Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Starring: Kaya Scodelario, Robbie Amell, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, Donal Logue, Neal McDonough, Lily Gao, Chad Rook, Pat Thornton, Marina Mazepa
Directed by: Johannes Roberts
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The residents of Raccoon City must fight for survival when a deadly pathogen is accidentally released by the Umbrella Corporation.

Review:

Tim: I truly believe the Resident Evil franchise is capable of a very good (if not great movie). I'm only slightly familiar with the games- I think I played just a bit of the first one. I know enough to know the story is effective enough that in the right hands, could be a really entertaining movie. Paul W.S. Anderson never achieved that with his not-faithful series starring Milla Jovovich. They made six movies together (Anderson directed four) and while they had their moments, I wouldn't call even a single one of them good. They had entertaining aspects, but were ultimately not very effective. So, there was some legitimate hope that Johannes Roberts could reboot this franchise and get us there. It started out promising enough- this movie is a much more faithful adaptation of the video games and it prioritized horror over the over-the-top action of the first six films in the franchise.

And yet, despite all this, Roberts delivers a film that fits perfectly in with the first six movies- namely, a lackluster, forgettable, generic movie. It almost shocks me how ineffective this movie is. This franchise literally had six movies to learn from. Yes, the setting has changed. Yes, it follows the video games more closely. However, it felt like Roberts was far more interested in including a bunch of pointless video game Easter eggs than telling an effective story. This felt like a total phone in job. It's an okay movie- it has a few decent moments, but it fails to improve on the last three films of the franchise. If you reboot a franchise and the reboot is just as poor as the previous movies, you can't claim that to be anything besides a failure.

The thing about this movie is that it easily could have worked. I liked the setting in Raccoon City, the prioritization of horror, the more enclosed, narrow focus of the story. The problems are many, though. First off, for a film that focuses on horror, the movie is surprisingly not scary. Yes, there are some gross, disturbing body horror moments. But seeing an eyeball grow out of someone's shoulder, while disgusting, doesn't make for a great horror movie. There are some decent moments- the scene in the mansion with the lighter was especially well done (for this movie, it could have been dozens of times better), but as a whole, the movie never really capitalizes on the pieces here. I contrast this movie with Silent Hill- a video game adaptation that while flawed, created an incredibly spooky atmosphere. That never happens here and there's no excuse for it, other than Roberts just didn't get it done. The setting is a bit miss here- some of the game locations make appearances, but the film is missing the atmosphere of the games that was so frightening.

I know fans of the games criticized the casting, but I think for the wrong reasons. I read that some didn't like the casting of Kaya Scodelario for being too old to play Claire? I don't know. I like Scodelario and I thought she was exceptionally well cast. The problem isn't the casting, it's the fact that we never spend much time on character development. Claire felt like an interchangeable character. She could have been anyone. We never establish any emotional connection with her. I mostly enjoyed what she did here- Scodelario gave a decent performance, she just didn't have much to work with. The same can be said of Robbie Amell. I thought his performance was good, but the writing, dialogue, and lack of character development ruined his character. I didn't care about Chris, nor whether he lived or died. Part of the problem is that the cast is too big for a 1 hour, 47 minute film. We don't spend nearly enough time with Scodelario and Amell. We see their characters in flashbacks, but we don't get to know them as adults. That hurts the movie immensely.

The other issue is that the supporting cast isn't that great. I honestly have no idea what people see in Hannah John-Kamen. She was boring and forgettable in Ant Man and the Wasp and here again, she makes Jill Valentine about as exciting as a cardboard box. She has no charisma, low talent and is just a total waste of screen time. I'm sorry, but someone has to say it. Tom Hopper actually brought a lot of charisma to his character. He's not a great actor, but he's serviceable and while his character was too predictable, he was fun to watch on screen. Avan Jogia gives a strong performance, but he gets far too little screen time. I don't even remember his character's name and I didn't know it while I was watching the film. He needed more time and character development (and fewer cringe-worthy lines of dialogue). Donal Logue and Neal McDonough are always enjoyable and they played their roles well. I had fun watching them slum it here and while they deserved better material, they did elevate what they had to work with. As a whole, though, Roberts doesn't fully leverage his cast.

In the end, while there are fun moments sprinkled throughout the film, it ultimately just doesn't work. The dialogue is bad. The lack of character development ensures the movie never hits our emotions. The action is fine, the visuals are decent, but there's nothing special about them. There's no compelling atmosphere or reason to care about this movie. Not a surprise, the movie was a box office disappointment. It's time to let this franchise sit on the shelf for a while until someone more talented (sorry, Johannes Roberts) can figure out how to make a good movie with these pieces. It's absolutely possible.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Resident Evil, Silent Hill, The Maze Runner, Crawl