'Resident Evil' A Review

Resident Evil is a horror comedy, an adaptation of the video game series. Medical courier Bryan(Austin Abrams) gets a a last-minute delivery to Raccoon City in the snowy Colorado mountains. After accidentally hitting a woman wandering the snowy roads things turn weird when she disappears. The film follows Bryan as he is confronted with a series of challenges and increasingly grotesque monsters.

Abrams is superb here, channeling a kind of bumbling slacker everyman that grounds the whole story and provides emotional authenticity as well as a good dose of necessary levity. The support cast is relatively minimal and doesn't have much to do. The actors with names you recognize are good but are onscreen for less than 5 minutes each. Jo Martin as a receptionist in the beginning probably makes the biggest impact, she's amazing. But ultimately it's really a one-hander and Abrams shoulders that burden with an ease and effectiveness that his filmography doesn't necessarily indicate(at least up until now). His bumbling charm and earnestness is pitch-perfect and integral in making this film work.

Visually the film is evocative, the pacing relentless, the movement of the camera appropriately restless, and the judicious use of 1st and 3rd person POV shots extremely effective. The creature design and blood work is both horrific and at times appropriately absurd. The grotesque is mined for both scares and laughs. The plotting is relatively simple, follows Bryan on his journey to deliver his package, one stop and then the next. That simplicity allows for both Abrams to shine and just to streamline the narrative creating this propulsive, thrilling ride that feels like a Resident Evil game without being overly beholden to any of the games plots or lore. If there's a hiccup it's that the ending(because of the pedal-to-the-metal pacing) is quite abrupt but doesn't ultimately detract.

The most successful video game adaptation made to date. A near-perfectly constructed horror/comedy, a great piece of popcorn entertainment to start the Fall.

Currently in theaters.

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