This post contains Zach Cregger's 'Resident Evil' (2026) spoilers, go see it!
Lore vs Visual Language, Faithful Story vs Soul
I am a gigantic Resident Evil fan. Like, gigantic. I have played every mainline game at least 4 times, I own most games on at least 2 different consoles, and I have bought the last two game releases day one. I love Resident Evil and I'm super familiar with the lore and atmosphere of the games.
All this to say that when Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" was announced, I was ecstatic! So, you can imagine my surprise when the announcement and subsequent trailers were met with waves upon waves of criticism from "Resident Evil fans". The main criticism that was hurled at this movie was the fact that it did not follow anyone familiar from the games. This movie follows Bryan, a new, regular joe character--no Leon, no Jill... not even a reference. Bryan finds himself fighting through Raccoon City during the outbreak caused by the Umbrella Corporation, yes, but even the setting is tweaked. First, it takes place in the winter, which Cregger himself claimed was decided upon because it was cooler (no pun intended), and it also takes place during the modern era as opposed to 1998.
Throughout the trailer releasing, promotional interviewing, and eventual release of the movie itself, none of these details swayed me from my wholehearted excitement for this movie. I can confidently say that I was not disappointed. In fact, I was rather blown away by Cregger's adaptation. Zach Cregger did something so unique and unlike any video game adaptation I've ever seen--he adapted the FEEL of the game. This was done without ripping characters or storylines from the games themselves, but through visual language and references deeper than easter eggs and name drops.
A few days ago, I went to a presentation where the guest speaker, a game developer, spoke about "feeling based development". This is the concept of choosing a specific feeling you want the player to feel, and shaping your game around it as a beacon. Something he said during this presentation really spoke to me. When you are asked your favourite game, sure you remember the name and the story, but the most prominent thing you remember is how you felt playing it. Yes, I could tell you all about Raccoon City and Leon Kennedy lore, but that's not why I love Resident Evil. It's how I feel playing it. The rising tension into the comic relief, the feeling of your stomach dropping when they task you with walking down a really dark hallway, the disgust at the grotesque "how did anyone ever come up with THAT?" mutations, THAT is Resident Evil--and that is what Zach Cregger masterfully built his vision around.
Visual Language
When I sat down for my first viewing of Resident Evil, I held a moment from a promotional interview in the back of my mind, where Cregger emphasized going into the movie as though you were playing a video game. This was unbelievably effective for me and continuously blew me away. The core aspect of Resident Evil's visual language adapted was the use of first person perspective shots throughout the movie. A first-person shot is something that can very obviously tie movies to video games, as it is something almost exclusive to the latter form of entertainment. While the inclusion alone was a nod to the visual language of the games (specifically Resident Evil 7 & 8) and video games in general, WHERE Cregger chose to tell the story through this unique perspective is what truly impressed me and made me FEEL how I felt playing Resident Evil games.
Cregger exclusively uses a first-person point of view when Bryan was exploring uncharted territory. Remember that stomach dropping feeling I mentioned earlier? The first FPS shot used is right after Bryan hits a woman on the road and stops his car to investigate. Bryan leaves his car, and the viewer steps into his shoes. You, along with Bryan, creep towards the blood trail leading into the surrounding forest. You are with him as he follows the trail into the dark. You explore this unknown, terrifying territory together. Resident Evil, at it's core, is that feeling of "I know something is around this corner in the dark, but shit... I have to go anyway". Cregger capitalizes on this uniquely Resident Evil feeling by placing the viewer into Bryan's eyes in the situations where he experiences that exact feeling. As he moves branching trekking further into the woods, as he carefully walks down a pitch black corridor gun first, you are experiencing this unknown space as Bryan does. That is beautifully Resident Evil, more than any major game character feature could've captured.
There are other uniquely Resident Evil experiences adapted into this movie that acted as references in themselves. For instance, the one that truly made me laugh, was watching Bryan search for shotgun shells. He pulls, no joke, every single drawer open before he finds the slugs he needs. For a casual viewer, its a funny scene, but as a Resident Evil fan who has done that more than once, it really made me feel at home inside this movie. Only a true, passionate Resident Evil fan would know the feeling of pulling open 5 useless empty drawers before finding an item... and how often it happens. I also found the absurd amount of padlocks endearing, and Bryan's inability to destroy them. I still think my favourite scene in the movie was watching him prepare himself, deep breaths, only to miss shooting the padlock by a foot and bury the precious bullet in the wall. If you say you've never done that, you're lying. Even the existence of a "stalker enemy", the cartwheeling mass of infected people that continues to chase Bryan through the entire movie, is a reference to the protagonists in RE2 and RE3 having their own, personal pains in the ass (Mr. X and Nemesis, of course).
I Just Really Like Bryan...
I really like Bryan, and I wanted a section of this piece dedicated to how much I appreciated his character. Austin Abrams portrays an effortlessly funny, relatable and likeable character in Bryan. This movie follows his story from beginning to end. He is an organ delivery driver for hospitals in his area, and gets tasked with bringing an extremely important package to Raccoon City General Hospital. When we first meet Bryan, we get some insight into his life with his girlfriend, Michelle. She is pregnant, and is begging him for a serious conversation regarding the decision of keeping their baby, and he keeps dodging her. He gives vague, non-opinionated responses and is very clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being a father. He is terrified, confused and sucks at guns. Bryan is very unique in that he is both a main character, and a small, forgettable story in the expanse that is the Resident Evil universe and the Raccoon City Incident as a whole. While his story does not directly connect to the games, I believe viewing it through the lens of the game universe makes his story infinitely more compelling.
Bryan is an 'itchy... tasty...' note. He is a thoughtless mini-boss fight. He is so crucial to this movie, and so miniscule in the universe we're so familiar with.
Bryan represents the average person, which allows the viewer to connect with him deeply. You feel his fear, his confusion, his frustration, his desperation, his pain. He is nowhere near a professional, which is a contrast to most of the game protagonists. Also in contrast to most game protagonists, Bryan becomes infected and ends the movie as a horrifying, mangled mass of consumed Umbrella researchers. You watch, in real time, as Bryan becomes the mini-boss fight I mentioned earlier. In a game context, he would be a small fight as Leon you wouldn't even blink at. After following his story for the previous hour and a half, it is beyond devastating to witness (yeah, I cried, what about it).
In an emotional, sincere scene, Bryan realizes the spread of his infection. He sits down in a parking garage and sobs, recording a voice note for Michelle. He tells her everything he had been dodging previously, he admits his faults, and he tells her he loves her. This is an extremely heartbreaking moment in Bryan's story, and I couldn't help but draw similarities to what you encounter and read throughout Raccoon City in the games. Notes to family members, final breath warnings of what lurks in the shadows, all written by names on a page that we never truly meet. Zach Cregger's Resident Evil lets us meet one of those names.
Bryan's story is not an adaptation of the games, but it is still so unmistakably ingrained within the universe. Not only does he represent the player, but he truly makes you realize the expanse of the universe of Resident Evil. Have you ever considered where these creatures you fight, or those lore notes you read, come from? Who were they? They were Bryan. They were people like Bryan.
I cannot wait to see this movie again, and I hope Zach Cregger is seeing the outpouring love and appreciation this movie is receiving after the backlash before the movie even released. This is an adaptation made by a fan of the series, for other fans of the series--and that passion is palpable. I felt truly satisfied, and understood, leaving that theatre.
If you have the chance to see Resident Evil, I cannot recommend it enough--and if you've already seen it, go see it again! Just remember, go into it ready to play a video game.
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