Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

When I heard about the recent version of Resident Evil a thought crossed my mind: "Didn't this happen already?"  I wasn't a huge fan of Paul W. S. Anderson's original series of films but each one was enjoyable.  Definitely not great movie making, but they entertained, even if they had little to do with the games.  They managed to tell a story of sorts and, after they ended, I frequently heard about the possibility of a reboot.  I didn't remember anything about it until Zach Cregger's movie came out this year.

What surprised me is that Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was already five years old.  2021 was a year when many movies were still coming out on streaming due to the COVID-19 pandemic and those were by and large films that were already completed before the shutdown in 2020 and the writers' strike shortly afterward.  It is no surprise that a reboot to a series that was more of a cult phenomenon would slip through the cracks, especially one that got savaged by critics and the public alike.  What surprised me is that, for all of its bad reputation, it is still not a terrible movie. 

Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) and her brother Chris (Robbie Amell) both spent their early years at the Raccoon City Orphanage, run by William Birkin (Neal McDonough).  Claire returns years later as Umbrella Corporation, the pharmaceutical company that is the center of industry in Raccoon City, is shutting down, taking the town with it.  She returns after discovering that Umbrella has been hiding something big and, unfortunately, that something has just escaped a secret underground lab. 

People in the town start turning into raging zombies as do other animals that are affected.  While Umbrella shuts down the town and prepares to wipe it off the map, along with any evidence of their wrongdoing, the surviving police force led by Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen) and Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper) investigate a mansion connected with Umbrella for clues.  Meanwhile, Claire teams up with rookie police officer Leon (Avan Jogia) to reunited with her brother, now a policeman investigating along with Valentine.  Meanwhile Birkin puts his family at risk to rescue the last evidence of his life's work.

In some ways this feels more like what the games are purported to be.  Like the recent Resident Evil it incorporations point-of-view shots that feel like they are from the game, and things escalate similar to how they would.  The effects are not too bad, and some of the more creative monsters are brought to life, as are sets to more accurately portray Raccoon City as shown in the games.  A number of plot points are taken from various entries in the series as well.

Most of the cast are unknowns with the exception of Hannah John-Kamen and Donal Logue.  They are all traditionally handsome or beautiful save for Logue as Chief Irons, lending the usual uncanniness that permeates a lot of Hollywood films.  None are given any heavy lifting in the acting category nor are the characters themselves given any major backstory other than Claire.  It is understandable that, with many of the people onscreen being unremarkable and interchangeable, that this led to a certain bland disdain for the movie.  

Despite this I found that the film contained enough action to make it enjoyable without filling it up with too much plot.  Director Johannes Roberts is a big fan of John Carpenter and portions of the movie reminded me of Assault on Precinct 13, just on a larger scale.  It also has some of the same pacing as a Carpenter film, many of which stripped everything down to the barest of story elements and instead dwelt on how to solve the problem.  I went into this movie not expecting much but it managed to deliver what it promised.

Again, it is an adaptation of Resident Evil, and even Zach Creggar didn't bother to make a major artistic statement in his version.  Rather, the game was escapist entertainment, and so are all the movies it inspired.  At that Welcome to Raccoon City succeeds in ways many of the films in the previous series did not. 

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Time: 107 minutes

Starring: Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, Neal McDonough

Director: Johannes Roberts