Lanterns Review - In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, Let There Be No Season Two in Sight

 

⚠WARNING!!!⚠: I WILL BE DIVING INTO SPOILERS! SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED LEAVE NOW!

......We all owe the 2011 Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds an apologize. It's still not good but compared to this it's a masterpiece.

Lanterns is a comic book tv series based on the DC Comics' comic book series Green Lantern (or at least that's what the creators of this show want you to believe) and it's part of the DC Universe and their Chapter One: Gods & Monsters. The series is produced by Man, Woman, & Child Productions, DC Studios, and Warner Bros. Television and distributed by HBO. The show is created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King. This season consist of eight episodes.

The story is, in Rushville, Nebraska four people were shot and killed during a football game. Feeling there's an alien connection to these killings Green Lantern Hal Jordan & trainee John Stewart go there to investigate. This mystery will lead to darker questions and reckonings.

• Negatives

Oh believe me folks, there's a lot of negatives to write about. Starting with how the writers to this didn't understand Green Lantern lore. For starters, what's this whole thing about Hal training John to his replacement? Throughout the show there's only one ring for them to have. That wasn't a thing in the comics. In the comics the Earth lanterns are chosen as backups to Hal Jordan and given rings. That was the case with Guy Gardner and do you know who else was a backup for Hal...John Stewart! So why does this whole thing of "only one can wear the ring" matter in this show? It seems like in the comics the Guardians of Oa were just giving those away to Earthlings. Then there's also the fact they completely nerf the Green Lantern ring. That ring is a very powerful weapon in the DC Universe. But apparently in this show the ring is always running out of juice (when it's convenient to the plot) and it's weakness is black smoke. The only reason this ring is so weak is because the writers aren't creative enough to write about such a powerful weapon. And I know they're not creative with the ring because there's so many boring construct in this show. Several of them are forgettable, there was only one construct that stuck out and it was some sort of drilling machine. And speaking of construct and yet again not understanding how Green Lantern powers work, apparently you don't need a ring to keep a construct active. Because in the second episode John is able to keep a constructed bird around with no ring. Oh and also the ring ask you if you're afraid and if you say who are then you're not worthy to be a Green Lantern...that's not how it works! The ring has internal scans so the ring should know if somebody is afraid or not. Not to mention but if a Green Lantern ring approaches you it means you have the strength to overcome fear.

Then we have the woke crap. Yes, just like a previous DC Universe tv series project the writers gotta inject the very same thing that's killing the entertainment industry. The biggest example of this is episode three, OutKast. Where John's mother (I'll get into that crazy bitch later) was going on and on about how Hal Jordan was "privilege" enough not to know fear. Ah yes, Hal Jordan with his famous and well known privilege. The same Hal who in the comics saw his father die in a test flight, who's city got destroyed then that tragic disaster caused him to lose his mind, got possessed by a cosmic entity that's the embodiment of fear then that same entity turned him into a villain. It's also the same Hal who died, then was bonded with The Spectre (who's the embodiment of God's vengeance) and had to struggle controlling said spirit of wraith. And this stupidity gets dumber because John's mother actually accuses the Guardians of Oa of racism. You have no idea how much I wish I was making that up. The writers even explained how the ring is sexist! Yet again, you have no idea how much I wish I was making that up. I can name three no, five female Green Lanterns. There's Jessica Cruz, Arisia, Jade, Soranik, and Laira. And those are the ones I know on the top of my head. I bet there's somebody out who made a whole list of female Green Lanterns I wasn't aware of or forgot.

Then there's the characters of this show. I'm not gonna go over every single one of them just the most important ones.

-Hal Jordan: This show has nothing but hate towards Hal Jordan. If you read any of his comic books or which his animated movies then you can easily tell he's the most disrespected character in the entire show. At first he's just an asshole. But as the show goes on they change him, not for the better no. They change him for the worst. Cause by the end of this season Hal is revealed to be a broken man with a family history of depression. Oh that whole thing about being broken is implied to be why Hal is fearless. Not because he's brave but because he's broken. And here I thought him getting killed off in the first episode was gonna be the worst thing but boy was I wrong.

