by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
There’s been a recent trend where, instead of going to film, video game adaptations are going to TV shows instead. It makes sense to do this because there’s more time to develop something that has a ton of backstory that a movie doesn’t have time to go through. Video game adaptations have historically not been great business for movies. It’s a bit mind boggling to see the video game-to-movie adaption case has still not been cracked. Sure, there are examples that are good and fun like Sonic The Hedgehogor Angry Birds,but nothing of quality or significance has come out. There have been far more movies based on games that are terrible. TV shows have been offering mixed results as well. I didn’t care for Halo, but The Witcher and The Cuphead Show are both pretty good. I’m looking forward to more that are coming out soon, like The Last of Us and God of War. Hollywood is again trying their hands with a video game show by coming out with another Resident Evil program, this time a live action series
Resident Evil, developed by Andrew Dabb, takes place 30 years after the discovery of the T-Virus that kicked off the entire franchise. Jade Wesker (adult version played by Ella Balinska, and younger version by Tamara Smart) is on the run from Umbrella Corporation after the apocalypse has taken over the world. Her father, Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick), was at the front lines of not only the original T-Virus outbreak, but the one that devastated the world in 2022. Jade, along with her sister Billie (Siena Agudong), are suspicious of their dad and Umbrella’s actions before the apocalypse. Resident Evil is currently streaming on Netflix.
I reviewed Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon Cityfor SiftPop and I didn’t like it. The problem with that movie is that it tries to jam in too many things into too short a runtime. It tries to mix in the first and second games together in hopes that it would create a story. This means that it splits up time between diverging storylines that don’t mesh well together, none of the characters get nearly enough screen time for us to care about any of them, and when the characters finally all converge together, you don’t care.
My expectations for this new series were high, but after I saw the trailer, I was confused about some creative choices. I understand the need for a series to want to tell a new story, while still being respectful of the source material; however if this is another reboot trying to capitalize on the Resident Evil lore, there should be more connection to the game to at least reel in casual fans.
After watching this series, I’m trying to decide which one was better. It’s a tough call unfortunately.
Resident Evil lives and dies by its lead performance of Reddick. He’s the only legacy character in the series, so his performance matters. Reddick does a great job with what he’s given, and he portrays Wesker as smart, calculating, and ruthless. The action scenes are well shot and creative. The use of zombies and creatures are effective, and there are some jump scares. The creature effects are generally fine, particularly the creatures that are bigger in scope. The decision was made to go with faster zombies (or zeroes, as they’re called here for some reason) from the later games, versus the slow moving ones that made the games famous. I will give the series some kudos for trying to tell a story beyond the game and trying to branch out. That’s how they were going to get new fans anyway, so it could never be a shot-for-shot remake of the game. Also, any time the song “Where The Party At”by Jagged Edge gets some love is just fine with me.
My biggest issue with Resident Evil is that it doesn’t even feel like a Resident Evil property. It feels like a zombie show about pharmaceutical greed that has Resident Evil’s name slapped on it. The attempt to tell an original story with little bits of Resident Evil lore is ambitious, but this won’t really appease the fans or capture new audiences because it’s dull and formulaic. The only difference between this this and other zombie shows is that we understand the origins of the zombie outbreak (even though we don’t understand how exactly it happened just yet). Plus, I care about most of these characters far less, because we have had no chance to get to know most of them on any level since they are brand new characters.
Resident Evil also suffers from splitting the story into two different sections. One part of the story takes place in 2022, three months before the zombie apocalypse happens. The other part is set 14 years in the future after everything happens. These two stories are spliced together and are told simultaneously. Neither of these storylines are particularly compelling, and each one feels like it was short-changed. I feel like they should have told each story separately. The tones are very different for each, too, so it makes it even weirder to tell the stories together. The 2022 storyline feels more like a high school drama series, whereas the future storyline feels more like The Walking Dead with the action, creatures, and hopelessness that the future has to offer. Beyond the story, the dialogue and script are laugh-out-loud bad. Very weird lines and odd dialogue choices plague the series. I almost feel bad for the performers.
I’m zero-for-two this year on my video game series reviews. Resident Evil has a lot of work to do to fix some of the issues (assuming it gets renewed for season two). Primarily, it needs to feel more like Resident Evil. Easter eggs like playing “Moonlight Sonata”,or dropping creatures in like a giant spider, or the hooded chainsaw guy aren’t going to cut it, and more needs to be done to incorporate the Resident Evil mythos. If you’re looking for a zombie show, the family of The Walking Dead shows are still out there to watch. If you’re looking for a zombie show on Netflix, All Of Us Are Dead is an option. I’m not sure either the Resident Evil movie franchise or the TV show has much of a future due to low ratings and dismal returns. As much as it breaks my heart to say so, run away and don’t look back.
Score: 2/10
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