REVIEW #118 Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon city is based on the popular horror game of the same name. In this reboot we see the origins of the outbreak as it introduces us to some of the iconic characters from the game. The film is directed by Johannes Roberts. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

The cast is actually the thing that got me excited about the reboot, it is filled with familiar faces that I felt could do justice to the characters. Kaya Scodelario and Robbie Amell play Claire and Chris Redfield and I think Kaya in particular delivered a good performance. Amell was a little hit and miss but I think how he faired in the action sequences probably saved his performance. Hannah John-Kamen played Jill valentine and like Sodelario I believe she performed well. Next we have Tom Hopper who portrayed Albert Wesker and Avan Jogia who was Leon Kennedy, I don’t think either of them delivered poor performances but they weren’t particularly great either. I think I’d summarise the acting as a whole as good enough to sell the storyline convincingly and create great action sequences but perhaps a little off the mark on the more emotional aspects of the film. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I think this storyline was miles better than the original resident evil films, I enjoyed seeing the origins of the outbreak and seeing the transition of the normal citizens of raccoon city as they turned into infected zombies. This reboot also had a strong horror vibe compared to previous films, which made it more tense and scarier for sure. One thing I have never really liked about the resident evil franchise is the overly mutated monsters that always appear. I’m more of a fan of the traditional zombie flicks where they’re just the normal undead trying to feed on the living, so that aspect I didn’t like but that’s not the films fault because it’s just following the source material. I loved seeing the characters from the original games finally bought to the big screen, I must admit I struggle to remember the games fully but just watching this made me want to go back and play them again. They really set the scene with some iconic locations too. There wasn’t much character development or focus on relationships, we saw glimpses but the only sort of character exploration we see is the a small part of Chris and Claire’s upbringing in the orphanage. So perhaps they could have delved into their characters a little more. 

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

I thought the cinematography was really good, I never usually class zombie films as horror films because despite there being blood and gore, they’re never really made to be scary. However Welcome to Raccoon City mixed the two genres really well, the opening sequence in the orphanage set the tone of the film from the off and really impressed me. The soundtrack was brilliant, I always appreciate songs that provide strong juxtaposition to the scenes and even the musical score for the more scarier parts really helped build the tension. I believe they got the costumes and settings spot on, really bringing those original games to life! The infected also looked good, we saw regular citizens as they slowly started to decay from the poisoning and that looked realistic too, so credit to the makeup teams. The special effects for the mutated infections was a little questionable, those monsters could have a looked a little better. Action scenes were also shot really well, there are so many examples I can give! Robbie Amell’s scene in the Spencer mansion was brilliant to watch, the use of the spotlight on the gun created a high stakes scene that had my heart racing. But overall this category was a big strong point for the film.

OVERALL (7.5/10)

I think the critics for this film have been really harsh, rotten tomatoes has a 29% score which I think is absolutely ridiculous. I was surprised by how the film was constructed like a traditional horror and not like a zombie flick and I think it benefited from that. There’s a strong cast that performed well for the most part and the storyline will please plenty of resident evil fans I’m sure. The cinematography for me was one of the best elements of the film, the tone and lighting was always building tension from start to finish and fact that the whole film is set at night certainly helps this. I hope we get a sequel and that isn’t halted by the poor reviews, if you played the original games back in the day please go and give it a watch, it provides a huge sense of nostalgia. Even if you’re just looking for a cross between a jumpy horror and a zombie movie, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Don’t listen to the official ‘film critics’! 

Thanks for reading

Callan