-John Stewart: I absolutely hate this version of John Stewart. Not only can be boring but he's not a good hero. He doesn't want to be a Green Lantern because it's the right thing to do, no, it's because his parents groomed him to be a Green Lantern. But what really made me hate was the last episode. He covered up for the woman who killed Hal thus making him complicit, but he becomes his own Lantern by embracing fear (which is a horrible message) but he also has the nerve to tell Guy Gardner (a fellow Green Lantern) to patrol and protect the galaxy and he'll protect Earth because Earth is his. Yes, he's claimed Earth as his property. Oh and that ring he's using his Hal's ring that he stole from Hal's corpse. This guy isn't a hIero, he's a Yellow Lantern in the making.

-Sheriff Kerry: At first she didn't bother me. I thought she was decent...but then the big twist with her was revealed. Basically she killed Hal during an emotional breakdown because Hal find out her son Noah was the last remaining Manhunter (Manhunters being highly dangerous machines capable of eliminating entire populations). But not only did she shoot and kill Hal, but she tried to cover up her crime. All in an effort to protect her son. A son who's struggling with internal Manhunter programming by the way and probably has aspirations that could put the world in danger. So yeah, Kerry is a murder protecting her son who's a possible threat.

-Guy Gardner: Guy isn't in the show that much but I hate what they did to him in the final episode. Basically after John makes his big grand speech about how Earth is his, Guy is actually intimidated by this and flies away to tell the Guardians of Oa about John's actions. In other words, they made Guy a pussy in this episode. Which is something he's not in the comics and it doesn't make any sense. This is the same exact Guy who wasn't afraid to throw down with Superman in Superman (2025). So Guy's not gonna take any shit from the Man of Steel, but John is what makes him be a tattletale to the Guardians?

-Sinestro: This is a lousy villain. His big villain arc and his entire history with Hal was skipped. He only did three things on this show. Talk to Hal about John. Escape from his prison (off-screen). And make John's lantern. That's it. The biggest villain in the history of Green Lantern was reduced to basically guest appearances and a sentence about his escape. Such fantastic writing.

-Mr and Mrs. Stewart: THESE PARENTS ARE ABSOLUTELY INSANE! It's one thing if they trained little kid John to become a Green Lantern by putting him through tough training routines and being a little hard on him, but the way these two did it should've gotten John taken away from these lunatics. Not only does his dad have an inferiority complex and his mom's batshit crazy but their training methods consist of making John walk home from a ghetto at night and shooting apples off of the top of John's head. And when I mean shoot, I don't mean they're using a bow and arrow, they're using bullets to shoot apples off of John's head. Where in God's name was child protection services?!?

So yeah, the characters in this show suck.

• Mix

The only mix bag is the acting. Not in a sense everyone was decent, but more like their acting is good but the material they're working with is garbage.

• Positives

Really? You think I'm gonna say anything nice about this show with how much I ranted on it?

Lanterns is gonna do far more harm to the Green Lantern brand than the 2011 film ever could.

My final rating is, Awful!

If you want actually want some real Green Lantern material stick to the comics written by the likes of Dennis O'Neil, Ron Marz, Judd Winick, Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, Robert Venditti (mainly his Rebirth era work), and more recently the stuff written by Jeremy Adams. And if that's too many comics for you to read, then go watch Green Lantern: The Animated Series on Tubi (while it's still on there) and the two animated movies Green Lantern: First Flight & Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. And if you're more interested in John then Hal, then go watch the cartoons of Justice League & Justice League Unlimited. Then when you're done watching that stuff then maybe go read the comics. Just don't bother with Lanterns.

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Oct 8th, for a return to the creepy stuff with my review of George A. Romero's 1973 film, The Crazies. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and don't watch Lanterns. Save yourself the headache and don't bother with this show.

