Resident Evil (2026)

 

Here is a revelation that I didn't see coming, had no expectations for, and caught up with simply because it was convenient to do so. I may have seen the original film version of “Resident Evil” at some point, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. I've never been a gamer so I have no clue as to how the video game works and whether or not the premise was sustained through all of the iterations that came with the previous films. This appears to be a reboot, and from what I've seen online it doesn't sound like it's particularly faithful to the previous films or to the game. For me that is perfectly fine. This movie was a blast and I was entertained the whole time I was in my seat at a theater.

I have frequently complained about horror films that overuse CGI to produce the images that are supposed to terrify us. Too often the reveal of a monster at the end of a movie is the most disappointing part of the story instead of the most exciting part. And this film seems to set up that kind of disappointment. It starts off with a very creepy vibe, and practical makeup effects, and some great sequences shot in the snowy Woods and Fields. For almost the first hour of the film, we have one character, struggling against the unknown, and being felled by mishaps at every turn.  

The film takes its dramatic shift at a farmhouse that is more secured than most banks, and this is where the special effects start to be a part of the story. It is a great surprise that they don't screw up the goodwill created so far, instead they extend it.  Our protagonist continues to struggle, but with an even bigger slack Jawwed look than before. I'm not sure I've heard the “F”word used as much in a film since Scarface in 1983. Martin Scorsese and Samuel Jackson could take this a lesson from this character in the effectiveness of a brief ejaculation of that word, without any adjectives to go with it.

I won't understate the horror aspects of this film, but I do want to make sure that people understand, this is primarily a comedy. The character of Bryan, is played with a combination of Innocence and ineptitude and strength by Austin Abrams. This guy carries the movie on his back, although there are other characters in the film, they exist only in relationship to Bryan,  and he seems like a good guy just trying to do the right thing, but never being able to make the right thing work.

When the film setting reaches the big city, and we start to get an explanation of what the heck the plot is all about, the tone of the film doesn't really change, it's just the scale that changes. Horrible things continue to happen to poor Bryan,  but now they feel overwhelming, and you begin to get a sense of futility. These events make the second part of the film slightly less enjoyable, although it is still filled with a lot of laughs.

The director Zach Cregger, made the film "Weapons" last year and that seems to be a critical breakthrough. His previous film "Barbarian" was 2/3 of a great movie, and this one is more like 7/8 of a good movie. The very end of the film is all set up for additional episodes rather than a conclusion that is satisfying to the story. Maybe that's all for the best, because I'm sure I could continue to enjoy it if they find some way out of the CGI manifestation and the steps on all the stuff that came before. It was still gross and interesting, that suddenly the film feels a little more conventional as a result. 

As Bryan would say, "F*#k".  I enjoyed this movie enough to do it again  immediately. 

Weapons (2025)

 

While I was watching this movie, I was not sure if I liked it or not. There were a number of things about it that were intriguing, but it also seemed to be taking a long while to get to the point. I like a Slow Burn, after all I grew up on the films of the '70s, where everything was a Slow Burn. Weapons however, seem like every time it got to second gear it downshifted again. The reason for this is the storytelling structure of the film. In the end I've come down on the side that this is a terrific way to tell the story and I should get over my occasional sense of impatience.

I don't think it gives away too much to tell you that the story is told around six distinct characters. Also the narrative path is a little bit like memento, where the previous sequence means more after we've seen the follow-up sequence. Stories are interlocking, but they rarely repeat the same Beats. There might be a brief moment or two, that is repeated in each of the sequences, but for the most part they stand alone and give us the kind of context that make the events feel more real and a heck of a lot more interesting.

Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, and Benjamin Wong, are all terrific in their roles as players in this horror scenario. As an unjustly maligned teacher, Garner is sympathetic but she is also not perfect. Her flaws make her a better protagonist. The only character who doesn't have an obvious flaw is Benjamin Wong, as the school principal Marcus. He is the epitome of an effective principal would be like. That of course makes it particularly disturbing when we see the first truly horrific scene in the film. Up until the part where Marcus loses it, our main horror element was dread. When the turn here takes place, it is fear and revulsion that take over.

There is a major character in the story that I'm not going to talk about, because it feels like it would be a spoiler. Although seen around the edges of two or three of the opening sequences, it is only when this character steps into one of those stories openly, that we start to figure out what the hell is going on with the children who have vanished. 

Director Zach Cregger, who previously made the film Barbarian, has interesting ideas and fun Concepts in his stories. And well they are admirable I'm not going to buy into the hype that these films are exceptional. There are still narrative problems, and inconsistencies, but Cregger does have the ability to direct the film well enough to distract us from those flaws , and still deliver something highly entertaining to watch.

For the first two thirds of the film this feels like a melodrama, posing as a horror film. Once we get to the final character story, The Narrative plays itself out straight, and the usual horror elements do appear. The climax of the film does feature several deaths, and disturbing images, and surprisingly a little bit of Hope for some of the characters who are left. I do need to say however that the film starts off telling us a lie, which distracts us from what's really happening, and then ignores the lie at the end of the film. As long as you don't mind being Hoodwinked into seeing a film that is not what is advertised in the opening moments, weapons will satisfy your Jones for a summer horror flick. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn great.