Netflix premieres a new series of ‘Resident Evil’ and, in the face of criticism from fans, we analyze the keys to the adaptations of the Capcom video game.
Netflix’s catalog of series has just been expanded with a new dose of zombies, infected and bloody creatures that have left the fans somewhat misplaced. The spilling of viscera has not been enough to satisfy the acolytes of the Capcom video game either and, therefore, We Wonder Why ‘Resident Evil’ Is So Difficult To Adapt.
‘Resident Evil’: too past
The Capcom video games that started the legend, ‘Resident Evil’ (Shinji Mikami, 1996) and ‘Resident Evil 2’ (Hideki Kamiya, 1998) not only did they set the bar too high for the development of their own playable franchise, but they forced Hollywood into an eternal attempt to bring the saga to film and television with varying results. Shinji Mikami and Hideki Kamiya’s jewels that revolutionized survival horror were poisoned candy.
Possibly it was the promo for the sequel to the first game that gave us a more interesting product since, knowing that they were up to something big, they decided that the best way to sell their new zombie horror puzzles was hire the director who had made the living dead a whole genre in cinema, George A. Romero himself, father of zombie terror.
That’s how, in 1998, good old Romero traveled to Tokyo to shoot two real-action commercials that, although they were never officially seen outside Japanese borders, became a legend for his followers and a fundamental piece of the history of advertising in the gaming sector. The experience satisfied both parties so much that Romero, tireless, dedicated the following years to writing the script for a possible film adaptation of the first title in the franchise..
The deal did not come to fruition and after the premiere of ‘resident Evil‘ (Paul WS Anderson, 2002), the director forgot about the brand but regained his enthusiasm with the undead and, the responsible for pillars between best zombie movies of all time como ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968), ‘Zombi’ (1978) and ‘Day of the Dead’ (1985)returned to face rotting bodies shooting a second and, let’s not deny it, no longer so inspired trilogy.
Paul WS Anderson’s film was warmly received, and while it wasn’t exactly true to the story about the evil Umbrella Corporation and the Raccoon City outbreak, Milla Jovovich faced its virulent consequences in up to six films that ended in 2017 with ‘Resident Evil: Final Chapter’.
As if all this were not enough, different animated films appeared over the years to continue giving homework to completists who, on the other hand, never finished finding a production to praise without remorse.
‘Resident Evil: Degeneration’ (Makoto Kamiya, 2008), ‘Resident Evil: The Curse’ (Makoto Kamiya, 2012) and ‘Resident Evil: Vendetta’ (Takanori Tsujimoto, 2017) were forgotten when, With the Anderson and Jovovich franchise over, Constantin Film began production on a new live-action movie: ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’ (Johannes Roberts, 2021).
‘Resident Evil’: too present
“Use your scent of exploitation of B-series horror as the basis for creating a film that, on the other hand, never quite makes its intentions clear“, We indicated in our review of ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. funny”.
The boost that ‘Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’ (Keisuke Yamakawa, 2017) gave to the saga in its original facet, the video game, made Capcom become news again. The success of the elegant remake of ‘Resident Evil 2’ in 2019 It also helped gamers want more than ever to discover how far Umbrella and his evil colleagues have been able to go and, already in 2021, they jumped on their controls to play ‘Resident Evil Village’ (Isamu Hara).
This, of course, was replicated in new attempts to take advantage of the pull based on adaptations that, in addition to the film signed by Johannes Roberts, was translated into the completely disposable ‘Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’ (Eiichirô Hasumi, 2021), an animated miniseries released on Netflix that even the most fervent of the saga ignoredand the recent ‘Resident Evil’ (Andrew Dabb, 2022), the promising title of the streaming giant that has brought us here.
‘Resident Evil’: a Netflix series
The plot, which spans eight episodes, takes place in two different timelines. In the closest one, located in 2022, we see a zombie infection and the sneaky Wesker moving into safe Raccoon 2 with his two daughters.Billie and Jade, to work at the Umbrella Corporation without having to travel too much.
The following story shows us Jade in 2036, desperate to find information about what really happened fourteen years earlier so that there are now 3 million humans left alive and about 6 billion zombies. The key may be found at the University of Madrid (you know that the relationship between this saga and Spain is, to say the least, curious).
“She’s brainless, in the best possible way.“, points at Telegraph The critic Ed Power in the most enthusiastic review with the product that, for the most part, has not been too well received despite being expected as one of the best Netflix series in 2022.
The efforts of its cast, led by Ella Balinska, Paola Nunez, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, Rizelle Januk Y Adeline Rudolf beside lance reddick (‘The Wire’, ‘Lost’) as the always malicious Albert Wesker.
‘Resident Evil’: unadaptable experience
It’s hard to enjoy good video game adaptations. Many of us entrust everything to the Vikander/Fassbender couple, responsible not only for improving the human race in each public appearance they make together, but also possibly responsible for the first boom era of video game film adaptations. Y Although ‘Tomb Raider’ (Roar Uthaug, 2018) was not the disaster of ‘Assassin’s Creed’ (Justin Kurzel, 2016), the truth is that nothing especially memorable started either.
From ‘Doom’ (Andrzej Bartkowiak, 2005) to ‘Warcraft: The Origin’ (Duncan Jones, 2016), through ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’ (Mike Newell, 2010) or ‘Need for Speed’ (Scott Waugh, 2014), it seems that the adaptations of these playable experiences fail to transfer the sensations of their followers from one medium to another.
It is easy to understand why, after all, we are talking about turning an experience in which you are responsible for the actions of the protagonist into a narrative format forced on the third person in which, although you are just as forced to follow the scriptwriter’s rails as when you are in charge, the sense of participation in the plot that made you love the first encounter with that story disappears.
With slight exceptions like ‘Silent Hill’ (Christophe Gans, 2006) and ‘The Witcher’ series and ‘Arcane: League of Legends’, the curse of adaptations is still present with soporific products like ‘Uncharted’ (Ruben Fleischer, 2022). Although we have hopes on the small screen with these 10 new series based on video games, for now we are left with the initiatory ‘Super Mario Bros’ (Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, 1993) and ‘Street Fighter, the last battle’ (Steven E. de Souza, 1994) which, in their madness, were at least a party.
Source: Fotogramas
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
