Saya Lelah Bertingkah Seolah Film Resident Evil Lama Tidak Bagus

Did you guys hear? There's a new Resident Evil movie. Yeah! They got the guy who made the fantastic horror films Barbarian and Weapons to make it! Zach Cregger is a huge fan of the games, so there’s a solid chance it's a great movie. But you know what else was pretty good? The old Resident Evil movies. 

Were they faithful to the games? Not in the slightest. Were they kickass Y2K/nu-metal-drenched action films inspired by Hong Kong actioners? You bet, and I’m tired of acting like these movies aren’t enjoyable.

Since Resident Evil's inception, Capcom has been trying to turn its hit survival-horror game into a hit survival-horror movie. Shortly after the game's release, several ideas were pitched, the most notable being a never-filmed adaptation from the father of zombie films himself, George A. Romero. His version saw a pretty faithful adaptation of the Mansion incident and Raccoon City outbreak that served as a metaphor for the displacement of indigenous people, and this script is actually very good and easy to find online.

Yet it wasn't until Sony hired Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon director Paul W.S. Anderson, based on his work on an unmade script called Undead that was described as a rip-off of Resident Evil, that production kicked off.

Released in 2002, the first Resident Evil featured an entirely new cast of characters, as Anderson believed audiences being unsure who would live or die was vital to the overall experience and would only work with an all-original crew. The film follows Alice (played by The Fifth Element star and Anderson’s spouse, Milla Jovovicha) and her fellow team of mercenaries, who are sent to investigate a massive underground lab owned by the Umbrella Corporation, yet things only escalate there.

What ultimately ensues is a stylish and claustrophobic descent into hell, featuring creatures and gore inspired by Capcom’s games alongside an all-original story. But for as much as Anderson looked to Capcom for inspiration, it's not hard to see how the film’s heavily stylized action scenes might have inspired 2004’s Resident Evil 4 video game, too--just look at the laser hallway from the 2002 film. But despite being a pretty moderate success at the box office and helping to guide the video game's series future, RE fans were angry that so many liberties were being taken with the story. At least there was hope that the Raccoon City tease at the end of the film was a promise for a better adaptation, they thought.. 

But that’s not quite the route the series took. Sure, its direct follow-up Resident Evil: Apocalypse took Alice out of The Hive and directly onto the streets of Raccoon City, but both Apocalypse and all of the series' subsequent films mostly stuck to telling original stories using select elements from the games. Not only did this displease video game fans, but the movies were also critically panned despite being moderate box office successes.

Yet I'd argue that these movies stand out in the pantheon of video game movies largely because of these departures; that Anderson's unrelenting willingness to embrace Resident Evil's over-the-top insanity, regardless of what fans wanted, was actually an inspired decision. Though they might not perfectly depict their namesake games, they do represent the vision of the film series' main architect. Each movie is abundant, exhilarating, and ridiculous, and features a tone and approach entirely different than many of the video game adaptations being made today--and they feel all the more genuine because of this. 

Take for example the fourth film in the series, Resident Evil: Afterlife, which sees Alice navigating a post apocalypse world after being stripped of her supernatural abilities by video game baddie Albert Wesker. This entry leans into absurd action to an indulgent degree and features an amount of slow motion that would make Zack Snyder blush. Yet all this excess feels intentional, and showcases the unique vision Anderson had for his Resident Evil series. This is exemplified by the game's climax, which recreates an iconic battle from the end of Resident Evil 5 reimagined to fit into Anderson’s world; the result is a visual spectacle that, at the time, was seen as ridiculous. And yet, this scene features far more personality and intent than plenty of action films we see today.

Anderson would only up the ante from there. A later entry, Resident Evil: Retribution, followed Alice as she was kidnapped by the Umbrella Corporation and taken to a simulation facility in Antarctica where Umbrella was testing their worldwide outbreak plans. Because most of this film is in a digital simulation, it was able to have callbacks to prior entries and featured characters returning from beyond the grave. The simulation aspect allowed Anderson to smash every rule of the franchise up to this point and feature heroes from the entire series, films and games, in bizarre survival situations that had little bearing on the plot. It’s self-indulgent, sure, but it feels genuine in its delivery. Anderson plays it so straight forward that I can’t help but respect it.

And that’s what makes these movies so great. We live in an era where big movie studios are taking less risks; Blockbusters come out regularly that are later revealed to have been ruthlessly compromised by revisions, as their directors were encouraged to alter their vision to meet studio mandates or the whims of executives in suits. Though not beloved at the time (and still debatable if it is today), Anderson's Resident Evil series reflects an era where studios allowed their directors to take massive risks with recognizable IP. Though the new film by Zach Cregger provides an original story as well, it stays true to the vision of the games, incorporating Capcom's gameplay elements and overall structure. The result is fantastic, yes, but also gave me an even greater appreciation of Anderson’s Resident Evil films, which wholly depict his own vision of how to bring this video game series to the big screen.

No entry in the original Resident Evil film series was ever going to be an Oscar winner, nor were they ever going to do complete justice to the beloved survival-horror series. On their own merits though? They're kickass romps that showcase the unapologetic era of Y2K filmmaking--an era that, I believe, never quite got its due. When it comes to video game adaptations, I will always take something original that’s a clear vision of its creative over something that makes me point at the screen because I recognize it from when I held a controller.