Console to Screen: Resident Evil (The Right Way)

Resident Evil created
survival horror.

I've written so much about how terrible the Resident Evil series has been, so one more article won't hurt. It's been 12 years since hack director Paul W.S. Anderson "shat out" the most awful and disgraceful adaptation of all time and it's set to conclude in the next film...possibly. The only unfortunate part for me is that I couldn't officially call it the Worst Adaptation of All Time because it's moderate success. However, it's story is so weak that they just keep referring to the Umbrella Corporation without ever really considering their business plan. You figure if everyone in the world is a monster or a zombie, that wouldn't help the economy. Resident Evil gave birth to survival horror, but now it's trying to cling to relevancy. Where did all of it go wrong?

Plot:

The first story was set in a mysterious mansion.
The first movie...went another direction.

Go back to basics of what the story was. Ditch the Alice storyline that was never in the game for the REAL story of an elite special attack team called S.T.A.R.S. that are caught in a mansion while investigating the disappearance of the Alpha squad. Little by little, the squad of Chris Redfield, Barry Burton and Jill Valentine find out that the mansion is full of zombies and monsters. Eventually, they learn that mansion is a research facility that's trying to create the ultimate weapon and founded by their S.T.A.R.S. member Albert Wesker.
In Resident Evil 2, the virus took to streets of Raccoon City, but enter two new protagonists, Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Claire journeyed to Raccoon City to find her brother and (CLICHE ALERT) Leon came for his first day on the job. In the city, they encounter a daughter (Sherry) of the mutated scientist (William Birkin) and Ada Wong, a woman with her own agenda. They learn that Birkin created the G-Virus which is more powerful than the T-Virus from the first story. Each character had their own storyline and which unlocked a second story continuing in an alternate timeline that expanded the story. Birkin's metamorphosis over several stages in the game were terrifying an haunting. Add-in a mysterious man that shows up in the B story and it's really creepy.

Cast:

Leon Kennedy.

What could have been...

Instead of wasting time on a made up character, this could have been where Leon Kennedy took center stage. Kennedy was the lead character in Resident Evil 4 and a key character in Resident Evil 6. Hmmm... still no Alice. Now, take a look at the picture of Leon Kennedy. Who could have played that back in 2002 and done a good job. That's right, Ryan Gosling. Now a leading man and an Oscar Nominated A-lister, fat chance trying to get him if they rebooted the series to do it right. Can't think of another guy, but he would have been great.
Oddly, Ally Larter as Claire Redfield wasn't a bad choice, but her character was as emotionally vacant as a Taylor Lautner monologue.

What It Has Going For It:

Lisa Trevor was a minor character, but never touched on
by any RE movie.

If Resident Evil didn't go awry and actually stuck to a coherent story, people would have seen a movie about a corporation trying to create biological weapons. When the company's experiments go wrong and it takes a massive PR hit, Umbrella is undermined and their resources are plucked by other groups. Now that sounds a lot like nuclear weapons and the breakdown of the Soviet governments, which made for plenty of spy stories in the 90s. It also showed that there are other groups than just a corporation...which cares about profit.
Every RE story had an "ultimate weapon" that players had to overcome and different creatures. In RE 1, you fought Tyrant. In RE 2, it was the MANY phases of William Birkin. There's always something BIG at the end. In Paul WS Anderson's first Resident Evil film...there was a Licker. Really? In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, it was Nemesis...sort of as Nemesis was someone Alice knew and she was trying to rescue him. It wasn't until Resident Evil: Extinction that a creature was used like Tyrant and even that one was screwed up. There's also the minor characters that the movies didn't show like Lisa Trevor, a mutated girl chained to a board and meandering around in RE 4. There was other creatures not used in the movies like the Hunters. The Hunters intro in the original RE was one of the creepiest surprise in ANY RE game (as scene below at the 2:45 mark). They were also the most eerie of the RE soldiers. The Hunters would walk towards you and then attack with great speed and strength when close.

Who Could Pull This Off:
Any choice is better than Paul WS Anderson. I would hate using this guy as my template of bad directors...but I can't name a movie he's done without throwing up a little in my mouth. He took Alien vs Predator, named it AVP and made us miss Renny Harlin and Stephen Hopkins directing. Anyway, RE is a combination of horror and action. You'd have to choose which you'd want it to be...unless you get Zack Snyder. Sure Snyder has made his name directing 300, Sucker Punch and Watchmen, but his 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake is just the flavor the real Resident Evil series would need. Now, how to get him? Wait to see how Superman: Man of Steel works out (the SECOND reboot of the DC hero) and if Superman is successful, it only helps. Reboots are usually after audiences forget the originals just enough...well except for Spider-Man.

Like I've said, if Resident Evil is to be rebooted, it'll likely go the route of being truer to the original stories as most reboots do. Hell, even James Bond went to the "closer to the source material" road and look at how successful Daniel Craig's James Bond series has been. Albert Wesker would actually be scary instead of an annoying guy with an accent. I actually need to stop writing this because the Resident Evil movies remind me of the words "wasted potential"...