‘Resident Evil’ Hits a Franchise High on Rotten Tomatoes

Sony pumped out a lot of Resident Evil movies in the last couple decades; seven in all since the very first film version of the classic horror game opened in theaters in 2002. All of them got bad reviews; all of them are rated “Rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fact, none are even close to “Fresh” on the site. The highest score any Resident Evil movie earned to date is the 39 rating held by Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. (Maybe critics were just happy the franchise was finally over?)

That’s all changed with the new Resident Evil movie opening in theaters today. This series reboot, directed by Weapons and Barbarian’s Zach Cregger is receiving nearly universal praise from critics. As of this writing, its Rotten Tomatoes score stands at a whopping 96 percent.

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Cregger’s approach to the material was to play things closer to the original Capcom video games. The earlier Resident Evil franchise, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, took some cues from the games, but was also much more action-oriented, and focused on a character (Milla Jovovich’s Alice) who wasn’t in the games, and was also basically a borderline superhero. The new Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier who stumbles into a full-blown T-virus outbreak in the fictional town of Raccoon City.

A score of 96 not only makes Cregger’s the best Resident Evil to date (at least according to critical consensus), it makes it one of the best-reviewed Hollywood movies of the year. That’s a better score than Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (94). That’s a better score than Spider-Man: Brand New Day (90). That’s a better score than Toy Story 5 (93). That’s even a better score than Project Hail Mary (95).

Here is every Rotten Tomatoes score in the franchise’s history:

Resident Evil – 36
Resident Evil: Apocalypse – 18
Resident Evil: Extinction – 24
Resident Evil: Afterlife – 21
Resident Evil: Retribution – 28
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter – 39
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – 30
Resident Evil – 96

If my math is right (it’s probably not, I’m dumb), Cregger’s Resident Evil is two percentage points shy of having a higher RT score than the previous three Resident Evil movies combined.

But those are the critics’ opinions. How will Resident Evil fans react? We’ll find out as the movie opens in theaters this weekend.