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.