of the game or movie lore of the past.
Basically, it was a completely fresh start and had a main character that was pretty pathetic – but that was part of his charm, too!
I mean, some random courier ends up fending off mutated people and animals and is the main source of comic relief?!
It’s better than anything I expected and worth sitting through the jump scares and gratuitous use of corn syrup and red food dye coloring.
Resident Evil is a horror film directed by Zach Cregger and written by Cregger and Shay Hatten, based on the Resident Evil video game franchise by Capcom.
Austin Abrams leads as the main character while Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Sara Paxton, Johnno Wilson, Andrea Miltner, and Paul Walter Hauser feature in supporting roles.
The movie clocks in at 95 minutes long and is rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout.
Medical courier Bryan (Abrams) agrees to take a last-minute package to Raccoon General Hospital in Raccoon City, Colorado.
On the way, he is distracted by an argument with his girlfriend Michelle (Paxton) and hits a random woman (Miltner) crossing the road.
He takes the injured, catatonic woman to his car to bring with him to the hospital.
He is later pulled over by Deputy Sheriff Wilson (Wilson) who takes the injured woman and instructs Bryan to follow him to the city.
Following the cruiser, Bryan sees it suddenly swerve and crash, leaving Wilson dead.
The woman emerges and attacks Bryan, who shoots her with Wilson’s service pistol.
Unfortunately, Bryan is a terrible shot and has managed to shoot his car engine at the same time.
Bryan walks to a farm where he is attacked by a mutated dog, which he kills.
Inside the home, he finds an empty double-barreled shotgun, and leaves Michelle a voicemail after failing to contact emergency services.
Searching for ammunition upstairs, he sees the woman running toward the house before being attacked by her husband, both of whom he shoots and kills.
He watches as tentacles emerge from their corpses, fusing them together.
He flees on foot and enters a dark tunnel that serves as the entrance to Raccoon City.
Inside, he finds an RV and a young, infected girl who begs him to save her.
While attempting to help her, she mutates and bites him, causing Bryan to shoot her.
Outside, he is saved from the growing amalgam of various corpses by Umbrella Corporation employees Paul (Hauser) and Maxine (Reis).
Paul explains to Bryan that hours ago, an accident at an Umbrella lab led to a widespread outbreak in Raccoon City, and that his package contains a stabilizer needed to create the cure.
Unfortunately, Paul and Maxine are subsequently killed by monsters shortly after arriving to Raccoon City.
At the same time, the fused corpse creature from the farm continues to pursue Bryan for several blocks through the city.
Honestly, things keep going wrong for poor Bryan, but he also manages to inject some levity despite the apocalyptic situation he’s stuck with.
Overall, I enjoyed this random, normal person take on the 30-year franchise and will reiterate that it is not for the squeamish!