Ice Cream Man (1995) Review

 

Back in August I reviewed a movie also titled Ice Cream Man. However that movie had no relation to this one, but since it's the Halloween season I thought it'd be fun to review the 1995 cult film.

Ice Cream Man is a direct-to-video black comedy slasher movie that was produced by Doublesteen Productions & David M. Goldstein Productions with A-Pix Entertainment and Ardustry Home Entertainment acting as the distributors. Sven Davison and David Dobkin wrote the story with Paul Norman (under the pseudonym Norman Apstein) directing.

The story is, a man named Gregory Tudor has been released from a mental institution and is working as a an ice cream in a loving tribute to the deceased ice cream man that brought him so many happy days. But Gregory isn't an innocent ice cream but an insane murderous lunatic who gives people ice cream not knowing he puts bugs and human body parts in the beloved dessert. Now a group of friends must find a way to put the stop to the derange psychopath.

• Negatives

For me the one truly negative thing is the kills. When making a slasher movie you want the kills to be remembered as awesome, but this movie doesn't have awesome kills. I only remember because of how odd they're staged. Some are shortened, some happen off screen, or they cutaway. So you don't feel the impact when someone dies because you're not getting the full experience.

• Mix

One of the oddest aspects of the movie is the tone. The movie always sits at such a bizarre position. One moment it's a rated R horror flick, then it's a dark comedy, and then it has this kid adventure vibe. So no matter what the movie is giving you a tonal whiplash left and right. Now usually I would hate it when a movie does that but somehow the filmmakers made it this experience you can't turn away from.

Then there's how this movie looks. This is 100% a cheap movie. But when it's not being cheap there's just some odd editing choices. The biggest example being the movie will actually fade to black almost like a commercial break is gonna happen. I saw this movie on SyFy (back when it was properly spelled Sci-Fi) as a kid and even as a kid I thought this was a bizarre thing for a movie to do.

• Positives

There's only one truly good thing about this movie and that's Clint Howard. He was fully committed to the role of Gregory. So much so that in order to get Gregory's raspy voice he would scream and yell as loud as he could on the drive to filming just so his voice would get that hoarseness to it. But even outside the voice Howard balances the menace and absurd comedy. He was able to bring out Gregory's disturbing belief that his grotesque ice cream is a gift. So if there's any reason to watch this, watch it for Clint Howard.

Ice Cream Man isn't a very good movie. It's not a masterpiece yet at the same time it's not pure trash either. This movie is its own flawed scoop of something else.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's all for now. Come back on Oct 5th, for my review of the show Lanterns. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Heart of the Beast Review

 

Alright we got a new David Ayer film! Let's see what he's brought us this time.

Heart of the Beast is a survival thriller that's produced by Wild Chickens Productions, Temple Hill Entertainment, and Kino World with Paramount Pictures being the distributor. David Ayer directed and Cameron Alexander wrote the screenplay.

The story is, retired U.S. Special Forces veteran James Belmont and his traumatized German shepherd Odin jumped on a plane and were heading towards a remote area in Alaska for some peace and quiet. But out of nowhere James suffers a heart attack and crashes the plane in a desolate, rugged landscape. Now the two must face a grueling 58-mile trek to safety in an unforgiving wilderness.

Initial Reaction

I was looking for to this because I think David Ayer has directed a lot of pretty good movies. So it's no surprise this movie caught my attention the moment I found out he was directing this. But no only was I interested because Ayer was directing, I was interested because this seems far different from what he usually does. Most of his movies are action thrillers and crime thrillers, Fury and Suicide Squad at first being the only two exceptions (by the way somebody at WB really should release that Ayer cut of Suicide Squad). So seeing how this was survival thriller and a story about the bond between man and man's best friend I was curious what Ayer was cooking up this time around.

Cons

 I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

There's two mix bags. The big one is the movie doesn't do anything new in the survival thriller genre. It's still good but very simple as well. The biggest thing saving it is Belmont and Odin's friendship which I'll get into later. Then there the CGI. It didn't bother me because I've seen some pretty bad CGI before. But even though the rather decent at best quality didn't ruin the experience for me, I still can't rank it any higher.

