In case you haven’t heard, the Resident Evil movie rocks. Zach Cregger’s singular adaptation of the beloved Capcom video games is a 95-minute shot of t-Virus adrenaline that does a better job of adapting the series to film than any of the previous seven movies, despite telling an original story and failing to include a single game character.
This caused something of a backlash ahead of release, leading Cregger to embark on a self-professed “apology tour” during interviews. But I’m here to tell you all that Cregger was right: more filmmakers need to be brave enough to tell their own stories when adapting video games, and stay true to the source material in other ways, even if it means leaving fan-favorite figures behind.
Despite taking place “on the periphery” of Resident Evil 2, on the day of the t-Virus outbreak, Cregger’s Resident Evil movie doesn’t feature the iconic likes of Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Nemesis or any of the myriad characters and monsters we know are running around the streets of Raccoon City at this exact time. Instead, it focuses on medical courier Bryan, an average Joe who’s comically out of his depth when faced with seemingly unkillable zombies and even gnarlier mutated creatures. His simple goal: to get the basis of an antidote for the infection from A to B.
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The movie’s only acknowledgement of Resident Evil’s outrageously convoluted lore is a brief moment of exposition revealing that (who else but) the Umbrella Corporation is behind the t-Virus outbreak. This side of Resident Evil, along with the well-explored characters, evidently wasn’t of interest to Cregger.
And who can blame him – we had six Milla Jovovich-led movies featuring cosplay versions of familiar Resident Evil figures in daft fan-fiction scenarios that sort of looked a bit like the games if you squinted. These movies were at least fun, which can’t really be said about the disastrous 2021 movie Welcome to Raccoon City – an adaptation so misguided in its efforts to please fans that it featured originally cut character Lisa Trevor, but was somehow the worst of the lot.
Instead, Cregger, a clearly passionate Resident Evil fan who also happens to be one of the most accomplished and exciting contemporary filmmakers, has adapted Resident Evil in the ways that matter: translating the tone, atmosphere, structure, absurdity, and the you-know-it-if-you-see-it feel of the games to film in a way that feels practically groundbreaking.
Lone survivor
Everyman Bryan might be a new kind of protagonist for a Resident Evil story (more akin to Ethan at the start of 7 than one-man-army Leon), but the idea of following a single isolated character through a nightmare gauntlet is standard operating procedure for the series. No time for idle chit-chat when you’ve got mutated beasties to kill and arcane sub-objectives to complete.
There’s also the undeniable fact that most of the games simply aren’t suited for a 1:1 translation to film. Resident Evil 2 might be an all-time classic, but Leon or Claire running laps around the RPD building to stay out of Mr. X’s reach is unlikely to lend itself to compelling cinema. And the less said about the B-movie stories and dialogue, the better.
Despite his passion for the series, Cregger is smart enough to know that if you want to experience Resident Evil 4, the best way to do that will always be to play the game. This has long been the case for video game adaptations – particularly on the big screen – which have typically loosely adapted the stories and the characters out of necessity in a way that satisfies no one. Beyond a handful of specific examples – The Last of Us on TV among them – that truly lend themselves to faithful adaptation, it’s almost always going to be the case that using the worlds as a jumping-off point for new stories, while honoring the ethos of the games, will yield more satisfying results for fans and newcomers.
Cregger translates the tone, atmosphere, structure, absurdity, and the you-know-it-if-you-see-it feel of the games to film in a way that feels practically groundbreaking.
We’re living through the golden age of video game adaptations, akin to the position superhero cinema was in around the early days of the MCU. And just like superhero cinema was no longer treated purely as disposable kids’ fare by a generation of filmmakers who grew up reading comics, as a generation of filmmakers who grew up playing video games move into positions of power in Hollywood, the approach to adapting them has become increasingly sophisticated. There have already been a number of successful examples on TV, including Fallout and Arcane, neither of which adapts specific stories from the games, but still manage to stay true to their respective worlds. Resident Evil is the first true success story on film, at least one put out by a major studio.
Of course, there are examples of this approach not working out in the past. 2016’s Assassin’s Creed, starring Michael Fassbender, wasn’t a million miles away from Cregger’s Resident Evil in its use of a new cast of characters in a familiar setting and scenario. But without casting aspersions, it’s fair to say that Assassin’s Creed director Justin Kurzel – the extremely accomplished filmmaker behind the likes of Snowtown and The True History of the Kelly Gang – probably didn’t understand Assassin’s Creed in the same way that Cregger does Resident Evil, and it showed.
A new way forward
The discourse around Resident Evil has been a bummer to see as a long-serving fan of the games and an equally big fan of Cregger. Here, at long last, a series as storied and full of potential as Resident Evil has enlisted a filmmaker with the vision and talent to craft something that lives up to the legacy of the games – which he accomplished and then some – and the instinct of many is to tear the movie down because it isn’t a 1:1 translation. I, for one, don’t want to see the same thing again, simply in live action; that experience is open to me again anytime by booting up my PlayStation. I’ll always opt for something new, as long as it feels true to the world it’s bringing to the screen.
It’s too early to say whether or not filmmakers will learn the lessons of Cregger’s Resident Evil. We’ve yet to get a proper glimpse of Wes Ball’s The Legend of Zelda movie, though given comments from Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto recently that the movie would be inspired by the history of the whole series, and some sneaky set photos that appear to feature a mix of costumes from different eras, I’ll be surprised if it’s a faithful rendering of a specific entry. Better it captures the spirit of the series first and foremost, followed by any specifics which support that.
As for Resident Evil, despite saying he’s had ideas for a sequel, it doesn’t seem all that likely Cregger will return – and who can blame him. While many consider the ending abrupt, you can’t deny that it closes the loop on Bryan as a character, and serves as a tragic origin story for a hulking Raccoon City sub-boss; you could almost imagine Leon stumbling across his voice message for Michelle in Raccoon City General Hospital’s subterranean car park before going on to take him out with a few well-placed magnum shots to that bulging eye. As far as adapting a video game goes, Cregger has achieved an easy S+ rank.
Resident Evil is out now. For more, check out our ranking of the best Resident Evil movies and our spoiler-filled Resident Evil movie ending explained.
