MOVIE REVIEW: RESIDENT EVIL

 

A medical courier finds himself in a desperate fight for survival against bloodthirsty, mutated creatures.

Director: Zach Cregger

Cast: Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Johnno Wilson, Paul Walter Hauser

Release Date: September 18, 2026

 

Genre: Action, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore and language throughout.

Runtime: 1h 37m

Review:

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is a lean, mean machine of wonderfully constructed scares and gross outs, taking heavy inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing, that’s a thrillingly fun ride from start to finish.  Cregger’s decision to avoid the pitfalls of trying to adapt any of the game specific storylines or characters pays in spades as we follow Austin Abrams’s hapless courier thrown into the world of the video game.  Cregger’s love of the game shines through as he drops plenty of Easter Eggs along with tongue in cheek references to the seemingly endless number of padlocks should make gamer fans smile.  The way shots are constructed and set up really delivers the look and feel of early games along with an increasingly grotesque collection of creatures our protagonist encounters.  There are a handful of masterfully set up jump scares that’s sure to get even the most seasoned horror fans to shudder in their seats.  The visuals are consistently impressive from the opening snow covered farmhouse that dominates the opening act to the urban hellscape of Racoon City, highlighted by a speed run down a street as zombified citizens launch themselves off buildings.  Woven into all the carnage thrown onscreen is a rather sinister sense of humor that works incredibly well for the film thanks in large part to Austin Abrams’s performance.  Abrams’s character has a strange Jessie Pinkman, from Breaking Bad, Michael Cera hybrid energy as he is thrust into the nightmarish situation, he finds himself in.  He’s tasked with carrying the film since there aren’t many supporting characters populating the film with recognizable faces such as Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis and Zach Cherry popping up and disappearing in steady succession.  This is Abrams’s film and he delivers excellent work, making this iteration of Resident Evil one of the best adaptations of the video game and one of the most fun horror films in recent memory.  

A

MOVIE REVIEW: MERCY

 

In the near future, an advanced AI judge tells a captive detective that he's on trial for the murder of his wife. If he fails to prove his innocence within 90 minutes, he'll be executed on the spot.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers

Release Date: December 25, 2025

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content and teen smoking.

Runtime:  1h 41m

Review:

Mercy is one of those speculative science fiction films that thinks is a lot smarter than it is but behind the glossy screen life production there’s a preposterous idea that can’t decide what it’s actually trying to say pair with enough plot holes to run a dump truck through.  Timur Bekmambetov knows how to direct a sleek-looking film so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is one of the better-looking screen life films out there.  Even though the film technically occurs in a single room with Rebecca Ferguson’s AI Judge and Chris Pratt’s defendant there’s plenty of action thrown at the screen by way of some serious Big Brother style surveillance which the film leads you to believe that nearly everyone signed up for.  There’s a set up where sections of city have been sectioned off, ala Escape from New York, but almost by design this ultra police state is just presented as being readily accepted by the general populace.  It’s an odd bit of world building since it begs more questions than anything outside of the general conceit of the 90-minute timed AI murder court.  Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson do the best they can with what they have to work with since neither role is all that well written with each character suffering from wild changes throughout the film, particularly the supposably infallible, emotionless AI Judge Maddox.  Ferguson looks the part with her Star Trek villain black robe and slicked back hair, but the character goes from preeningly omnificent to strangely helpful and confused by the time it’s all said and done since they apparently created this program and never beta tested it before allowing it start doling out executions.  It doesn’t mean that the central mystery isn’t all that interesting since it plays like a low rent redux of The Fugitive which isn’t all that hard to figure out since the film gives you plenty of clues beforehand.  It all makes Mercy a forgettable bit of sci-fi shlock that could have been more interesting if the script had given the kind of care the visuals were.   

D+