First off, this is a spoiler-free review by a casual viewer who has not played any of the past video games. I do not have any expectations or bias with regards to how close/true it follows the past games' storylines.
Resident Evil is an atypical zombie flick - it is not particularly scary, does not contain as much gore as one would expect, and will not keep you on the edge of your seat. In summary, it does not have the traits of a good o' zombie thriller, which makes it sound unexciting.
Resident Evil is, however, ironically a binge-worthy watch for viewers who are usually not into zombie thrillers 😂