Netflix always on the lookout for new franchises. That led him to pay a savagery for ‘Daggers in the back 2’ and has also led to some historic failures such as ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’. However, the platform does not give up and one of his last great attempts has been to try to capitalize on the television possibilities of ‘Resident Evil’.
A year ago we were able to see ‘Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’, an anime with little bite that didn’t make too much noise either. starting this thursday July 14 the second attempt arrives, because it will be then when ‘Resident Evil’ reaches Netflix. This series in real image promised a lot, but at least at its start it is a small disappointment, since it corners its most visceral component to very specific situations in favor of a mystery without enough hook.
very uneven
The first series in real image of ‘Resident Evil’ chooses to take only the elements of the video game universe that it deems appropriate to create its own world of infected. For it jumps constantly in time to try to influence how some events that took place in 2022 are related to the post-apocalyptic panorama of 2036.
The organization umbrella plays a fundamental role in it and we also find some old acquaintance like Albert Wesker, but the mythology varies to fit the needs of the series. For my part, I am totally in favor of trying new things without completely breaking what is already known, but here the cocktail of ingredients used is far from exciting.
For now, the focus varies considerably depending on whether we are in the present or in the past. What happens now does have that wild point that one expects from ‘Resident Evil’, and even when things are calm, the tension in the environment is noticeable, but in the present everything is somewhat flat. And there is also the feeling that we spend more time in those origins of history than in the current situation.
Better in the visceral than in the “mysterious”
It is clear that the writing team led by Andrew Dabb it seeks to weave a mystery around the cataclysm that unleashed the infection that threatens to wipe out humanity, but to do so it uses stretching plots in such a way that one can end up desperate with that part in the past. There is a specific moment that does work like the scene in which Wesker (correct but not very memorable lance reddick) exhibits his authority to defend one of his daughters, but more often than not we are simply not interested in what happens.
Fortunately, things change today, both because of the greater energy with which the story is approached and because everything related to the infected has a greater presence. It can be said that this is when ‘Resident Evil’ really gives us what we expected, but it does so by trying to offer a different vision of this universe. For now, what he has presented in his first episodes in this part of the series does encourage you to continue watching.
Then a funny thing happens. In the part of the past, it seems that ‘Resident Evil’ wants to appear to be a great production but at the moment of truth it ends up being somewhat generic, as if it wanted to appear more than it is capable of achieving. Instead, in the present part, it embraces its B-series nature with the deployment of the creatures and the different scenarios, managing, at times, to look better than it should.
In the end, what remains is a very unbalanced product, so tiresome in flashbacks that one can even miss the least inspired films in the saga led by Jovovich mile, but much more exciting and promising when the action is set in the present tense for its characters. What is more consistent is the work of its actors, but it is at the cost of oscillating between the insignificant and the simply compliant.
In short
‘Resident Evil’ shows two very different faces. In one he offers a wild show, perhaps not an anthological one, but it is strong and leaves you wanting more, but in the other he can end up driving the viewer to despair by posing a mystery that pricks the bone. For my part, I will continue to watch more episodes, but I hope that the past will have less and less importance in the Netflix series…
I remind you that we have a list with the best Netflix series so far this year and another with the best movies on the platform in 2022.