Review of ‘Resident Evil’, Zach Cregger’s new film
The new “Resident Evil” It is, obviously, a commissioned film. Sony, the producer, and Capcom, the developer of the games, gave a blank check to Zach Cregger after the success of “Barbarian” (22), multiplied by that of the stupendous “Weapons” (25). It must be admitted that it was not easy: if there is a finicky fandom, it is that of video game fans; Furthermore, it was the third cinematographic incarnation of the famous saga, which has also generated television series, anime, comics and a very long etcetera, with results, for the most part, discreet. In other words, it could be thought that “Resident Evil” It was already a burned, overexploited territory.
However, Cregger has passed this new test with a very good grade; Furthermore, everything indicates that it will become, after “Backrooms” and “Obsession”in the third big horror film blockbuster this year. The key is that your “Resident Evil” achieves something that many other video game adaptations had tried without success. It is a film that can be said to “look like a video game”, without it being forced or ridiculous. And not just any video game: a survival horror.
This subgenre was born in the now distant 1989 with “Sweet Home”a title that also had a film origin, as it adapted one of the first films of the great Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa. However, the game that gave it definitive form, as we all know, was the mythical “Alone in the Dark” (92). Inspired by him, two great franchises would emerge that have survived to this day and that have tried, with uneven success, to transfer their success to other media: “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill”. Despite sharing influences, both developed a very pronounced personality from the beginning.
All games “Silent Hill” They are psychological horror stories in which the monsters that the protagonists face arise from their traumas and their very dark pasts. On the contrary, from the first “Resident Evil”, Since 1996, this has been a franchise focused on action and body horror. Some of its creators had worked on the inaugural “Sweet Home” and they reused many ideas from that project: the overwhelming scenarios, the threats outside the field of vision, the limited resources, such as ammunition, that had to be managed carefully by the player and, above all, vulnerable characters. All of this is relevant when watching Cregger’s film, because he manages to incorporate these ideas into the plot with magnificent naturalness and in an organic way.
In an era of bloated footage, in which almost all Hollywood blockbusters exceed two hours in length, “Resident Evil” It barely exceeds ninety minutes. It has been said that it is a kind of “Fury Road” of terror, an exaggerated comparison, although not entirely unjustified. However, above all, it remembers, partly for its generous doses of humor, the “Evil Dead” by Sam Raimi, although with some grotesque monsters that refer to “The thing” by John Carpenter.
Without the structural ambition of “Barbarian” either “Weapons”is a film that grabs the viewer within a few minutes of starting and doesn’t let go until the credits roll. Its protagonist, an excellent Austin Abrams, represents the average individual: an immature twenty-something who tries to escape the responsibilities of adult life and who, due to a series of random circumstances, ends up immersed in the circus of monsters unleashed by the very evil Umbrella corporation in Raccoon City. If there is any weak point, it is the ending, very inconclusive, which is not up to par with the rest of the footage. However, we had such a good time during the previous hour and a half that it can be considered a minor reproach.
Zach Cregger’s next movie will reportedly be “The Flood”a space epic produced by Spielberg. We will have to be attentive.
