(Image via ScreenRant)

Volunteer Writer: Chris Holmes

Email: cholmes2@umassd.edu

Fresh off the heels of his Oscar-winning production Weapons, former sketch-comedian turned director Zach Cregger has thrown yet another hit down the pipeline with the mid-September release of “Resident Evil”.

Cregger takes the audience on a new kind of journey unlike any of the sci-fi-esque adaptations of the franchise released in the early 2000s. The story is reduced down to its most simplistic elements, and that is precisely where it shines.

The film follows Austin Abrams’ everyman, Bryan, as he journeys from point-to-point in an eerily desolate snowscape. There are no slam cuts to alternate locations, nothing to indicate a B-plot happening elsewhere, just Bryan and the audience moving through Cregger’s interpretation of the fictional Denver stand-in, Raccoon City.

Of the variety of video-game adaptations that I have personally seen on film, “Resident Evil” blows everything else out of the water when it comes to balancing the immersion provided by video-games with the passive observation distinct to cinema.

Sitting in the theater, you feel right there with Bryan. You feel his tension and apprehension as he approaches another doorknob. You also feel like a helpless outsider unable to correct his many blunders, which leads me to my next point of discussion: Bryan is just a regular guy.

The “Resident Evil” franchise’s arguably most famous character, Leon S. Kennedy, is known for corny one-liners and backflipping in situations that should normally be completely devoid of gymnastics.

Bryan, on the other hand, cannot seem to utter dialogue beyond genuinely countless variations of “F—,” and a signature high-pitched shriek that makes him feel like a player of the game simply getting caught off guard by a jump scare. Unfortunately for Bryan, there is no computer monitor between him and the tangled mess of monster parts that Zach Cregger throws at him throughout the runtime of the film.

You watch him make mistakes. You wince, knowing that Bryan has made the wrong decision, but you cheer for him when he finally does what you have spent the last two minutes waiting in dreadful anticipation for him to do.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the use of first person point-of-view shots brings the audience back into the action.

After spending enough time on the edge of your seat watching Bryan’s actions, Cregger puts you into the centerfold of the action. In the highest points of action, the camera flips to Bryan’s perspective, providing that signature immersion that is a part of the immersion of video games– but used by Cregger in this instance to place the audience face to face with the weight of the decisions that Bryan is forced to make in the heat of the moment.

The use of altering points of view serves not only as a representative of the shifting points of view throughout the numerous games in the franchise, but also serves as a way to make the audience relate to Bryan by dropping the weight of his actions directly on their laps by seeing through his eyes.

The plot progression carries on at a steady pace until the end. Most of the movie follows Bryan in point-to-point style, with our neutral protagonist facing increasingly difficult challenges as he makes his way closer to the heart of the action, building further tension as Bryan approaches the figurative highest point of action in the story in the literal highest floor of a hospital.

I felt that the final ten minutes of the film were a bit rushed in tying up loose ends, but other than the sudden shift in pacing, the ending was a memorable capstone to a bold and wildly original take on the franchise.

Overall grade: 8.9/10

Hey!

Do you want to see “Resident Evil” or other movies like it?

You can now gain access to hundreds of movies and TV shows for free using ResLife Cinema, completely free of charge.

Access is available on the Housing Portal, and there’s not even a need to create a new account. It signs you in straight from the housing website.

And the best part?

Each month, the selection rotates and you, yes you can provide your own input for what you’d like to see more or less of.

If you’re a student looking for a movie to throw on while you kick back and relax in some nice Fall weather, or someone looking for a beautiful story to pick apart down to the camera blocking, check out ResLife Cinema.