Pros

One praise I'll give and I've previously mentioned is the bond between Belmont and Odin. These two and their friendship are the heart of this movie. We seen them both take care of each other and we see the friendship is deeply rooted in mutual dependence, trauma, but most importantly of them all loyalty. These two are willing to protect each other no matter what. There's also the nature aspect of the movie. What I mean by that is Ayer and cinematographer Mauro Fiore captured both the beauty and hostility of the wilderness. We'll some beautiful landscapes one moment, then intense wildlife encounters the next. There's also Brad Pitt's performance. Pitt perfectly captures a war weary veteran without having to say much. We're told so much with his glance that shows a wounded soul and quiet devotion towards Odin. Pitt shows great chemistry with Uber (the dog who primarily plays Odin). They both acted like they've known each other for years. The last thing I'll praise is the ending. It's hard for me to go into detail without going into spoilers, but it's bittersweet. The best way to describe it is devastating yet hopeful. That's all I'll say.

While the movie has its flaws I really liked what I saw. I think the good helps outweigh the more gray areas.

My final rating is, Good.

So that's all. Come back on Thursday, Oct 1st for my review of Ice Man Cream. The 1995 film not the Eli Roth one I review awhile back. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Forgotten Island Review

 

DreamWorks has released a new animated movie and the trailers had me extremely worried about this movie's quality! Hopefully this is just bad marketing and not the actually movie.

Forgotten Island is an animated fantasy comedy movie produced by DreamWorks Animation with Universal Pictures being the distributor. Joel Crawford & Januel Mercado both wrote and directed.

The story is, childhood friends Jo and Raissa but they'll soon be going their separate ways what with Raissa soon going Caltech. They decide to spend one more day together on the beach where Jo finds a magical sand dollar and transports them to the magical world of Nakali. But when they get there they wake up with no memory of the night before. Now the two best friends must figure out what happened that way they'll find their way back home.

Initial Reaction

Now as you read with my opening I didn't have the biggest expectations with this movie. Because the trailers for this made it seem like the movie was gonna be "LOL! How randomly quirky! Aren't these two gals sooo quirky! LOL!". So when going into this a part of me was fill with dread, the other part was hoping maybe this'll be a Transformers One situation where the trailer didn't do the movie any favors.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The one of two gray areas stem from the writing. Let's start off with the problem. That being the humor in this. Now I'll admit some parts did get a laugh out of me, but sometimes the humor just fails miserable. Mainly because the writers thought being loud and obnoxious meant being funny, which it wasn't. Sure the kids might laugh, but I always viewed DreamWorks Animation movies much like Pixar films to be animated flicks that both kids and adults can laugh at. And yes, their are moments where Jo and Raissa are a bit of "Quirk Chungus" to them. There's quite literally a moment where the two just bust out a freestyle rap. Why? Because they're so quirky! Now that I got that rant out of the way let me tell you about the good stuff. The movie does deal with themes of co-dependency, fear of growing apart and how shared experiences can shape relationships among many other themes as well. The movie also steep into Filipino culture. Now you guys know I'm not one of these woke people who think every bit of culture needs to be in every single movie because "RePrESeNtAtIOn!" No, the Filipino culture or as I should properly say Filipino folklore adds to the movie story instead of most entertainment where it feels like the characters pause the entire story so they can lecture the evil and extremely cartoony bigot. So the more serious aspects of the story are pretty good, but man, a lot of this humor. Every humorous moment that didn't work really should've gotten rewritten. Then there's the animation. Now yes the animation is really good. That shouldn't be a surprise since DreamWorks Animation is great with their animation. But what dragged it down was two things. One, the Spider-Verse style. I've grown so tired of the Spider-Verse animation style. It's like almost every animated movies uses it. This movie uses it, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish used it, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem used it, etc. Once Beyond the Spider-Verse is released can this style please be put to rest for a couple of years? Then there's times when the animation switches from 3D to anime. Which isn't a bad thing. Anime is a beautiful art form just like more traditional American animation is. But the filmmakers really over did it because sometimes a character will have an expression an anime character would have then they would repeat that gag but with a different facial expression. So yes the animation is quite good but much like the humor there's somethings the filmmakers should've toned it down on.

