Resident Evil (2026) is directed by Zach Cregger, who also wrote the film alongside Shay Hatten. It stars Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Will Merrick, Andrea Miltner, Karel Dobry, Zoe Bellas, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Griffin Newman, Jo Martin, Emily Piggford, and Johnno Wilson. Based on the massively popular video game franchise, the film follows Bryan (Abrams), an everyman medical courier who’s tasked with transporting an important package to Raccoon City Hospital. What seems like a normal job quickly becomes the worst night of Bryan’s life when he discovers a viral outbreak is turning the population into flesh-eating mutant zombies. When he learns that his package could hold the key to saving everyone, he sets out on an increasingly perilous journey into the belly of the beast. Woefully unprepared for this kind of survival scenario, Bryan is forced to use his wits and a whole lot of luck in order to survive.
As Bryan, the sole character we follow throughout the entire film, Austin Abrams is irresistible to watch. He nails the character’s everyman charm and exudes a natural humor that fits perfectly with the director’s propensity for it. For most of the film, Bryan is completely alone (other than the mutant zombies, of course), which makes it all the more impressive that the experience never feels like it lacks dialogue. Bryan constantly talks to himself/speaks his thoughts, a detail that could’ve easily felt heavy-handed to the point of absurdity. Thankfully, this sarcastic, hyper-vocal behavior works for a modern character most likely raised on the internet, horror movies, and violent video games. Bryan is just a guy who talks when he’s nervous, which I can definitely relate to.
Dialogue is often the challenge of one-character films, and although it’s definitely not the driving force of Resident Evil, it never feels like a weak point. Abrams simply nails the idea that although the character has countless flaws, he’s also pretty self-aware about them. Besides, it’s tough to fault him for not being the ultimate badass in this situation. What average person prepares for this? The people who do probably aren’t considered very sane by the majority of their neighbors. Bryan is a likable underdog, and much of that comes from his great sense of humor. Because of this, I find it tough to criticize Cregger’s choice to push the film’s humor to its absolute breaking point.
Yes, the film often sacrifices true, serious-minded scares for moments that lean more toward the self-aware and fun, but Cregger’s execution makes this feel like a worthwhile exchange. I was initially a tad disappointed to discover this isn’t a film aiming for the thematic depth of his previous effort, Weapons (2025), but it quickly became clear that was never Cregger’s goal. He’s smart enough to know that when you’re not making an audience think, you need to make them feel. Instead of spending time setting up complex ideas, he focuses almost solely on exciting set pieces filled with visceral violence, gnarly mutant creatures, and consistently strong comedic relief. Once things start going wrong for Bryan, the film rarely gives you a moment to breathe. It’s not very deep, but that’s ok when the experience is this viscerally exciting.
Cregger’s clarity of purpose shows in the film’s tight 94-minute runtime. He understands that these kinds of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)-style, ‘all killer, no filler’ action movies only work for as long as they’re able to keep upping the ante in some way from one setpiece to the next. This doesn’t mean every scene is bigger and better than the last, but the stakes consistently increase. As Bryan inches closer to his goal, the sense of danger becomes more palpable–it’s as simple as that. In hindsight, this makes the film’s ending deceptively obvious/logical.
This ending definitely isn’t the crowd-pleaser casual video game fans probably want, but it’s surprising and ends the film with a dark punch that helps to mostly balance its heavy dose of humor. The only real misstep here is that Cregger injects far too many jokes into the moments leading up to this ending. I don’t think humor is necessarily out of place in these moments, but these particular jokes don’t seem nearly funny enough to justify undermining the scene’s more dramatic implications. This worked tremendously in the final moments of Weapons, but here it’s a bit forced.
Overall, this is probably the best video game movie ever made and one of the best zombie movies in recent years. It doesn’t have many new ideas, but masterfully adapts the tone and general experience of playing a Resident Evil game. The best part is, you don’t have to know jack about the games to enjoy it to the fullest. In fact, you just might like it more than someone with a lot of bias. It’s a film that proves great execution can pretty much completely make up for a lack of many truly original ideas. Cregger has nailed it once again. Should we really be surprised? B+
