"Resident Evil" is a boring series without cool fights, monsters and fresh ideas

On July 14, the series Resident Evil, based on the game series of the same name, was released on the Netflix streaming service. And already on these lines, some viewers may think: “Wait a minute, but just recently there was something similar.” Indeed, after the completion of the Paul W. FROM. Anderson (the same ones where Milla Jovovich played) something strange began with the film adaptations of Resident Evil.

In July 2021, Netflix released the animated mini-series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness. In November of the same year, the movie Resident Evil: Raccoon City was released. And now, back on Netflix, there's a live-action series.

Moreover, all these projects are not connected with each other, or with old films, or with games. There is hardly any other franchise in which such chaos is going on. Moreover, it is enough to open any aggregator site, for example Rotten TomatoesSearch Results for: "resident evil" / Rotten Tomatoes

to make sure: not a single Resident Evil film adaptation has received high ratings over the past ten years. This already pre-sets negatively.

But, probably, the authors of a particular series are not to blame for the problems of the entire franchise. Therefore, it is worth disassembling it in isolation from other releases and even from games with which the new Resident Evil almost does not intersect.

However, as an independent work project Netflix fails completely. The authors launch two storylines at once that could turn Resident Evil into an exciting story. But each of them individually seems banal, but together they only interfere with each other.

The new series follows young sisters Jade (Tamara Smart) and Billy Wexler (Siena Agudong) moving to New Raccoon City in 2022. Their father, Albert (Lance Reddick), works there for the Umbrella Corporation, which is developing a new drug, Joy. One night, the girls break into the lab and encounter something creepy there.

In parallel, they show the year 2036. The whole world is in the grip of a virus epidemic zombie. A grown-up Jade (Ella Balinska) studies monsters, looking for signs of intelligence in them. But representatives of Umbrella are hunting for the girl.

The first storyline is a banal horror about teenagers

The part that takes place in 2022 looks at least somewhat interesting. But there are many problems here too.

So, the authors can not decide on the tone of the story. The story of two sisters initially looks like something like "Pretty little liars”(or substitute here any series about difficulties at school and secrets in the family). Then the plot gets darker and darker. And in every sense: when the authors want to catch up with fear, there is simply nothing to consider in the frame. Sometimes, of course, nightmares happen in daylight. But for almost half of the season, young heroines play in a family drama, and not in a thriller or horror. All this makes the story too heterogeneous, broken into separate scenes.

Who saves this part is Lance Reddick. Of course, even before the release of the series, many fans of the game (or at least old films, and at the same time those who just looked at the information on the Internet) scolded the choice of a black actor for this role. But it should be understood that Albert Wexler from the series is some kind of alternative version of the game character. It is completely different, but sometimes even more scary.

The authors, as it were, show the human side of the creator of the virus. Albert seems to be a caring and gentle father. But in the next scene, he can look creepy, frightening with just one look. And Reddick is exactly where he belongs.

Most of the rest of the characters and storylines are banal and predictable. Jade is trying to figure out the secrets of the Umbrella Corporation, Billy wants to understand what is happening to her, and at the same time, evil bosses demand that Albert put a dangerous medicine on the market. The audience has seen all these stories more than once, and the series does not add anything to the traditional plot. Moreover, it is known in advance what all this will lead to.

The second storyline is a boring zombie action movie

"Resident Evil" with Milla Jovovich was loved by many precisely for staging battles with zombies and all sorts of monsters. Even the later parts, in which the plot completely failed, were kept on this. Games are often praised for the atmosphere of a cool horror. And it seems that the creators of the new series in the part about 2036 show both components. However, they lack either the budget or the talent to scare and amaze the viewer.

Huge monsters appear regularly. But only the giant spider came out really cool, the rest look cartoonish. Moreover, it is felt that the cost of graphics was deliberately limited: as soon as they show some beautiful scene with computer effects, you know that it will end very quickly.

And exactly the same with zombies. When seen up close, the makeup and graphics look weak. And the scenes with crowds of infected people seem pathetic at all: it's just a small extras that sluggishly moves around some location.

By the way, if too dark scenes were a problem in the 2022 line, then in this part they turn into a tragedy. Until the middle of the season, you will have to watch the heroes rush about in the semi-darkness, hiding the flaws in the graphics.

True, when the action moves to open locations in daylight by the end, you will want the night to come on the screen as soon as possible. Still running extras and a huge crocodile - not at all what we would like to see in a large-scale series about a zombie apocalypse.

All together - a slurred and stretched thriller

Two lines develop in parallel. And theoretically, this could save "Resident Evil": make the narrative not so banal and unexpectedly connect genres. But the plots often interfere with each other.

After all, the individual components are too different. You constantly get the feeling that you are watching TV, which quickly switches between two or three channels, which show a family drama, a thriller and an action movie. As soon as something really intense happens in the future, the authors show the present, and vice versa. Maybe that's how they wanted to intrigue. But after a couple of episodes, it's just annoying - it's simply impossible to feel the atmosphere of each part.

Interest is supported only by unexpected twists. One of them will be given out in the final of the first series, the second - at the end of the season. And both are connected with the family of the main character. Still, this theme is the best part of the series.

Perhaps Resident Evil would have looked better if it had been split into two separate films. They would certainly come out predictable, but they would be perceived as integral works. In reality, the creators, it seems, did not understand what exactly they wanted to shoot. As a result, too many elements were thrown into action that did not add up to the overall picture.