Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil film franchise is renowned for how little it shares with its video game counterpart. Anderson purposefully chose to veer away from overt connections to the game series, opting instead to build the narrative around an original character, Alice (Milla Jovovich). Though Umbrella, the T-Virus and Raccoon City all feature prominently, the films generally bear little resemblance to the long-running game franchise of the same name.
While fans will be optimistic ahead of the film reboot and the upcoming Netflix series, they remain skeptical. Anderson’s Resident Evil movies made a lot of money (a lot) so it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if the new film and series took paths that also diverged from the games. But there may be a happy medium; the existing Resident Evil movies did get several things exactly right from the perspective of someone who loves the games. If the new efforts match both Anderson’s box office and his moments of authenticity, everyone will be happy. Here’s what he got right in his films.
If the upcoming live action reboot and Netflix shows need any inspiration for the tone to aim for, the final two minutes of Resident Evil are the prime example. Alice awakes under quarantine in a Raccoon City hospital after surviving the Hive incident. As she bangs on a soundproof window, a shadowy figure lurches across the screen. Whether alive or dead is left unclear.
Having broken out of her captivity, she finds the hospital abandoned. Things grow more ominous as she emerges from the shattered entrance of the hospital, beneath a giant Umbrella logo enshrined above the words ‘Raccoon City Hospital’. The music builds as she wanders through deserted streets full of destruction, the camera holding on a dangling newspaper with the headline: “The Dead Walk!”. It reaches a crescendo as she pumps a shotgun and the camera pans back to show the full scale of the devastation.
There’s a growing sense of dread, accompanied by an impression of a city that until recently was well-populated. Little details, like blood stains on building windows point to a city that’s been lived in. It’s a great moment that delivers the same kind of paranoia as the games. Sure, everything looks empty, but is it really?
Creating the appropriate atmosphere will be important when Netflix finally shows off their live action Resident Evil series. With that said, casting the right actors will go a long way to convincing fans that a TV series about Wesker’s teenage children isn’t snared by the typical teenage trappings that TV shows often struggle with.
In the original series, few actors managed to embody their character better than Sienna Guillory did Jill Valentine. Making her debut in the sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Guillory succeeded in channelling both the attitude of Valentine as well as her appearance. Though fan casting often revolves around appearance, it isn’t the be all and end all. Capturing a character’s personality from an established franchise is crucial to establishing trust between the audience and the filmmakers.
Similarly, Shawn Roberts captures the B-Movie essence of Albert Wesker perfectly. Wesker has never been a particularly intimidating or frightening villain. He belongs to the list of enemies you love to hate, owing to his ability to foil the player by playing dirty. His general demeanor is self-serious, but his line delivery has always drawn inspiration from 80s horror. It’s a campy kind of charm that is difficult to channel but Roberts always seemed to grasp it. The recent announcement of the cast for the rebooted film series brings some hope, but until they’re shown in action it’s tough to know how they’ll fare.
The creature designs stay relatively faithful to the video games through the majority of the live action films. One of the stronger elements of the later films was how they visualised the Ganados enemy, those infected with the Las Plagas virus. However, the creatures felt like they were ripped from the game solely for their appearance, without any real consideration on how to use them effectively. Fans will recall similar feelings when Nemesis made its appearance in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The creature fell short in its ability to evoke the kind of fear the video game equivalent does, though the actual design of the monster is perfect. Another example that embodying character means just as much as appearance.
While it can be easy to conjure some notion of attachment through outfits and visual homages, there needs to be substance. The most memorable then, was undoubtedly the first time the Licker appeared. Just as the creature’s first video game appearance set pulses racing, seeing this creature on the big screen was thrilling. What’s more, the film lore improved upon on an already fearsome foe. With each kill the Licker mutates, growing stronger and more adept at slaying the cast of characters.
It perhaps speaks to an opportunity squandered that the overriding feeling was relief when the Anderson Resident Evil films concluded. The series was a commercial success as it adopted mass market trends like 3D. However, audience scores and critical reception were in diametric opposition to box office takings. Fans of the franchise will wait with trepidation, but if the reboot can build upon what the original movies got right: it can inject new life into the franchise.
The Resident Evil film series is available on Amazon Prime and other VOD streaming services.
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