Resident Evil (2026)

I've seen the new Resident movie with a friend of mine a couple of days ago, it's a movie that the fans will most likely love but those who are not in the "know" might find it mediocre.

The Good

Let's start with things I liked about the movie as a fan of the video game series:

1) There are many little easter eggs in this movie, they're not in your face, they're not that blatant nor do they feel forced, you're not taken away from the immersive experience of the movie, in fact, I think it adds something to it

2) The way it's filmed follows the nature of the series, it's third person heavy, you see what the character sees and what the character does not see, you don't see, it's something that adds more tension and immersion to the movie

3) I felt that the pacing was very good, it's a movie on the shorter side but it uses every minute it has in a productive way, it's packing a punch.

4) The monsters design was very good, truly gruesome and decapitated creatures aligning more with the G-virus manifestation.

5) It feels like a survival horror, the character needs to figure out his way around, needs to gather resources, not only that but he needs to preserve them and keep an eye on them, once again, small things that deepen the experience and also follow the games because in the end that is the true nature of RE, survival horror.

Criticism

1) Humor, man, the humor in the last act is a bit too much for me, at some point the MC meets an Umbrella corp worker and let's just say that the individual feels more like a caricature and a comedic relief and honestly, it clearly is meant to be that way because he was quickly killed after. This part of the movie takes you back a bit because up until this time the MC had to fight tooth and nail to survive each encounter, then this clown appears and is all goofy, the whole Raccoon City is infected, there is death, blood everywhere and terrifying creatures surrounding the areas and you're here cracking jokes being a goof ball? Pointless.

Now again, the first half of the movie or more is good with the humor, when we laugh it's mainly because the way MC is reacting to the world around him is funny, that makes sense to me, that's okay but once it comes across as an intentional attempt at comedy, nah, it's survival horror

2) Ending of the movie is incredibly controversial to say the least, I felt deflated when it ended, not a good feeling, felt very abrupt to me, once again, excess of humor present in the climax, a situation that by all accounts is horrific and terrifying is turned into a prolonged joke as an attempt to build tension and showcase how incompetent and selfish the scientists at Umbrella corp really are.

I am not mad at the fate of the MC but rather the abrupt, humor-filled execution of his last moments.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the movie, the ending took me out a bit but after having time to ponder about it more, the story focuses on a random guy who kind of works like an NPC in RE universe, he is just one of the many, one of the many infected people who had lives, had their own story and their tragic end, looking more at it from that angle, it made more sense to me.

If you love RE video games, I think you will like this movie, if you have never played the games and you just enjoy survival horror movies, I think you can still enjoy it but don't expect it to change your world in any meaningful way. This feels like the perfect RE movie for RE fans.