Courtney Howard // Film Critic
RESIDENT EVIL
Rated R, 1 hour and 30 minutes
Directed by: Zach Cregger
Starring: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry, Andrea Miltnerova
In the decades since the popular video game RESIDENT EVIL made its way to the silver screen, there hasn’t been an iteration quite like director/ co-writer Zach Cregger’s interpretation. He and co-writer Shay Hatten have concocted a wild, hilarious, unpredictably bonkers thrill ride from start to finish with nary a moment to catch your breath. With creative, kinetic horror sequences and killer craftsmanship, the standout standalone keeps us on the edge of our seats from moment one, screaming, squirming and shrieking with laughter.
Bryan (Austin Abrams) is a medical transport driver having one of the most chaotic nights of his life. He made what he assumes is his final organ delivery of the night to a local hospital when another, high-paying offer materializes. Rather than spend the rest of the night with his girlfriend, who’s recently told him she’s pregnant with their baby, he cowardly chooses the gig that yields a bunch of cash – provided he gets the mystery package to its intended recipient in the neighboring big city miles away. He embarks on a snowy mountainous trek he’s drastically ill-prepared to make.
On his way to the Raccoon City Hospital and distracted by an argument with his girlfriend on his cell phone, he accidentally hits a pedestrian (Andrea Miltnerova) crossing the road. But she’s not a normal pedestrian: She’s infected with something that has mutated her into a rather frightening, zombie-like monster. Bryan’s obliviousness to this lasts only so long, discovering a guard dog and the woman’s husband also suffering from the malevolent malady. Yet he’s determined in his quest to get the medical package to its final destination no matter the difficulties and obstacles standing in his way.
A body horror-juiced movie of this ilk is only as good as the uproarious, nail-biting Big Action Set Pieces within – and boy do Cregger and Hatten let ‘em rip. They’re cooking with napalm. The infected pedestrian in the red flowery dress, who becomes part of a relentless adversarial horde that continuously stalks Bryan through remote forest and urban landscapes, is played for tension release humor in the first act. The horrific horde houses the merciless spirit of the T-1000, only ravenous to absorb more humans. Still, she’s equally spicy and scary in her own right. Bryan’s biggest antagonists being padlocks and guns makes for solid Long Running Gags. The pair keep Easter Eggs to a minimum as to not distract from the mounting stakes, but fans will easily spot those references.
Suspense builds to a perfect crescendo during the rural farmhouse and barn sequences. Jump scares are earned. Cregger’s camera movements, like the whip pan, help to increase tension. Not only does Bryan clumsily catch on to the sinister shenanigans at hand, gathering gross information about his changing reality in real time, the audience has a total blast seeing their unskilled, under-prepared avatar put through the wringer. It’s also where we get a good look at the revolting (complimentary!) creature FX involving the monsters’ powers, where their worm-like tentacles fuse together with other infected’s missing body parts turning them into unstoppable, multi-ambulatory mutant beasts.
Bryan’s insanely intense sewer crawl where he encounters a blubbery, belching, buck-naked monster in the dark recesses of an underground lair is perhaps the film’s most disgusting portion not fit for the weak-stomached. Their face-off escalates its vomit-inducing qualities in brisk fashion. His post-sewer adventure walking through city streets holds no silent sanctuary for the bedraggled delivery driver. The streets become a war zone where the infected become sentient blood-bag bombs, jumping off buildings like lemmings off a cliff. The blood explodes everywhere around Abrams in a glorious, splatterrific fireworks effect utilizing practical FX.
Sly commentary – albeit slight – is tucked into the narrative’s underpinnings, existing as a rumination on the nature of a spreading, unrelenting outbreak and unwieldy gig economy systems. Casting the “glorified Postmates driver” (as he refers to himself at one point) as an everyday, essential hero during an overwhelming pandemic is, at its very basic essence, a love letter to those who endured in that field during our uncertain era. Most importantly, it’s a brilliant allegory for fatherhood where Bryan’s life instantly becomes an unfamiliar, dangerous odyssey where death and disease lurk everywhere.
There are few weaknesses within an otherwise strong script. Cregger and Hatten don’t gift Bryan’s arc with much, if any, nuance. They’re primarily focused on getting their game player from point A to point B and so on without advancing his internal motivations. As his external situation grows more dire, his desperation causes him to ponder his future survival, leaving messages on his girlfriend’s voicemail about wanting to have reacted better to the surprise news. Yet he doesn’t experience any noticeable inner growth during his compounding problems that shows us he’s motivating a change within himself. His external experiences dodging death and bloody beasties are the sole things causing him to level up from a blundering slacker to a quick-thinking, responsible person. Plus, the ending will likely prove divisive with audiences.
Abrams, who reunites with Cregger after playing the drug-addicted rascal in WEAPONS, delivers a terrific performance as our hapless hero. He nails the bumbling physicality, abject frustration and comedic timing, grounding the heightened hilarity and hijinks in humanity and authenticity. The seemingly insurmountable odds he faces inherently increase audience empathy, giving the picture an absorbing character drive. In terms of the supporting players, Paul Walter Hauser is perfectly pitched, utilizing his brief screen time as an Umbrella Corporation man with assured gusto.
Grade: A-
RESIDENT EVIL opens in theaters on September 18.
