The film Resident Evil, directed by Zak Krueger, avoids a straight retelling of the video games and instead follows an ordinary courier, Brian Hodgewich, who becomes entangled in the disaster that engulfs Raccoon City. It was the movie’s final sequence, rather than its departure from the source material, that provoked the most discussion among viewers.
Warning, spoilers ahead.
Spoiler
Brian’s mission is to deliver a sealed container to the city hospital; the package contains a chemical agent intended for use in developing a vaccine against the virus unleashed by Umbrella scientists. During his run he is bitten by an infected girl and begins a slow transformation into Nemesis. For most of the film Brian retains his awareness, realizes what is happening to him and tries to reach the vaccine that might save him. In the closing moments, however, the mutation overwhelms him: now as Nemesis he kills the remaining scientists and the syringe holding the vaccine tumbles from the 28th floor—Brian can no longer be rescued.
That conclusion split the audience. Some viewers were frustrated that Brian endures the film’s ordeals only to receive no redemption, arguing the character’s arc ends too abruptly. Others praised the bleak outcome, saying Brian was never written as a conventional Resident Evil hero but as an example of how an ordinary person can become one of the franchise’s monsters. In this reading, the emotional beats—such as Brian’s connection to the infected girl—and small narrative details function like discoveries a player might stumble upon during gameplay: Brian does not save Raccoon City; he becomes another casualty of the catastrophe.
Those reactions align with the series’ tone, where not every character survives an outbreak. For many fans, Brian’s fate is not a narrative failure but a deliberately harsh reminder of the world’s brutality.
Lead actor Austin Abrams said the script’s ending surprised him and that he respects Krueger’s choice not to soften the consequences for a sympathetic character, allowing the story to end tragically. Krueger has also revealed that the filmed finale served as a backup option—an alternate ending shot “just in case” the original version did not achieve the intended effect.