Pros

So do I have anything 100% nice to say about Forgotten Island? Yes, yes I do. For starters the pacing is good. The runtime is never too fast or nothing is ever dragged out. There was also the cast. H.E.R. (yes that's actually one of the actresses' stage names) and Liza Soberano actually have some pretty good chemistry. They truly sound and act like two people who've been friends for years. And when they script isn't telling them to act quirky™️, they actually can bring some good emotional beats. Even the supporting cast once they get into the better material can do a good job. The biggest example being Dave Franco as Raww. Sure he does good when Raww is in a far more serious mood, but Franco also does good with some humorous bits as well.

So yeah, the trailers did hurt this movie quite a bit, but at the same time the filmmakers themselves also didn't do this any favors too. It's not entirely bad it's just decent.

Which brings the final rating to a low Okay.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Sept 28th, my review of the newest David Ayer & Brad Pitt movie, Heart of the Beast. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2025 Part 9 - The Lost Bus

 

Alright got another edition. I don't have much to say for an opening so let's get to it.

Why Didn't I See The Lost Bus?

Well if you read on the poster the movie says it was playing in select theaters, and my theaters were not the chosen few. But I saw it was gonna come out on October 3rd when it came to streaming. Then I found The Smashing Machine was releasing on that day and give it a watch instead. Now I could've saved a review for Monday of that month but I also decided to see Good Boy instead. So I cut my loses and saved a review for later. By the way, The Smashing Machine is great but I strongly recommended you watch Good Boy.

What is The Lost Bus?

The Lost Bus is a survival drama that's based on the 2021 book Paradise by Lizzie Johnson. This portrays a fictionalized verison of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California. Productions was done by Apple Studios, Blumhouse Productions, and Comet Pictures with Apple Original Films acting as the distributor. Paul Greengrass directed and wrote the screenplay with Brad Ingelsby.

The story is, on Nov 18th, 2018 high winds and dry conditions lead by a Pacific Gas & Electric transmission line failure ignite a fire, because of this combination the fire's embers quickly spread throughout northern California creating multiple spot fires. During the chaos 22 children are unable to leave their school because their parents work out of town and won't be able to get to them. Luckily struggling school bus driver Kevin McKay is able to pick them up along the kids' teacher Mary Ludwig. Even though the fires are getting worse and worse by the minute Kevin is determined to the get kids and Mary to safety.

My Thoughts

The Good: One praise I gotta give is Greengrass' directing. While I slightly criticized his directing in The Uprising, I think it worked much better here. Greengrass really made you feel like you're in this terrifying wildfires. Everywhere our characters turn there's dense smoke, flaming buildings, something is falling, and burning embers are flying in every direction. It was an experience that had me on the edge of my seat (or couch since I was streaming it). I also gotta praise the effects team, they deserve a round of applause. Sure there's some instances where CGI was used, but 99.99% of the time the fire effects are actually real. Thanks to a mixer of visual effects, digital enhancements, controlled gas lines among other things, the effects team made amazing inferno effects. It makes me want to see behind the scenes footage to see the breakdown of how this was done. My last praise goes to Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera's performances. McConaughey really grounds the movie playing a tired struggling everyman. What McConaughey also does is show the fear that Kevin has to push down as much as possible. Because of that you really feel for the guy. He's not some slick action hero, he was just a guy who happened to be the only one who could help these kids and their teacher. And with Ferrera we see a woman who's just trying her best to comfort her students and give them hope. Together you're really rooting for these to succeed and that's thanks to McConaughey and Ferrera's acting.

