Brief Story Line
On a busy snowy night, Bryan (Austin Abrams - Wolfs, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark etc) who worked a medical courier decided to accept a special assignment to deliver package to Raccoon city hospital for extra fee, even though he was supposed to return home after his latest task.
During his trip there, Bryan encountered unexpected things that turned dangerous as he went further to the location. He also met with some people working for Umbrella corporation who were expecting the package, including Dr. Paul (Paul Walter Hauser - Balls Up, The Fantastic Four: First Steps etc), Maxine (Kali Reis - True Detective: Night Country mini series etc) and later Dr. Carl (Zach Cherry - You TV series, 72 Hours etc).
So what would happen to Bryan? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Now that was quite an awesome way to reignite the interest on this long running series of movies adapted from the highly popular video game franchise. To be honest I did not expect this one to have such a simple story. Normally these kind of movies tend to use similar formula of taking the background story from the games themselves, but this one chose a different angle of someone (not even non playable character/NPC) who experienced the awful things like in the game. Obviously the Umbrella Academy and the Raccoon City had to be factored in as part of the film.
Anyway, the simplicity of its plot was what made this one entertaining. Somehow we really rooted for this innocent young guy who was just in the wrong place and the wrong time, trying to do a last minute assignment for extra money. The intensity was felt throughout the whole film ever since Bryan drove his car through the snow and encountered things after things. Amazingly for a film with just 95 minutes (including closing credits but without any mid or post end credit scene), most of the time we felt the tension that was wonderfully shown with few lighter moments here and there. I believe this was due to the awesome work of the director Zach Cregger (Weapons, Miss March etc) who was also credited as co-writer together with Shay Hatten (Ballerina, Army of Thieves etc).
The film would not have been enjoyable without the performance of Austin Abrams who seemed perfect in this role. The special effects were really great too on the creatures supported by the wonderful sound effect. Even with normal Dolby surround system, it still provided the impact for audience (there were few times where my wife screamed due to the sound of creatures suddenly appearing, but the movie was not filled with jump scare scenes). Other than those names above, there were very few cast in minor roles like Johnno Wilson as county sheriff and Sara Paxton (Darcy's Wild Life TV series, The Front Runner etc) voicing Bryan's girlfriend Michelle.
From what I read, this movie was getting high praise from critics, even becoming the highest rated film based on video game to date. My wife and I also enjoyed the film's story, intensity, humor (usually from Bryan's experience & his curses), and of course seeing the monsters. However both of us had the same opinion of the ending which was not too satisfying for us. Although I could understand why it was written in such a way, but we still hoped it would have different ending. If this is supposed to be a reboot of new franchise, I am a bit curious how they will continue the story. In any case, it looked to be promising in term of Box Office so we will see if there would be other films from Resident Evil franchise in future. So if you want to see a monster horror movie that was not heavily reliant on video game (despite based on it) and could be enjoyed even if you never played the game, then this one is for you.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
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