Resident Evil (2026) review

Resident Evil (2026) would be a vastly superior film with basically any other title. Breakout. The Infected. Countdown to Death or anything suggesting a desperate fight to stay alive in a city overwhelmed by monsters.

It’s that pesky Resident Evil title that makes Resident Evil (2026) less impactful. That title suggests survival horror, scarce resources, zombies, deadly threats that are more formidable than the lumbering undead that competent yet woefully overwhelmed heroes have to battle.

Director/co-writer Zach Cregger (Weapons) and co-writer Shay Hatten (Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver) opt to provide a different experience. One with an everyman whose only weapons experience is via video games, less emphasis on zombies, a greater focus on various other monsters running and far more emphasis on comedy. 

Resident Evil (2026) is hardly a bad film. It delivers exactly what its filmmakers intend, and it is very skillfully done.

The knock is that Resident Evil (2026) often feels more like a Resident Evil homage than a live-action interpretation of the popular video game franchise. Again, it is a commendable homage right down to fun nods of some standard RE items and the dwindling number of resources.

Given that Milla Jovovich starred in six Resident Evil films of varying quality and the series was recently rebooted in 2021 with Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City it is understandable that Cregger would want to approach the franchise differently.

While the Jovovich series had some shining moments, the beloved video game characters were supporting characters/sidekicks to Jovovich’s made for the movies character Alice. Welcome to Raccoon City made its own mistakes paving the way for a filmmaker with Cregger’s skill at pulling off suspenseful horror and thrills to create the definitive take on the series.

In an interview, Cregger said he didn’t want to do a 1:1 adaptation of the games because he couldn’t top them and instead wanted to create the experience of playing the games.

Cregger mostly accomplishes that with Resident Evil (2026) although the more comedic nature of the script takes away from some of that desperate survival horror feeling gamers experienced playing the series.

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Bryan (Austin Abrams, The Walking Dead) is a medical courier transporting precious cargo including organs to various hospitals. Just when he’s wrapped his shift, he gets recruited to take an item to Raccoon City. Bryan is distractedly driving when he has his first encounter with the monsters overwhelming the city.

Like seemingly all zombie theme films, Bryan is maddeningly clueless despite the obvious red flags that he’s encountered a zombie. This creates plenty of intentionally humorous moments as Bryan can always be counted on to make the wrong choice to survive the night.

Easily the most frustrating aspect of Resident Evil (2026) is that Bryan has zero sense of self preservation. It’s almost as if he’s inviting trouble every step of his journey.

Whether it’s entering every deathly quiet room with a monster-inviting “hello,” wildly firing guns and wasting his bullets or simply failing to assess any situation before plunging in, Bryan’s survival rate percentage drops every 10 minutes in Resident Evil (2026). This makes him a challenging main character to root for since he’s allergic to making the right call.

Perhaps Bryan’s antics wouldn’t be so bothersome if he had company along the journey to assist him in making questionable choices and add to the possible body count.

Save for a brief moment when he meets some other survivors (Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser), Bryan is largely on his own. Fortunately for Resident Evil (2026), Abrams is up to the challenge of being a one-man show. While viewers likely assume their Neo instincts would kick in and they’d instantly become John Wick, most would probably react more like Bryan if they were honest. Abrams definitely brings that regular person energy to Resident Evil (2026).

Still, Bryan moves at a slow pace with a diminished sense of urgency seemingly intended to invoke helpful suggestions from audience members who enjoy talking to the screen.

Could Resident Evil (2026) be more enjoyable with a main character, who while out of their depths, made smarter choices yet rotten luck kept screwing them over in a city overrun by monsters?

While sidelining the zombies for most of Resident Evil (2026), Cregger does provide some horrifying threats for Bryan to survive. Like the rest of the film, they’re done more in the spirit of Resident Evil than something specific to the games. Among the more bizarre creatures is a monster that’s a mass of bodies it assembles with flailing arms and legs. Another is an acid spewing menace that arrives at the worst possible time for Bryan.

Spectacularly decimated set designs and intentionally poorly lit areas add to the ominous sense of dread. Cregger doesn’t shy away from gory moments with exploding heads, squished bodies, dismembering and plenty of body horror moments. The jump scares are spaced out enough to be highly effective.

Resident Evil (2026) is a breathlessly intense, yet frustrating horror thriller that has a unique voice in the cinematic history of the franchise. For RE fans seeking a more authentic to the game film, the best installments remain the animated editions.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: Sony Pictures

After getting your Resident Evil giveaway passes, check out the original movie series The Resident Evil Complete Collection on Blu Ray at Amazon.

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