The Bad: I've got nothing.

The Okay: Now I'll be honest, yes. Yes there's quite a few predictable moments. But those moments didn't make me roll my eyes because there actually pretty decently done. Also let's be honest once again a lot of disaster flicks have predictable elements to them. It should depend on how well those scenes are executed.

Final Verdict: Good.

So that'll wrap things up. Come back on Saturday, Sept 26th, for my review of the newest DreamWorks animated movie, Forgotten Island. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Street Fighter (2026) - Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Review

 

Well folks here we are. The last stop on the Road to Street Fighter (2026)! Sadly we end on a whimper and not a bang.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is a martial arts action film loosely based on the Street Fighter video games by Capcom. The movie also serves as a non-canonical spin-off and theatrical tin-in to 2008's Street Fighter IV. Hyde Park Entertainment along with Capcom & Adlabs Films produced while 20th Century Fox was the distributor. Andrzej Bartkowiak directed while Justin Marks wrote.

The story is, as a young girl Chun-Li's world was changed forever when her father was taken from her. Years later she receives a mysterious scroll that guides her to Bangkok. It's here she'll try to find her father while trying to put a stop an evil man named M. Bison.

• Negatives

There are so many problems with this. Starting with how generic it is. If you removed the Street Fighter elements, which this movie has little of, and replaced the title with something like "Path to Vengeance" you'd still have the same story. And I just realized this is now the second time I've said this about a video game movie. But I digress. The point is with or without the Street Fighter name or elements there's nothing about the movie's story that helps it standout. It doesn't do anything new in the action genre. It doesn't do anything new in the video game movie genre. It doesn't do anything new in the martial arts genre. It doesn't do anything new no matter what!

Speaking of those Street Fighter elements, can I mention how they don't fit for what this movie is going for. It has this gritty, grounded realistic tone and yet it has Chun-Li doing the Spinning Bird Kick and firing Haduokens. Those aren't realistic. So this movie has no idea what it wants to be? Gritty revenge story set in the real world or Street Fighter.

Then we have the dialogue. They really really needed to bring in another writer to clean up this dialogue because holy shit is it bad. Here's the movie's most infamous lines.

M. Bison: You see, your father has been the milk of my business. But even milk has an expiration date.

Yeah Bison, ya should've used a different beverage or diary product for your lifeblood metaphor. Milk is something that spoils the fastest. Also, "milk of my business"? I don't recall that ever being an expression. 😆

Then we have the acting. I don't know if the director doesn't understand how to director actors or if he was simply being lazy, either way the acting isn't good. Everyone ranges from flat, to bizarre, to stiff, to awkward. Michael Clarke Duncan and Neal McDonough are trying but they just can't. The material their given whether from the director or the writing is giving them nothing to work with.

The last thing I'll dismantle is how hardly anyone looks like their Street Fighter characters. Let me ask you question for any Street Fighter fan, especially the newer ones. Who is this guy supposed to be. 👇🏻

Go on, guess. Take your time I'm not gonna rush you. Don't know. Well I'm not gonna be too hard on you. Only people who watched the movie would've gotten the answer.

This guy is M. Bison. Yes. This guy is supposed be this guy.

Hate to state the obvious but you'll quickly notice that Legend of Chun-Li Bison is missing a few things. There's only one character who even comes close to his game counterpart and that's Vega. The other time is when Chun-Li went to some club I forget what it was, but when she was there she's wearing a blue dress and has her hair buns. But after that she's in regular street clothes. So basically Chun-Li's iconic dress is reduced to a cheap easter egg. Because of this I apologize to the '94 live-action movie. Granted some of the characters in that still don't look like their game counterparts. But at least there was an attempt!

• Mix

There's some decent fighting. Sometimes there's some quick cuts, but most of the time there's some decent fights.

• Positives

I'm not giving this movie any compliments because it doesn't deserve any.

This is just bad. Just plain bad. There's been plenty of terrible video game movies and this one ranks in the top ten.

