‘Resident Evil’ Is All About Embracing Life and All Its Chaos

Where’s Alice when you need her? Thankfully, nowhere to be found. No disrespect to the inimitable Milla Jovovich, but Resident Evil is a fresh take on survival horror that completely does away with all the action heroes that have essentially defined the franchise for over two decades. There’s no Alice, the made-for-movies superhuman lead in six of the first films; there’s no Leon, no Chris, no Jill, no Claire, and no Ada. If you’ve never played Resident Evil and don’t recognize any of those names, you’re in luck because none of those popular video game characters appear in Zach Cregger’s reboot. Instead, we get Bryan, a medical courier contracted to deliver a package to the hospital in Raccoon City, situated up in the snowy mountains of Colorado. By his own admission, Bryan is basically a glorified Uber Eats driver, and he’s the third person in a film adaptation of a third-person shooter. Unlike past Resident Evil heroes who have some form of combat or weapons training, Bryan knows jack shit about guns or fighting, making him arguably the best person to lead us into Raccoon City because he’s basically us. Bryan is every person who’s terrible at Resident Evil or first/third person shooters in general, and it’s the best thing about Resident Evil.

Make no mistake, Bryan Hodukavich isn’t some alpha male archetype police officer like Chris Redfield or Leon Kennedy, but he’s every inch the hero. Austin Abrams, who played a homeless drug addict in Weapons, is stellar as the hapless Bryan, and it’s his performance paired with Cregger’s mastery of the genre that elevates Resident Evil into the very best sort of survival horror. Fans expecting a highly-skilled or competent hero who fearlessly shoots his way out of trouble should recalibrate their expectations. It’s not that kind of movie. But Bryan is probably an even better hero because he keeps forging on despite being very aware — and very afraid — that he’s in way over his head. That’s the point. Heroes aren’t heroic because they do things they’re already good at but because they try despite seemingly insurmountable odds. By this metric, Bryan is the more heroic Resident Evil character we’ve ever gotten in the franchise with the most live-action adaptations.

Every horror movie is propelled forward by one bad decision after another, and boy does Bryan make some bad decisions. While most bad decisions can be attributed to stupidity, Bryan makes very human choices that seem stupid but are, in fact, extremely noble. In the beginning of the film, Bryan finds out that his girlfriend is pregnant, and his reaction is the telltale noncommittal lack of enthusiasm and support given by every man who isn’t ready to be a dad. This subplot is a small part of Resident Evil, but it’s actually Cregger’s core message and the underlying theme of the whole film. Life is scary. Being responsible for another person is scary. We never know what to expect, but we carry on anyway because people are counting on us.

This is why Bryan, for all his foibles and lack of skill, is a hero of the highest order because all his decisions come from a genuine desire to help and do good. When he’s tasked with delivering a package to Raccoon City despite having the option to check out for the day and his car not being equipped for snowy roads, he says yes because he’s already thinking of earning a little more money because he’s about to become a father. This very first bad decision encapsulates Bryan’s character and his motivation throughout the film — he knows he messed up by not being more supportive of his girlfriend and even, to his shame, suggesting that she could get an abortion if she wanted to. When he runs over a woman in the mountains, he stops to look for her and take her into his car to bring her to the hospital. We know it’s a bad decision because we know the woman is a zombie, but it’s the right decision because Bryan is a genuinely good human being who wants to do the right thing more than he’s afraid of the consequences. This happens several times over the course of the story, and each time, Bryan keeps making scary, seemingly stupid decisions because they’re actually the right ones. At every turn, he is trying to help, and that makes it difficult to fault him for every blunder that leads to the end.

Fans expecting a faithful adaptation will be disappointed because Cregger is less interested in translating the video game into live action than he is in delivering a cinematic experience that is reminiscent of the video game. There are little nods to the game, like a familiar save point, but Cregger plays fast and loose with game lore. Is it the Las Plagas virus? The Uroboros virus? Who knows? All we know is that it’s pretty nasty and turns people (well, not just people) into truly gruesome monstrosities in short order. What sort of virus it is seems beside the point.

The point is that we’re supposed to embrace life, no matter what form it takes. If the overarching theme wasn’t clear enough, there’s a scene where Bryan needs to cross an infected nursery in the hospital, which is both a literal and metaphorical representation of his fears. But facing those fears is the only way through, and Bryan passes with flying colors. This is key because the most important thing is that Bryan changes throughout the film in more ways than one, such as going from being hesitant about his girlfriend’s pregnancy to giving his full support. Change is scary. That he summons the courage to face new life on a night when his own is threatened, and he’s surrounded by so much death and destruction, is a triumph of character. Bryan might be an awful shot, but his heart is right on target. 

Resident Evil is a wild ride from start to finish, with plenty of chilling moments, a few jump scares, and scenes that make your skin crawl. It’s funny, too, but only just enough to distract everyone from the fact that this is a high body count movie with some heavy and tragic outcomes. Cregger has balanced the horror with humor in a franchise reboot that looks unlike anything that’s come before it. More importantly, this is a Resident Evil movie with genuine heart and a main character who tries to do everything right — even if they go wrong — and learns to embrace the fullness of life.

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