Movie Review: Resident Evil (2026)

[Dave Gray]

Resident Evil (2026)

Premise: A medical courier accepts a rush delivery to a hospital, unaware that the city has been overtaken by a monster-creating virus.

Rating: Maybe the best video game adaptation ever.

I am excited to write this review because it's something new -- this is a film that is very much a Resident Evil movie, while simultaneously having nothing to do with it.  The Resident Evil games are about a company that unleashes a deadly, mutating virus that is turning everyone into various monsters and zombies and a few special agent types who are playing detective work to try and figure it out.

This isn't that.

This is a movie set in that world, about a guy trying to deliver a package.  That might not sound like a Resident Evil game.  However, it feels more like the experience of playing the game than any film before.  The plot of the games is pretty corny and this movie isn't beholden to any of it.  It also means that absolutely nothing is required from the viewer to experience the film, in any way whatsoever.  It relies on no previous knowledge or lore.  The film is as enjoyable for people who have played the game and people who have literally never heard of it.

However, the visual language of the film harkens back to the visual language of the game.  It FEELS like the game, which is something I've never seen a movie do before.  There are obvious examples, like how the main character gets weapons in order of firepower: first a pistol, then a shotgun, then an automatic.  In each case, he finds the weapon in a very video-game way that will feel familiar and just like the games, will be short on ammo and have to search his location.

But it's more than that.  The movie's perspective is only from that of the player.  And it isn't simply like you see through his eyes.  The entire film unravels based on what he discovers and what he sees.  When he enters into an area with a pad-locked gate, the camera will zoom to show you the lock, just as it would if you were entering a new area of the game.  It's a way of telling our main character that he needs to find a key.  Or solve a puzzle.  Or go to this location.  ...or whatever.

In addition to these types of things, there are also commonplace references to easter eggs in the game that you'll recognize if you're played them, but they will go unnoticed if you didn't.

Aside from the game-ness of it all, the movie is fun.  It's got a few clever scares and it's funny.  The hero is a likeable guy who isn't a bad-ass.  You root for him and he makes you laugh.  I found that when I got jump-scared, I was impressed because the director sets you up with a misdirection first and they really earn their moments.

There is a bit of a silliness factor that comes in about halfway through that threw me for a loop.  The film introduces some exposition characters that I found a bit goofy and prefer the more "serious" tone and humor to come from the main character's disbelief of what he had just seen, plus his general ineptness to fight the coming apocalypse.

If they wanted to, they could make further movies in this series that go into the company and the virus, but they also could just do one-off stories like this from within the world.  There's a lot to work with.