The first Resident Evil trailer is officially out, previewing Zach Cregger’s upcoming movie based on the iconic Capcom video game franchise. While there’s much discussion about the movie and how close it’ll stick to the source material, the trailer proves that letting Cregger create the story he wanted was the right choice.
The Resident Evil trailer proves Zach Cregger was the right choice
Ever since Cregger was chosen as the next director to helm a film in the Resident Evil world, controversy has seemed to pile up on the movie. Fans of the games have been critical every step of the way, especially as Cregger — a self-proclaimed mega fan of the games — explained that his movie wouldn’t really be an adaptation of any one game, but instead simply just take place within the larger world of Resident Evil.
The larger concern, at least from a subsect of fans of the game, seemed to be that the upcoming movie would be a “generic” horror movie with the title of Resident Evil slapped on it. With the release of the trailer, at least in my view, all of these concerns have fallen away, cementing cements why someone like Cregger was the perfect choice to take on the new movie.
For starters, the movie, which centers on a medical courier being stranded in Raccoon City, seems to capture the vibes of the game perfectly. In the brief look we got at the movie, we see Austin Abrams‘ Bryan at his wits end, frantically looking for help in what seems to be an empty city. The trailer then highlights several Resident Evil staples, including rummaging houses for items, crawling through sewers, and of course running into some terrifying looking, mutated monsters. The movie itself seems almost like something you’d read about in a note you find in the Resident Evil games, detailing the story of a mysterious character who had to try and survive on their own during the zombie outbreak.
Furthermore, Cregger seems to understand one of the most important aspects of Resident Evil, and one that so many other adaptations have gotten wrong: the source material is nearly impossible to translate into a movie. As a game, and something you play for hours on end, the world of Resident Evil is great. When translated to a movie, though, especially with over-the-top characters like Leon, Wesker, and others, they often come across as more “shlocky” or B-movie-esque. A movie that properly tried to adapt Resident Evil would simply seem like a parody if Leon was spouting off one-liners every single time something happened.
On top of all of this, and perhaps most importantly, is that the Resident Evil games already have a very cinematic feel. Especially when counting the remakes that Capcom has done of the first four games, every game in the series has been made with a high production values that feel cinematic. Fans wanting to see their favorite characters on the big screen is understandable, but as the past Resident Evil movies have taught us, that isn’t always a good thing, and it seems like Cregger knows that and has expertly pivoted away.
