Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

It makes the Milla Jovivich films even better to me. This is an awfully executed, boringly disjointed, terribly miscast, soulless mix of two games and crushingly bad movie experience. On top of that: worst CGI I've seen in quite a bunch of years. The jump-scares are cheap and without the tension nor the build up like in the games and some of the previous movies. I don't know what is Kaya Scodelario doing here. The franchise (even being what it is), the actors and we as the audience deserve so much better than this.

Fmovies: A film that is more closely based on the video game, but the result is very bad, almost terrible. The story is set in 1998, however the costume design is pathetic, the costumes look totally like those used in the current 2020's, along with this error also comes the art direction, perhaps a little more worked but finally poorly done, the objects that appear throughout the film do include 90's models, but it is full of anachronisms such as the VCR (model from the early 80's), the cell phone (model from the early 2000's), etc. The makeup effects are dire, the zombies look like clowns, maybe the only good design in the whole movie is that of the character named Lisa Trevor. Digital special effects are pathetic, similar to those bad effects seen in films from the late 2000's and early 2010's. The performances are redeemable but not at all outstanding. The cinematographic direction is practically nil. The script is interesting but lousy carried during development, having a couple of interesting scenes, which are the only good things about the whole movie. "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" is an unfortunate production that should not have seen the light. I hope there is no sequel, as the middle credits of the film promised one.

LIKES:

The Atmosphere: If you have played a Resident Evil game, at least most of them, then you will know that the game is a horror element that was the master of jump scares. I can say that this film tries to mirror the element of the first game to the letter, working hard to use the quiet spaces, shadows, and off camera angles to pull you back into the game that started it all. It does a fantastic job sort of recreating the feel of Racoon City, tying all the players into their respective areas and recreating the scenery the PlayStation created years ago. It works well, and feels like a video game to an extent, which makes a nerd like me feel very welcome.

The Pace: To some degree, the pace wins points, because it is not bogged down by the usual introduction sluggishness that origin movies can be. Racoon City gets right to the appetizers to tempt you to stay, and keeps serving you the courses of Zombies that will deliver what the target audience was coming in for. This pace will continue for most of the movie, and offer little down time to get sidetracked on, so plan your drinks and food accordingly.

The Action Feels Resident Evil: The first movie series made our lead character a Matrix like ninja in the world of Resident Evil, which many of my friends liked. However, this movie tones that action down and instead gives you a closer representation of what is involved in the game. It's not super jumps, fists punches, and gun tricks made famous in the Western genre. No, Racoon City is all about the heroes having to aim their shots, choose their tools, and conserve ammo, as they semi-explore the world they are trapped in as the countdown timer continues tick away. While not the most exciting for most of the time, it does accomplish more of the feel of Resident Evil, which again makes the gamer in me very happy, while the movie goer a little sad at not getting more strategy.

Funny: Often unintentional, but sometime timed well, Racoon City happens to have some comedy on hand to get a chuckle or two out of me. Whether it's the quick wit of the two leads mouthing off, the incompetence of several members somehow making their bad luck work, or even the throwback to the 90s, you'll find a good laugh here in this film. Resident Evil's Racoon City certainly offers some fun moments to skirt by break up the montage of horror elements that are crammed into this movie.

The Acting: I'm sort of mixed on this, but given the material they had to work with, I think most of the people accomplished the roles they were set out to do. The Kaya Scodelario has the survival-horror lead down as Claire, she's tough, gusty, and resourceful, and has a bit of the tortured soul performance down quite well. I wanted more time with her, but she works well with the cast she is thrown into and again is a good role for her. Robbie Amell as Chris is fine to be honest, gun toting and the bravado that 90s cop role made famous in its action hero days. It's stereotypical and rather one dimensional, but again works for me in the long run. Hannah Joh-Kamen is a more modern twist on Jill, and I like the promise of her, but can't say the execution was the fullest extent to the character I know from the games. Again, more time needed with her, but the parts she did get to shine were rather bright and fun to watch. Avan Jogia, plays a certain spin on the character I remember from the games, and given the direction they gave him... he accomplishes the funny bit for me. I had fun with the dude and he made his

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City fmovies. Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City is a solid attempt at a more faithful adaptation of the game that definitely has its moments and some satisfyingly accurate recreations but still has too many problems and lacks both the fear and genuine horror to be a truly definitive adaptation.

It takes way too long to really get going and then abruptly ends making it feel extremely rushed. The exposition is extremely clunky and feels unnatural in the dialogue. It also makes some interesting changes but doesn't really do anything with them.

Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Tom Hopper and Avan Jogia all give good performances but none them truly embody their iconic characters. Avan comes the closest but Donal Logue gives the best performance overall.

Johannes Roberts direction is pretty good, it's mostly well filmed, there's a clear love for the games present and there's an impressive dedication to practical effects. However, it's almost completely reliant on ineffective jump scares and has some awful CG. The music by Mark Korven is really good and the soundtrack is also good.

5 out of 5 stars.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is an awesome horror film based on the video game series. And a reboot to the franchise. Taking the direction back to Raccoon City and at the beginning before the outbreak. I love Paul W. S. Anderson's Resident Evil films which is more loosely based on the games. But more action packed. However, this reboot is way different than those films. This film does have a horror movie feel with its tone, direction, music, and does try for some cheap scares.

I am a huge fan of the video game series. I took the last several films for what it was. But it was not even close to the games. This reboot is closer to the games but still completely different with Johannes Roberts script and direction. Its more of one fourth with the similarities to the games. While the story and direction takes off to a different path. I guess we can assume films will never be close to the game adaptations. Fans will somewhat enjoy this for what it is.

The settings of Spencers Mansion was awesome. That part of the film was great and created an intense and scary tone. While the police station setting was looking similar but strays away with the story direction.

The story is good. It does merge the first two game settings into one story which is great and bad at same time. It does feel rushed. The spencer setting with Chris (Robbie Amell), Jill (Hannah John-Kamen), and Wesker (Tom Hopper) investigating murder attacks near the mansion. They search the mansion and come across the undead. Which this part of the movie was intense and scary. Chris battling through undead in dark corridors. Fans will be happy with this part of the movie.

The second part of the story is Claire (Kaya Scodelario) coming back to her hometown to break the news about Umbrella to her brother Chris. She runs across to Leon (Avan Jogia). Leon being a rookie cop. While being stuck in the police station with people in the town turning into the undead. Fans will be a little disappointed with the second game concept in this movie. Which was not as scary as the Spencer mansion setting.

The films setting adaptation is great. Story is indifferent. Spencers Mansion sequence is thrilling. Police station setting is slow and suspense building. There are zombie dogs, a brief scene with a licker monster, Lisa Trevor which is a different take with her from the games. And a boss from the second game which was cool but short.

The movie is awesome. It has action and some intense sequences that makes it entertaining and worth watching if you're a fan or looking for a thrilling zombie film. The visual effects are decent with its limited budget. The cast ensemble is great. Every one worked with there characters. I did feel a little indifferent with Leon (Avan Jogia) which the script did take his rookie personality to a whole new level of being dumb.

The film does set up for a sequel. And hoping they can adapt it even closer to games. This film is close to it. There is a mid credit scene that hints for another film with a specific character.

For a video game adaptation this worked surprisingly well. The acting was decent and the characters were well cast. The effects on the zombies was amazing and felt authentic, definitely achieving scares. The storyline felt true to the video game but kept it simple. An enjoyable experience.