sisslethecat
Another day, another new look at the upcoming Resident Evil motion picture reboot. While we’ve seen tons of facade and dressing photos, and gotten a few tidbits from Leon and Richard’s actors, the main S.T.A.R.S. cast has been noticeably quiet (for the most part, there’s been a few blurry shots of Arklay Forest before). That ends today as Chris Redfield’s actor, Robbie Amell, shows off a first look at a classic Resident Evil weapon — the Samurai Edge. Including both the prop weapon and a set of prop herbs (green, red, and blue), Amel showed these off via an Instagram story, the image captured by fans before the time ran out on the story itself. Take a look:
The Beretta M92F-S Samurai Edge Custom is probably the most iconic weapon in the entire Resident Evil franchise (aside from the M202 FLASH quad-barrel rocket launcher seen across the original trilogy). Designed by Joe Kendo, this set of custom-built Beretta handguns were uniquely crafted as per the specifications of each of the 11 members of the R.P.D. S.T.A.R.S. (Rebecca Chambers had one as well, but it wasn’t specified for her yet, simply a standard customization). The gun has lots of crazy specifications all on its own without each member’s own requirements, and as a whole is as Resident Evil as the zombies themselves. Never before featured in the previous 6 films (well, Alexander Isaacs uses a gun that looks a lot like Wesker’s Samurai Edge in The Final Chapter), as Jill is shown using a S&W 5946 in those, so this is super exciting.
Obviously, this is only a prop gun (not to mention one that looks like it’s already seen a lot of use during filming, with paint chipping in places), but it’s still lovely to see the pistol recreated like this. The S.T.A.R.S. seal on the side is the icing on the cake here. It goes a step further than that though — while the pistol admittedly lacks the KENDO stamp on the slide, the coloration is… actually interesting to me. I’d initially shrugged at the almost black look to the casing, as (in my head) I think of the gun as having a steel blue finish. Looking into them for the sake of the article, I discovered that Jill’s Samurai Edge actually does have a black finish to it, and it’s in fact Chris’ that has a blue tint. That’s… actually kind of a big deal here, as Chris photograph’s what looks to be Jill’s model… as it’s Jill’s model Chris actually uses in-game after losing his on the way to the mansion. Am I overthinking this? Probably, but given the dedication to accuracy we’ve seen thus far I wouldn’t be surprised.
Along with the pistol, we also see the classic herbs, the original three colors from the first three games. While there have since been other colors, the original green, red, and blue herbs are the classics. Odds are very against these being used in any way shape or form in the film itself, but these plastic prop ones will most likely be a cute reference sitting in the background of a scene. I’m all for it, friends and I were always a little surprised the previous films never actually did that considering it’s such an easy Easter egg.
We’ll keep you updated, there seems to be a new image or at least some info every few days at this point. Resident Evil releases in theaters (tentatively) September 9th, 2021.
