Though the original Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich certainly found an audience, for many fans of the long-running survival horror video game series, we still haven't had a really great adaptation.
We fully expect that to change with Zach Cregger at the helm of the upcoming reboot, but early reactions indicate that the Weapons director won't be sticking as close to games as initial reports suggested.
A test-screening for the movie was held recently, and while the feedback (via World of Reel) was positive, Cregger's take is said to have "practically nothing to do with the games, aside from a few Easter eggs and some recognizable monsters."
"Early word is that Cregger hasn’t just made another video game adaptation — he’s delivered something lean, mean, and very confident. The runtime is 90 minutes, and it’s apparently all gas, no brakes. The film is said to be almost entirely built around tension. One attendee I spoke to called it a horror version of Fury Road."
"The scope is also small and contained," WOR adds. "Instead of a sprawling mythology, Cregger keeps the cast tight and the focus narrow. There’s almost zero world-building. Early reactions say it’s far more cinematic than previous Resident Evil movies, with strong visual framing and practical effects doing most of the work."
As for the story, scooper MTTSH has shared a brief synopsis.
Possible spoilers follow.
The movie is said to be "about a guy (Bryan, played by Austin Abrams) sent to deliver a bag that he thinks has organs in it. Then he gets stuck in the ice on the way, hits a zombie lady, gets pulled over by the cops, gets chased by a dog, gets chased by zombies that turn out to be alien zombies. [He then] meets Paul Walter Hauser, who works for Umbrella Corporation, and has to go to Raccoon City and then has to get the cure up to the 28th floor of the main building."
During a recent interview with The New York Times, Cregger said that he fully expects fans to "crucify" him if he does anything to alter the source material.
“I love the idea of being pitted against a world that is hellbent on annihilating you. It just feels fun and I haven’t seen a movie that offers that sort of experience," he added.
The last Resident Evil feature was Johannes Roberts' (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) Welcome to Racoon City starring Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield, Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Jill Valentine, and Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield. It was not well-received by fans or critics.
More recently, a live-action Resident Evil series starring the late Lance Reddick (John Wick, The Wire) as Albert Wesker was released on Netflix, and that was met with an even worse reception.
With this in mind, maybe straying from the source material isn't such a bad idea as long as Cregger delivers where these earlier adaptations failed?