Warning: This article contains spoilers for “Resident Evil.”
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” movie isn’t a one-to-one adaptation of any of the games.
For months, Cregger has been lambasted by gamers angry that he would dare to tell a fully original story set inside the survival horror universe. The film’s setting, characters and plot all came under fire from fans who would rather see Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield hold the frame than Austin Abrams’ bumbling medical courier Bryan.
But Cregger’s latest fits beautifully within the broader Resident Evil franchise, with the “Weapons” director delivering a madcap horror movie that perfectly evokes the feeling of playing these games. Bryan’s arc also fleshes out the story of Raccoon City, with one emotional scene in the third act revealing just how brilliant a piece of adaptation this film is.
The scene in question sees Bryan enter a parking garage (evocative of similar locations seen in games like Resident Evil 2) beneath a hospital where the Umbrella Corporation has set up shop. At this point, Bryan has already fought through hordes of infected to deliver a key component of a potential cure to the lab coats waiting at the top of the building.
But Bryan himself was bitten by an infected child (one whose head he blows off in one of the film’s most outrageous scenes) long before entering the garage, causing him to slowly morph into one of these monsters. Finding no way to reach the Umbrella lab, Bryan sits down to record a message for his pregnant girlfriend, hoping she will one day find his phone and hear how sorry he was for not being more supportive.
Resident Evil fans and horror gamers who didn’t enter the theater with their arms crossed probably perked up once Bryan began recording. Here, Cregger makes his intent clear. He’s not telling the story of a Resident Evil hero — he’s telling the story of a Resident Evil collectible.
For those who don’t know, the Resident Evil franchise (and similar game series like The Last of Us) fills its world with collectibles and other bits of environmental storytelling that players can grab or interact with during their mission. Some of these narrative devices, like slips of paper and audio logs, can tell stories about people who previously inhabited the environment you now occupy.
Collectibles and audio logs can be particularly impactful in horror video games. In the Resident Evil series, you’ll often stumble upon small bits of storytelling that slowly fill in the horror that befell others before you arrive. A diary entry talks about a character’s family succumbing to infection as they watched in anguish. An audio file reveals a scientist fearing the progression of their experiments and the deadly ramifications that are soon to follow. Bits of environmental storytelling, like a stray skeleton or writing on the wall, underline that whole other characters lived and died long before you entered the room. These devices are a great way of filling the player with dread and painting a broader picture than one story can contain.
When Bryan starts to record his own voice message, Cregger clarifies the place his story holds in the broader “Resident Evil” universe. He’s not telling the story of a hero like Leon or Claire who saves the day, or even the story of a guy who gets out of a crazy night alive. He’s telling the story of some background NPC whose phone Leon stumbles upon while scavenging a garage for bullets. He’s a task you mindlessly check off on the road to Platinum.
One can imagine the events of the film playing out in a Resident Evil 2 DLC, a story called “The Courier” about a rando who accidentally becomes the one responsible for stopping the T-Virus. But a DLC couldn’t actually end with a cure being found, as that would create a huge problem for the broader Resident Evil lore.
So this movie doesn’t end that way either. Instead, it ends with Bryan dropping the cure as he transforms into a giant, hulking infected, comprised of various parts of the scientists he accidentally destroyed. This again slightly changes the perspective of Cregger’s film, making it feel like an extended origin story for a miniboss you’d slay during one of the games.
It’s a brilliant piece of adaptation, one that allows Cregger to tell a focused, an action-packed story in this universe without retreading or overwriting the stories we’ve seen. “Resident Evil” makes the video game world feel bigger and more fleshed out in a way that couldn’t be accomplished by simply dropping Easter eggs or nodding to the characters we already know. This approach also allows Cregger to tell a truly mean story with a brutal ending that likely works better at the end of a 90-minute movie than a nine-hour playthrough.
Cregger’s film is immensely faithful to the Resident Evil experience, perfectly capturing the feeling of this video game franchise. Bryan constantly encounters experiences reminiscent of the series’ gameplay: There are locks he can’t shoot, bullets he must conserve, destroyed environments he must navigate. He’s even relentlessly pursued by his very own stalker (but instead of Mr. X or Lady Dimitrescu, he gets a practical rubber band ball of infected limbs).
So yes, the year of the Raccoon City infection is different, and no, Leon doesn’t show up. But to call this adaptation “unfaithful” lacks imagination.
This approach reminds me of Cregger’s pitch for a Gotham-set movie that focuses not on the Dark Knight, but on a low-level goon who lands a lucky hit on Batman and suddenly finds himself with an incapacitated Caped Crusader. In these franchise adaptations, Cregger doesn’t gravitate towards the main characters — he tries to tell the stories of the people living in the margins. He tells the stories that other IP adapters aren’t interested in telling.
Hopefully, Resident Evil gamers haven’t scared him off of telling those stories for good.
The post How ‘Resident Evil’s’ Most Emotional Scene Makes It a Perfect Adaptation appeared first on TheWrap.
