Review: Resident Evil might just be the best gaming adaptation yet
Review: Resident Evil might just be the best gaming adaptation yet
影评：《生化危机》或许是迄今为止最棒的游戏改编作品
I was on the fence about going to see the latest Resident Evil reboot to review, given how uninspired the prior reboot attempt in 2021 turned out to be. But director Zach Cregger gave us last year’s phenomenal Weapons, and early word of mouth was extremely positive, so I took a chance. I’m glad I did, because the film is terrific. Cregger’s distinctive sensibility is just what the flagging franchise needed: a truly fresh take on a well-trodden fictional world that blends horror, humor, and some pretty over-the-top gore in just the right ratios. And you don’t need to be a Resident Evil franchise fan to enjoy it. (Spoilers below, but we’ll give you a heads-up before any major reveals.)
鉴于2021年那次平庸的重启尝试，我原本对是否要去观看并评论这部最新的《生化危机》重启之作感到犹豫不决。但导演扎克·克雷格（Zach Cregger）去年执导了现象级的电影《武器》（Weapons），且早期的口碑非常积极，所以我决定冒险一试。我很庆幸自己这么做了，因为这部电影非常棒。克雷格独特的审美正是这个日渐式微的系列所需要的：对一个老生常谈的虚构世界进行了真正新鲜的诠释，将恐怖、幽默和一些相当夸张的血腥场面以恰到好处的比例融合在一起。即使你不是《生化危机》系列的粉丝，也能享受这部电影。（下文包含剧透，但在任何重大揭秘前我们会提前预警。）
When the first Resident Evil game debuted in 1996, it was an immediate commercial and critical success, spawning several sequel games, comics, novels, and a very lucrative film franchise directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich. Reviews were mixed, despite the films’ massive box office success. The first reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), was critically panned and had a disappointing box office, grossing just $42 million globally against its $25 million budget. The studio nixed its plans for a direct sequel, and a 2022 Netflix series was also canceled after a less-than-stellar first season.
1996年首款《生化危机》游戏问世时，它在商业和评论界都取得了立竿见影的成功，随后衍生出多部续作游戏、漫画、小说，以及由保罗·W·S·安德森执导、米拉·乔沃维奇主演的极其赚钱的电影系列。尽管这些电影在票房上大获成功，但评价却褒贬不一。第一次重启之作《生化危机：欢迎来到浣熊市》（2021）口碑惨淡，票房表现也令人失望，全球票房仅为4200万美元，而其预算为2500万美元。制片方取消了直接拍摄续集的计划，2022年推出的Netflix剧集也在表现平平的第一季后被砍。
Enter Cregger, who hadn’t seen any of the original films when he took on the project but was a huge fan of the games, especially Resident Evil 2. Cregger’s take is not a direct game adaptation, but an original story with original characters set in the same fictional universe. Cregger told the audience at CinemaCon earlier this year that his film would have “no narrative acrobatics, time jumps, or disorienting chapter things,” preferring his audience to be “locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey through a world hell-bent on destroying them.” Nor would it be like Weapons; Cregger’s Resident Evil vision, he said, is closer to Evil Dead II yet still “true to the spirit of the games.”
这时克雷格登场了。他在接手该项目时还没看过任何原版电影，但他却是游戏的忠实粉丝，尤其是《生化危机2》。克雷格的版本并非直接的游戏改编，而是一个设定在同一虚构宇宙中的原创故事，主角也是原创角色。克雷格在今年早些时候的CinemaCon上告诉观众，他的电影将“没有叙事杂技、时间跳跃或令人困惑的章节式结构”，他更希望观众能“与主角一起，沉浸在穿越一个一心想毁灭他们的世界的徒步旅程中”。这也不会像《武器》那样；他说，他心目中的《生化危机》更接近《鬼玩人2》，但依然“忠于游戏的精神”。
Cregger set his story in the present day just as the T-virus is spreading throughout Raccoon City. And he opted to make his protagonist a plucky Everyman: a young medical courier named Bryan (Austin Abrams) whose girlfriend Michelle (Sara Paxton) has just told him over the phone that she’s pregnant as he’s dropping an organ off at a hospital. Bryan makes the ill-fated decision to accept one last courier run to deliver a priority package to the hospital in Raccoon City. It’s snowing heavily, and he’s arguing with Michelle while driving when he hits a woman (Andrea Miltnerova) who wanders suddenly into the road. She’s an Infected (i.e., zombie), of course, but Bryan has no idea. Nor does the local sheriff (Johnno Wilson), who agrees to help Bryan transport her to the hospital.
