'Resident Evil 4 (2023)' Review

Big-time heroics

'B-movie' is the oft-used analogue for describing the original Resident Evil 4's uniquely earnest tone, how it skates the line of self-awareness in handling its own ridiculousness, although with hindsight this may be part of its times. Back in the ancient stonecutting days of the sixth generation, creating human characters was simple enough, but through hardware limitations, necessary stylization meant they weren't expected to act quite like humans, more so exaggerated ideals. Of course reuniting with an old flame should smoothly glide into a combative and acrobatic pas de deux! Does it make sense that being infected with Las Plagas would make you dress like an erratic little Napoleon? Not particularly, but it's the reason all the same. Of course, times a'changing as they do, key-framing given way to motion capture and digitizing models' likenesses to an uncanny resemblance, now our scope mustn't stray too far from what actual humans can actually do. Now it's asking, "what would it look like if someone was infected with Plagas?" What was once told through a single backflip has become thrice-long bout of dialogue. While not necessarily making things more 'real' - this is zombie bugs infesting rural Europe, after all - nor breaking the broadest familiarities, what was once pleasingly kinetic swashbuckling has been reined into a more sincere place of drama, consequently crossing this remake between its more classic eccentricities and its aspirations to fold among modern contemporaries. If 2005's game is a B-movie, then 2023's is a blockbuster; better composed and bedecked with modern flourish, but lacking the surreality which gave its source material an indelible charm.