Over Thanksgiving break, I saw Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. I’d been looking forward to this movie for a while because it was going to be more faithful to the original games, as opposed to Paul W.S. Anderson’s film series, which spawned six movies and was very loosely based on the games. While Anderson’s Resident Evil series is a guilty pleasure of mine, it was time the iconic video game series got a faithful movie adaptation. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a 2021 action horror movie written and directed by Johannes Roberts and stars Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, and Neal McDonough. The movie begins with Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) hitching a ride in a truck to Raccoon City, where she grew up with her brother, Chris. The driver she is riding with accidentally runs into a woman, who is actually a zombie. Sensing that something is seriously wrong, Claire rushes into the city, hoping to find Chris. There, she meets a variety of people, both alive and undead, and learns the dark truth about the zombie outbreak and Umbrella, the pharmaceutical company responsible for it. A reboot of the original film series, and based on the first two Resident Evil games, this movie was clearly made for fans of the game series. While not a “good” movie by any means, Welcome to Raccoon City perfectly captures the first two games’ campiness and foreboding atmosphere, and even makes some changes that I feel the original games would have benefitted from.
A few of this movie’s strengths lie in its elaborate set design and the director’s attention to detail. The film interweaves the plots of the first two Resident Evil games. As a result, the characters visit various locations, such as the iconic Spencer Mansion from the first game and the Raccoon Police Department (RPD) from the sequel. The sets for these locations almost look like they were taken directly from the games, which, in a sense, they were. Writer and director Johannes Roberts is a longtime fan of the Resident Evil series, and even specifically chose actors who had grown up with the series. His love for the series can be found in every scene of the movie, and there are dozens of Easter eggs sprinkled throughout, ranging from blink-and-you’ll-miss-it to right-in-your-face. I found several Easter eggs in the opening scene alone, and I’m sure I’ll find more during a second viewing. There are even references to long-running jokes of the franchise, such as the infamous “Jill sandwich” line from the original 1996 game, as well as jabs at Leon Kennedy’s supermodel hair. Also worth noting is that the majority of the sets were built by hand as opposed to simply putting actors in front of a greenscreen. In addition, many of the characters’ costumes are taken directly from their video game counterparts. It is clear that a lot of hard work and passion went into making this movie, and I think it’s worth checking it out for this reason alone.
The film’s atmosphere and tone are also worthy of praise. The movie’s first act has that same slow burn dread the first two games are known for, with plenty of jump scares and creepy shots to be had. While the jump scares are mostly predictable, some are rather effective, and a few even made me and other theatergoers flinch. The soundtrack is an odd mixture of standard horror movie music and late 80’s to early 90’s pop-rock, which fits the film’s slightly spooky, but fun feel. Much like the games it was based upon, the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and fully embraces its campiness, offering plenty of cheesy one-liners and absurdly funny moments. One such example occurs in the second act of the film and consists of a zombie walking into the RPD while completely engulfed in flames, and also while Jennifer Paige’s song “Crush” is playing. This moment was exactly the kind of craziness I was expecting from a Resident Evil film, and I nearly burst out laughing.
Another thing I liked about the movie is the fact that its main focus is on Claire Redfield. While Claire has appeared alongside Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil: Degeneration ((2008) and Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021), she was sidelined in these computer animated projects while Leon got the spotlight instead. She is the star of the show in Welcome to Raccoon City, however, which is a welcome change. She is also given more of a backstory in this movie, making her more fleshed out and interesting as a character. When Claire is introduced in Resident Evil 2, all players know about her is that she is a college student, and that she and her brother Chris are orphans. The film keeps this latter information and expands upon it by having Claire and Chris spend their childhood in the Raccoon City orphanage. It is later revealed that the orphanage staff and Dr. William Birkin (Neal McDonough), one of the film’s two antagonists, tried to experiment on Claire when she was a child. Having firsthand knowledge of how evil the Umbrella Corporation is gives Claire more of a reason to return to Raccoon City and find her brother, tying her to the series lore in a way the second game hadn’t.
The portrayals of the other characters, on the other hand, are more of a mixed bag. This is mostly due to the film’s combining the plots of the first two games, which both benefit and hurt the film. Benefit because it allows characters who’ve never met in the games, such as Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine, to interact with each other, and hurt because this leaves little time to fully flesh out the various characters. I really enjoyed Avan Jogia’s portrayal of Leon S. Kennedy and felt that he perfectly embodied the character’s smugness. Plus, he has the luscious locks and handsome face to boot. Leon’s transformation from rookie cop to a rocket launcher-wielding badass was accurate to the second game, also. I appreciate the decision to make Chief Irons (Donal Logue) more likeable as opposed to his video game counterpart, who used his status as police chief to sexually assault and murder various young women. The Chief Irons in Welcome to Raccoon City isn’t a saint by any means, as he berates his employees several times throughout the film, but even so, his character has a relatable not-my-problem attitude and serves as the movie’s comic relief. Besides, adding another villain to the mix wouldn’t have been a good idea, especially since this film has two of them.
The portrayal of one of the movie’s villains, Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), is another flaw of this movie. While I appreciate the effort to make Wesker a more sympathetic villain as opposed to the over-the-top, almost cartoonish antagonist he is in the games, this attempt falls flat as he isn’t given enough screen time for viewers to sympathize with him. In addition, he isn’t given much of a reason to betray his teammates other than the fact that he doesn’t want to spend his entire life working a dead-end job as a small-town cop, which probably wouldn’t be enough to make someone work for a company that experiments on orphaned children. On the other hand, William Birkin, the movie’s other and more obvious villain, is just as insane and over-the-top as he is in Resident Evil 2. This portrayal perfectly matches the film’s B-horror movie vibe, which the first two games are also known for. However, he is also given little screen time, meaning he has far less of a presence than he did in the second game and its 2019 remake. This makes him feel unthreatening as a result.
Furthermore, the third act is extremely rushed, and the ending is almost abrupt. Despite having beaten the first two games multiple times, I didn’t know the movie had ended until the credits began rolling. This is mostly due to the fact that the film crams the first two games into a feature length movie, which doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to fully wrap up the two plotlines. Maybe if the film was a tad bit longer, this would’ve allowed for a more satisfying ending, but as far as endings go, it’s not the worst one out there. There’s even an end credits scene that alludes to a potential sequel, and it’s possible there will be one as the film, which cost about 25 million to make, has made over 30 million at the box office. I really hope we get a sequel or even a mini-series released on a streaming service, because I’d like to see this same creative team work on another Resident Evil project.
Despite its flaws, Welcome to Raccoon City was created with fans in mind, which is extremely rare in video game to movie adaptations. It is evident that this was a passion project for many of those involved in the elaborate set and costume designs. The film expertly captures the first two games’ tense atmosphere and cheesiness, and even makes a few changes to some of the characters that really benefit the story. If you’re a Resident Evil fan, I recommend checking out this movie before it leaves theaters because while it isn’t a good movie, it is a good time, and its faithfulness to its source material is sure to satisfy fans. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is now playing exclusively in theaters.
—Brittany Crosse, Blog Editor
Brittany Crosse’s Bio:
Brittany Crosse is a senior at Lewis University who has previously attended Moraine Valley Community College. She is majoring in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and hopes to one day make a career out of writing short stories, which has been a goal of hers ever since she was little. In addition to writing, she also plans to teach fiction writing at the university level. Her interests outside of writing include TV shows, anime, music, video games, and books, her favorite authors being Neal Shusterman, Stephen King, and Haruki Murakami. Brittany spends most of her time with her dog Cordelia, a.k.a. “Cordy.”