克雷格将故事背景设定在现代，正值T病毒在浣熊市蔓延之际。他选择将主角塑造成一个勇敢的普通人：一位名叫布莱恩（奥斯汀·艾布拉姆斯饰）的年轻医疗快递员。当他正在医院运送器官时，女友米歇尔（萨拉·帕克斯顿饰）在电话里告诉他自己怀孕了。布莱恩做出了一个不幸的决定：接受最后一次快递任务，将一个优先包裹送到浣熊市的医院。当时大雪纷飞，他在开车时正与米歇尔争吵，这时他撞上了一个突然闯入马路的女人（安德烈亚·米尔特诺娃饰）。当然，她是一个感染者（即丧尸），但布莱恩对此一无所知。当地警长（约翰诺·威尔逊饰）也不知道，他同意帮助布莱恩将她送往医院。
Things go exactly how you’d expect: The zombie kills the sheriff and comes after a panicked Bryan, who manages to shoot her with the sheriff’s gun—and also accidentally shoots out his own car engine, stranding him. Bryan is forced to take refuge in a local farmhouse, and things just go from bad to worse. (WARNING: more significant spoilers below. Half the fun of this movie is the element of surprise, so stop now if you haven’t seen the film yet.)
事情的发展正如你所料：丧尸杀死了警长，并开始追击惊慌失措的布莱恩。布莱恩设法用警长的枪击中了她，但也意外打坏了自己的汽车引擎，导致他被困在路上。布莱恩被迫躲进当地的一间农舍，情况变得越来越糟。（警告：下文包含更多重大剧透。这部电影的一半乐趣在于惊喜感，所以如果你还没看过电影，现在就停止阅读吧。）
It’s a small cast with a single protagonist, so everything hangs on Abrams’ performance, and he knocks it out of the park. Abrams has the kind of expressive face that can navigate a host of conflicting emotions. Case in point: In the farmhouse, he shoots a pair of zombies, but the darn bodies sprout tentacles and reach out to each other. Bryan is frozen in horrified fascination, knowing he should run but unable to look away as a bizarre hybrid zombie forms. From Bryan’s awkward response to the news he’s about to become a father, to his profanity-laced frustration as his situation progressively worsens, to sheer panicked terror, to weary resignation—Abrams hits them all.
这是一部演员阵容精简、以单一主角为核心的电影，因此一切都取决于艾布拉姆斯的表演，而他表现得非常出色。艾布拉姆斯拥有一张极具表现力的脸，能够驾驭各种复杂的矛盾情绪。举个例子：在农舍里，他射杀了一对丧尸，但这些该死的尸体竟然长出了触手并互相伸向对方。布莱恩被这种恐怖的景象惊呆了，他知道自己应该逃跑，但当一个怪异的混合丧尸形成时，他却无法移开视线。从布莱恩得知自己即将为人父时的尴尬反应，到随着处境恶化而满口脏话的沮丧，再到纯粹的惊恐，以及疲惫的认命——艾布拉姆斯将这些情绪演绎得淋漓尽致。
Cregger certainly knows his craft; this is an exceptionally well-made film. It’s a simple narrative structure—Bryan must overcome increasingly difficult obstacles to deliver his package in time—but the pacing is tight and never lags. There are a handful of very effective jump scares, especially early on, but Cregger wisely doesn’t overuse them. Ditto for the third-person gameplay point of view the director incorporates throughout to give the viewer a sense of what it’s like to play the game. It could have felt gimmicky, but Cregger weaves those shots seamlessly with the more traditional objective POV. There is just enough wry humor—think Shaun of the Dead—sprinkled throughout to keep things from getting too grim, often deriving from Bryan’s cluelessness and general lack of skills. (His multiple encounters with stubborn old-fashioned padlocks are a running gag that never plays quite the same twice.)
克雷格确实深谙此道；这是一部制作极其精良的电影。它的叙事结构很简单——布莱恩必须克服越来越困难的障碍，才能及时送达包裹——但节奏紧凑，绝不拖沓。片中有几次非常有效的“跳跃式惊吓”（jump scares），尤其是在前期，但克雷格明智地没有过度使用。导演在全片中融入的第三人称游戏视角也是如此，这让观众能感受到玩游戏时的体验。这本可能显得很花哨，但克雷格将这些镜头与更传统的客观视角无缝衔接。片中穿插了恰到好处的冷幽默（想想《僵尸肖恩》），以防止气氛过于沉重，这些幽默往往源于布莱恩的无知和缺乏技能。（他多次遇到顽固的老式挂锁，这是一个反复出现的笑点，每次的表现方式都不尽相同。）