A recent critical analysis evaluated three vastly different films: the dark comedy Bad Apples, Aardman's Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, and the latest Resident Evil installment. The reviews highlight a range of styles from dark school-room comedy to monster-filled horror.
Saoirse Ronan and the English classroom in Bad Apples
In Bad Apples, Saoirse Ronan portrays Maria,a dedicated but exhausted teacher struggling to maintain order in a primary school on the outskirts of England. According to the report, Swedish director Jonatan Etzler shifted the narrative's setting from its original Scandinavian roots to the UK to frame the conflict between Maria and a defiant eleven-year-old student named Danny , played by newcomer Eddie Waller.
The tension in Bad Apples serves as a vehicle for a broader commentary on the systemic failures of the modern education system. By depicting Danny's disruptive behavior—which includes pushing a classmate down stairs and sabotaging cider-making machinery—the film explores the powerlessness felt by both educators and students within a rigid justice system.. This narrative echoes a growing cinematic trend of using "classroom dramas" to interrogate institutional burnout and the fragility of the social safety net.
Aardman’s orange yeti and the Psycho homage
Aardman's stop-motion production, Shaun the Sheep:The Beast of Mossy Bottom, takes a more whimsical approach by casting the titular sheep as an eccentric scientist. As the report detailed, the plot centers on a growth serum that accidentally transforms the farmer into a grotesque orange yeti, blending child-friendly adventure with sophisticated cinematic references.
The film leverages high-concept visual gags to appeal to adults , most notably a Wolf-shaped shower scene that serves as a dirrect homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The review highlights the role of Bitzer the sheepdog, whose efforts to hide evidence of mischief provide the rhythmic comedy typical of Aardman's style, ensuring the film remains accessible across generations while maintaining a playful, horror-pastiche score.
Austin Abrams and the 90-minute Raccoon City contagion
The eighth entry in the Resident Evil franchise, based on the Japanese video game series, focuses on a courier named Bryan, played by Austin Abrams. The story follows Bryan during a night delivery of an organ to Raccoon City, where he becomes trapped in a contagion outbreak that transforms humans into monsters.
According to the review, the film operates as an allegory for the COVID-19 pandemic, though it is criticized for certain "intent-irrespective absurdities." Despite these narrative leaps, the analysis praises the film's self-aware humor and its disciplined 90-minute runtime, which prevents the monster-thriller tropes from becoming overly tedious.
Where Resident Evil and Bad Apples falter on narrative plausibility
Despite the praise for individual performances, the reviewers maintain a mixed tone regarding the structural execution of these films. A primary point of contention is the gap between bold satirical ambitions and narrative plausibility, particularly in how Resident Evil handles its pandemic metaphors and how Bad Apples balances its dark humor with its social critique.
One significant open question remains regarding the Resident Evil adaptation: whether the film's "whimsical approach" alienates long-time fans of the darker, more oppressive tone of the original Japanese games. Additionally, the source does not clarify if the satirical targets in Bad Apples are specific to the English school system or intended as a universal critique of Western pedagogy.
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