Resident Evil (2026) Review

Resident Evil is a welcome addition to video game adaptations, where many have failed.

Resident Evil (2026) is probably one of the better video game adaptation films we’ve seen in a while. Instead of trying to be super accurate to the games, they try to do their own thing and connect to the universe of Resident Evil.

I still would like to see a Resident Evil movie that does follow the events of the games, but they do have some animated ones. I don’t necessarily love how the characters in the games have been represented in the Resident Evil movies as a whole, especially in Welcome to Raccoon City, which I thought was a pretty bad movie.

With Resident Evil (2026), they really decided to make a self-contained film that felt a little bit more like a guy just surviving instead of a hero's journey that a lot of Resident Evil games are. The main character in Resident Evil (2026), Bryan is basically about is unprepared for this particular circumstance that you can be.

Not only that, but he really struggles with being able to even operate a gun. Eventually, in the film, he does come into his own and finds ways to survive that are pretty unique, but at first, he is pretty much a babe in the woods when it comes to survival and fending for himself.

In Resident Evil, Bryan really is thrown into this world of hell that Resident Evil is

Resident Evil (2026) kind of follows some of the events of Resident Evil 3. It kind of changes the timeline, as those games were based in the late 90s and the movie is set in a different time. We don’t have any crossover with the characters from Resident Evil 2 or three or any of the games, really, in general. That isn’t really an issue for me, as I’m worried that those characters can’t really translate to the big screen well.

It’s super hard to turn a video game into a movie, especially if you want to do a sort of recreation of story elements. I enjoyed what The Last of Us did, but that’s a TV show, and they had a lot more time to show the game. Whereas in two hours, it’s hard to encompass a video game story that could be anywhere from 20 to 40 hours.

With Resident Evil (2026), they decide to take a familiar place, which is Raccoon City, and throw a bumbling character into the mix. Instead of it being a guy knows what he’s doing, this is the exact opposite of it. Not only that, but the character has to do something about his current circumstance by delivering a package to someone in the city, which is currently infested with zombies. He can’t just go home and relax or go find a place to stay. He has to go into the fray, so to speak.

For a lot of people, this will definitely make them feel more connected to the film, as a lot of his reactions are more real to what’s happening and how insane the circumstances are. I do feel that a lot of the time movies give characters unrealistic reactions to some insane, horrific things that happen, and Resident Evil (2026) does a good job of making you feel grounded in how he reacts to seeing these horrific things happen in front of them.

 He’s very much an everyday man, so when something insane happens, like a zombie mutating in front of him, he has a pretty genuine and sometimes funny reaction. But there is too much of it eventually. 

That leads me to my next point, which is the humor, which I did not love

I do think it was good at times, but I’m not the biggest fan of horror and humor being mixed together. I think that it’s been done well in the past with the Evil Dead franchise, but it is kinda hard to mix the two, especially when the horror is as gruesome as it is in this movie.

Some of the humor definitely lands, and I was pretty surprised at how well it was done, but at some point, it was a little over the top. Not over the top in a good way like an 80s cheesy movie, but kind of characteristic of some other scenes in the film.

Sometimes he will have an insanely hilarious reaction to something, and other times he will be kind of horrified out of his mind by it. It kind of runs dry when he keeps having humorous reactions, as it kind of leads to a lot of other horror movies and/or video games I’ve seen in the past that do this trope. It kind of falls into that gray area of comedy that I’m not the biggest fan of.

But I do understand that it does help some people in Resident Evil (2026), so to speak, as they feel a little bit more relaxed and not as scared all the time with the humor sprinkled in. As I said, the humor is definitely good at times, but it does kind of run dry eventually. There comes a point where they’re doing some insane stuff with the effects and doing all kinds of great things to build tension, and then it kind of gets ruined by a silly line or two by Bryan.

One thing I love about Resident Evil is how short the film was

I don’t know why so many movies have to be so long nowadays. This movie has a concise and easy-to-follow plot, which I will always give an extra point for. So many movies feel like they have to add all these extra parts to the film to make it a grand story, but instead of that, in Resident Evil (2026), they really just had a point-to-point B-type movie. The character needs to get to a certain location, and we follow him step-by-step to the set location.

Bryan also goes on a pretty unique arc of survival, and finds ways to fend for himself and gains confidence in his survival throughout the movie. I think Resident Evil (2026) definitely built and built up and definitely had some pretty cool payoff moments, but I am pretty disappointed in how the film just ended, as it felt like there were a couple more minutes that could’ve been added there at the end.

Spoilers ahead, but the final frame of Resident Evil (2026) is showing how Bryan has lost the fight against the zombie mutation and has become this massive, boss-like zombie creature.

 It looks awesome, and the final frame is pretty cool as well, but I have to say seeing some sort of cool ending where someone steps in from the games would’ve been kind of interesting, but I understand they didn’t want to add anyone from the game, really. But it just felt like it was building and building, and then you just see him mutated, and then nothing happens.

I like the idea that it’s kind of like following notes of a character in a video game.

In the Resident Evil games, throughout your journey you’ll pick up these little notes of what a character in the universe is going through. Sometimes you pick up more notes from a certain character and see where they end up, whether it be finding their dead body on the ground or fighting them as they turn into a monster.

In this case, it’s the latter, as we would follow the notes Bryan left for us about all the different places he went to on his journey, and then we would fight the mutated version of him at the end of the game or as a boss of sorts.

Looking through that lens kinda helped me enjoy Resident Evil (2026) a little bit more, as it felt a little bit more grounded to the games in that sense, and I do think that’s a pretty unique idea. It could’ve been cool to see a character following where Bryan was, being one step behind, and then having to face the mutated version of Bryan at the end of the film.

The character didn’t have to be connected to the games or could’ve been an umbrella, corporation-type guy, but that would’ve been something cool to see. I don’t think they are planning on doing a sequel, but I do think that there’s a lot of interesting things they could do in that new sort of Resident Evil universe they created with this movie.

But I do doubt that they will do that. I think this really was a one-off kind of movie. That makes sense, as they had the film be so short. It seems most people enjoyed the film, so they might try to make another. Maybe not with the same cast and director, but something in that world. What they should do is try to make a movie that takes place in the other games. Not just Resident Evil 1-3.

What they could do is make a movie that would take place in Resident Evil 4 or 7

Both of those were super high points in the series and both solid as well. Resident Evil 4 even got a remake, and many liked it as well. I think doing a story in those games could be cool. 

With Resident Evil 4, you could have someone who lives in the village and doesn't become infected, but sees all kinds of the crazy stuff Leon does in that game. With 7, you have all kinds of angles, as they made a lot of DLC with that game, and there was a ton of lore with that game that takes place before the events of the game itself. That one would be more horror-driven and less action-driven. Which would do really well in theatres. That game is one of the scariest ever made, in my opinion. 

I have to bring up that there was a short film made recently that is about Resident Evil 7 and does a great job of following the events of the game and being accurate. For some people who did not like how the Resident Evil movie didn't have a lot of crossover with the games as far as characters and moments go, they can go check that out and get their fix.

Now we can have a decent blueprint of what a good video game adaptation can be and how you can kind of just do your own thing with the universe instead of feeling like you have to do something so close to it that it feels pointless. This and the first season of The Last of Us feel like a good starting point. If they took some of the humor out of this movie, I really think it would have been so much better. But the humor drags this movie down, as it runs very dry very fast.