Zach Cregger's critically acclaimed Resident Evil movie has something of a confusing relationship with the games, so what are the biggest similarities and differences? That's what we're here to explain.
Despite sharing a location with Resident Evil 2, Cregger hasn't adapted a specific Resident Evil game story, and hasn't even ported any characters from the games over to the movie. Instead, the movie aims to replicate the 'feel' of playing the games, meaning the similarities and differences aren't always immediately apparent unless you're intimately familiar with the series.
It's certainly an interesting approach, and given the sky-high Rotten Tomatoes score, it might be one the directors of other upcoming video game movies seriously consider replicating. But beware, there are full spoilers ahead, so if you've yet to see the new movie, why not check out our Resident Evil movie review instead? Or for the full deep-dive into the movie's finale, head over to our Resident Evil ending explained.
Navigating Raccoon City
The Resident Evil movie is set in Raccoon City on the night of the t-Virus outbreak, but tells an original story about a character we've never seen before in the games. So far, so different. But where the movie most closely mirrors the games is in the way hapless hero Bryan navigates the world.
For starters, it all kicks off when Bryan runs over a zombie who steps out in front of him on the road, just like Resident Evil 2. Upon reaching a farmhouse, Bryan discovers a shotgun and rummages through the drawers around the house for shells (and even stumbles upon a typewriter in the process). He comes across multiple padlocked gates, which he tries (and usually fails) to shoot off. As he makes his way downtown, he's forced into the sewers, as in many RE games, and his final destination is, inevitably, a futuristic Umbrella lab. At one point he even has to shimmy across a treacherous ledge 24 stories up – I've lost count of the number of times I've had to do that in a video game.
Enemy types
Now this is interesting. The t-Virus infected mutants in the Resident Evil movie have clearly been inspired by the games, but for the most part aren't direct matches for their digital counterparts. The movie's more traditional zombie types are able to run, for starters, which they didn't in early Resi games. And a vicious dog that Bryan encounters early on isn't zombified, but instead undergoes a surprise Las Plagas-style transformation that causes tentacles to erupt from its head after it opens like a flower – more Resi 5 than Resi 2.
Cregger's made a big change to the way the t-Virus operates as well. Blowing the head clean off isn't enough to kill the infected here, as tendrils are able to sprout from the stump and combine with the nearest brain (eww), turning multiple infected into a Katamari-like mass of rolling limbs. One such creature pursues Bryan for much of the movie. Bryan also encounters a young girl who has been bitten by her mother. She initially appears fine, but is revealed to be mid-transformation, with her foot already a writhing mass of tendrils, despite being in possession of her mental faculties.
In the sewers, Bryan runs into a grotesquely large man simply sitting there, only for his distended stomach to split open and masses of rats to pour out. In the hospital, there is an acid-vomiting patient, which may have been inspired by a particularly annoying Resident Evil 6 enemy type. And there are fleetingly glimpsed zombie babies with unnervingly long limbs that don't have any precedent in the game. Finally, the B.O.W. that Bryan transforms into at the end may have been inspired by Resident Evil: Outbreak: File 2 boss Nyx, making the whole movie a tragic origin story for a Resident Evil mini-boss.
Power curve
One of the fun ways the Resident Evil movie mirrors the games is in Bryan's weapon progression. First, Bryan recovers a handgun from a cop – a classic RE starter weapon. Next, Bryan finds a double-barrelled shotgun in a farmhouse (naturally, he has to rummage through drawers to find the 'Heavy Field' ammo). And finally, he upgrades to a submachine gun, which he recovers from the back of Maxine's car.
Bryan ends up using most of the machine gun bullets gunning down the horde of rats in the sewers (we can't say we'd have done any differently, to be fair) and eventually finds himself very carefully managing his remaining handgun bullets as he nears his goal. Well, it wouldn't be a true Resident Evil experience without stressing about resource management, would it?
A different kind of protagonist
The biggest change from the games, arguably, is in the nature of Bryan as a protagonist. While most Resident Evil games, even the Ethan duology of Biohazard and Village, feature lead characters who pop heads under pressure at 100 yards, Bryan can't hit a static padlock at point-blank range. Bryan also panics and dissociates his way through most of the movie, a million miles away from the cool and collected likes of Leon and Chris, who aren't fazed by the many monstrosities they come across.
Bryan, in fact, is more like one of the many doomed figures who leave notes lying around Raccoon City for characters like Jill and Claire to find as they go about their more important business. This seems to be referenced in a moment where Bryan stops in Racoon City General Hospital's basement car park to leave a voice note for his girlfriend. Of course, the other big difference is that Bryan doesn't save the day. Despite successfully transporting the basis for the antidote to the Umbrella scientists, Bryan transforms into a B.O.W. and kills them all, destroying the cure in the process. Leon would be so disappointed.
Shifting timeline
The other major deviation is the Resident Evil movie's place on the game timeline. In short, this is not something to fixate on, as Zach Cregger has taken liberties that make it hard to line up the events of the movie with what we know about the games. Despite being set during the brief outbreak window in Raccoon City before it's nuked, which would necessarily mean that the movie takes place on September 29-30, 1998, the movie is in fact happening in the present, with Bryan repeatedly using a modern smartphone throughout.
Similarly, Raccoon City is covered with snow in the movie, which is very much not the case during the games. Despite these inconsistencies, it's easy to imagine Leon and Claire running around the RPD building in another section of the city, or Jill being pursued through the streets by Nemesis. It's just not seen or referenced in the movie.
Resident Evil is in theaters now. For more, here's our guide to the best Resident Evil games. We've also got a round-up of all the new video game movies you need to know about.
