'Resident Evil' film review: Thrilling. Terrifying. Fun. And one of the best video game adaptations ever.

This retelling of the 'Resident Evil' (in theaters on Sept. 18) story is one of the best video game adaptations of all time - and perhaps best of all: it's not just for die-hard fans - this entertaining and scary ride can be loved by non-gamers as well.

In short: Medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) must delivering a package to a remote hospital - when he is caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.

This is a 'Resident Evil' that anyone can watch and enjoy. It doesn't require encyclopedic knowledge of the video game franchise - in fact, there's so little 'Resident Evil' content in this movie that it could have easily been just a terrifying indie horror flick entirely unrelated to the iconic video game series. None of the game's main characters show up - the franchise's antagonistic evil corporation Umbrella is only mentioned in passing. This is a 'Resident Evil' adaptation unburdened by the baggage of decades of video game lore that could annoy the neckbeards of the world if the movie didn't "do a good job" in adapting specific RE elements to film.

The plot is simple: Bryan must deliver a package - and his destination is the heart of Raccoon City, which has fallen to mutated monsters. (For the 'Resident Evil' fans out there, this movie would conceivably take place during the events of 'Resident Evil 2' - but don't look for a Leon Kennedy cameo). This script doesn't attempt to retell the 'Resident Evil' story again: two other projects in the past 5 years tried and failed at this endeavour: the 2021 film 'Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City' and 2022 Netflix series 'Resident Evil.'

And this freedom from trying to be a perfect 'Resident Evil' movie, ironically, frees this film up - and allows it to be perhaps the perfect adaptation of 'Resident Evil.' This script taps into the core feelings stirred up by anyone who has ever played 'Resident Evil': horrifying monsters, relentless monsters, ridiculous gore and a seemingly impossible task. Even the film's plot-driven structure feels reminiscent of a video game, wherein each scene feels like another "level" of a game, with danger around every corner and Bryan face with some gut dropping challenge.

This threadbare plot and distant association with the video game's lore allow this movie to focus on capturing the feeling of playing 'Resident Evil.' The jump scares. The monsters who never seem to stay down. The constant awareness that there's never enough ammo. These in-game mechanics have been incredibly translated to the theatrical experience: a young man must survive against bleak odds, increasingly deadly monsters and without the resources or experience he needs - and he's on his own.

Virtually everyone who has ever picked up a video game controller to play 'Resident Evil' is not a trained special ops hero like the video game protagonist - they're just regular people, controlling their avatar through creepy levels, fumbling ammo management and constantly chased by nightmareish monsters. This is why Bryan, a courier driving a beat up car and with no experience with firearms, is the great protagonist: he's the everyman. He's overwhelmed. He's out of his depth. He's woefully unprepared. Bryan is all of us.

Perhaps the only signficant knock against this version of 'Resident Evil' is its use of humor that, at times, teeters precariously into the realm of bathos - humor that undermines the situation. But it's almost always Bryan, an admittedly immature twentysomething, who slips into sarcasm. And a lot of the humor comes out of the editing - juxtaposing the grisly and horrific scenario collapsing around Bryan, with Bryan's incredulous perspective. His sarcasm is his only defense mechanism left as the world falls apart around me and as he heads deeper and deeper into hell. Careful editing and a great performance from Austin Abrams as the hapless courier keep the humor on point, without allow sarcastic asides from feeling tonally jarring.

Final verdict: Director and co-writer Zach Cregger ('Barbarian') knew the assignment and nailed it - this iteration of 'Resident Evil' is equal parts hilarious, terrifying and thrilling and stands as one of the great video game adaptations yet. This is an essential film of 2026.

Score: 4.5/5

'Resident Evil' opens in theaters nationwide on Sept. 18. This survival horror has a runtime of 95 minutes and is rated PG-13 for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material.