My final rating is, Awful!

That's all for now. Fingers crossed the 2026 Street Fighter movie next month is at least decent 🤞🏻. But come back on Thursday, Sept 24th, for part nine of Looking Back at the Films of 2025. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and avoid this movie whether you're a Street Fighter fan, film buff, or both.

Resident Evil (2026) Review

 

We got a brand new Resident Evil movie, but! Will this one be a winner and be far better than the Paul W.S. Anderson films & Welcome to Raccoon City? Or is just another failure?

Resident Evil is a horror movie based on the Capcom video game series of the same name. Production was done by Columbia Pictures, Constantin Film, Davis Films, Subconscious, Vertigo Entertainment along with Playstation Productions with Sony Pictures Releasing acting as the distributor. Zach Cregger directed and wrote the screenplay along with Shay Hatten.

The story is, a young medical courier named Bryan agreed to deliver one last and sensitive package to Racoon General Hospital in Raccoon City. On his way he accidentally hits a woman with his car and later finds her bloodied & catatonic. But this strange encounter will soon lead Bryan into a fight for survival when he encounters people turned into monsters because of an outbreak.

Initial Reaction

Originally I thought this could work. Mainly because Zach Cregger was in charged and he's made some really good movies. So all seems to be well...until the trailers and info was coming out. When I saw those trailers and read what Cregger was saying I quickly became highly skeptical of this movie. But I was gonna give it a chance.

Cons

This is gonna be controversial to say especially since this movie is getting so many great reviews but, I don't consider this a good Resident Evil movie. The horror elements which I'll get into later are good, but it's Resident Evil elements suck. The reason is because if you were to strip away the mentions of Racoon City, Umbrella Corporation, and retitle this something like "Infection", you'd still get the same exact movie. To me if you're gonna make a Resident Evil and use Racoon City and Umbrella Corporation then they need to be consistent throughout the movie and not just throwaway lines. And I know people are gonna say two things and then some to defend this flick. 1) There's been other games that don't use Racoon City and take place in different parts of the world. That's true, but this movie used Racoon City as part of its plot so you'd think they'd make it a bigger deal that Bryan is going there. Especially since if I remember  correctly this movie takes place somewhere during Resident Evil 2. 2) Cregger said he was giving you the "feeling" of playing a Resident Evil game. Okay...and?! He could've made the audience and fans have the feeling of playing a Resident Evil game while still having the story ACTUALLY be Resident Evil. The experience of playing the games is only one ingredient out of many.

Middle Ground

My only mixed feelings on the movie was the humor. I'll admit there were a couple times I laughed, but there was also moments that didn't need humor. I get Cregger was a founding member of The Whitest Kids U' Know so I should've expected much, but I still feel as though some stuff could've been cut out. Which is funny for me to say because Cregger did cut out a lot of comedic bits.

Pros

One thing I'll praise is the pacing. This movie goes by at a great pace. Yesterday when I saw this I got to the theater for an early showing and by the time it was done not only did I feel like I wasn't in the theater that but I still had plenty of time to get some lunch 😆. Another thing I'll credit is the scares. Granted not everything scared me, but there were quite a lot of moments that freaked me out. Like when infected mice came out of a guy's stomach. That was disturbing and gross. The last aspect of the movie I'll say is good is Austin Abrams' performance. Regardless of fans feel about this movie I'd like to think we can agree that Abrams carries the movie. He does a tremendous job at showcasing an ordinary guy thrown into an increasingly deadly scenario. One of my favorite scenes is when he breaks down and records a message to his pregnant girlfriend and regrets his reaction to the news about her being pregnant. That was an amazing moment done perfectly by Austin Abrams.

Overall while there are some enjoyable things in this movie, but at the end of the day this is a Resident Evil film in name only.

My final rating is, a very low Okay.

If you are or were curious about seeing this movie then just wait for it to come to a streaming service. That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Sept 21st, for the last part of my Road to Street Fighter (2026). Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.