RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY—Evil Doesn’t Die Tonight
The straightforward video game adaptation proves solidly entertaining
Over the course of his epic six-film Resident Evil series, Paul W.S. Anderson defied the odds and elevated the video game adaptation to great art. For its complex, operatic storyline and impeccable visual flair, the saga won Anderson the adoration of Vulgar Auteurism devotees, but simultaneously earned him the scorn of many gamers who felt that the director’s films neglected the source material. There is truth to this complaint: Anderson picked and chose which elements of the games he liked, mixing them together to make the Resident Evil universe his own. Though many recognizable characters did appear, the series’ lead, Alice (Milla Jovovich, Anderson’s wife), was invented for the films. Alice’s journey came to a triumphant close with 2016’s eye-popping Resident Evil: The Last Chapter. As the movies were always profitable, Sony immediately began work on a reboot. Five years later, we have Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, a far more reverent spin that fully embraces the material’s survival horror roots. The result is a big, stupid B-movie that provides thrills and successfully captures its desired tone.
Welcome to Raccoon City pieces together its narrative from the first two Resident Evil games, classics of the mid- to late-90s PlayStation days. It takes place in Raccoon City, a nearly abandoned ghost town where Big Pharma empire Umbrella Corporation once based its headquarters. Raised in a local orphanage and narrowly escaped being used for medical experiments, Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) returns to find the city in poverty and extreme disarray. Her brother Chris (Robbie Amell) is now a cop working alongside Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen) as a member of the STARS Alpha Team, and they soon find themselves investigating the creepy Spencer Mansion.
Director Johannes Roberts, responsible for the sleek and terrifying sequel The Strangers: Prey at Night, is an appropriate choice to take the Resident Evil films in a survival horror direction. Roberts has spoken about being inspired by John Carpenter during the making of Welcome to Raccoon City, and although it would be a stretch to compare this reboot to Carpenter’s signature works, it is nice for Roberts to aspire to such greatness in helming what could have easily been a half-assed paycheck gig. He squeezes every penny from the $25 million budget, crafting a film with more impressive visual effects than many films that cost considerably more. Rest assured, the gore is both great and plentiful.
Eager to please longtime fans, the script is chockfull of references to the game series, which is sometimes welcome and other times cringe-inducing, with the “Jill Sandwich” homage falling into the latter category. As silly as the dialogue can be, the story and atmosphere generate real scares, perhaps more so than the Anderson films, which progressively emphasized action over horror. The actors—while unlikely to be placed in Oscar consideration anytime soon—are appealingly cast. A reliable leading woman to anchor this potential new franchise, Scodelario’s Claire has the same badass energy as the protagonist she played in Alexandre Aja’s 2019 hurricane horror Crawl. Although barely resembling the Leon S. Kennedy of the games, Avan Jogia makes for a very fun cinematic incarnation of the rookie cop. Should there be a future film based on Resident Evil 4, his acting skills will receive more of a test.
The framework for a second series of Resident Evil movies is nicely established in Welcome to Raccoon City, a shameless piece of fan service that somehow manages to be a reasonably enjoyable horror throwback to the 1990s time period during which it is set. No, this is not an Anderson film in either style or execution, but it offers its own distinct vibe rooted in existing Resident Evil mythology, and that itself proves valuable. Stay for the mid-credits scene, which hints at promising developments to come.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is now playing in theaters.
