Resident Evil : Bienvenue à Raccoon City

Like many long time fans of the games, I was certainly not impressed by the trailer for this film. While I was pleased to see plenty of faithful references to the games (Itchy, Tasty, Lisa Trevor) I immediately got the impression that this would be a loosely based take on the first two Resident Evil games.

I can't say I hated this movie, necessarily. There seemed to be some effort at capturing the spirit of the games, and unlike the usual Resident Evil movies, this one seemed like it was trying to be scary. Atmosphere and tone were relatively good. Director Johannes Roberts said he wanted Raccoon City to feel bleak and deserted, and he definitely succeeded, for the most part. Some of the sets felt genuine and right out of the games. Then other moments just suffered. The famous foyer of the mansion and the lobby of the police department looked like poorly rendered cgi images! Plus there were a few moments where it felt like it was trying to tell you it was a "video game movie," which sadly came across as silly. At some points this film felt like a tribute to movies like The Shining. At other points it felt like an Uwe Boll flick.

All of the monster action is fun enough. This movie offers a different take on the spread of the virus, opting for a slow spread of the zombie infection (Hey, there's something up with your eye!) as opposed to arriving and finding the city overrun with zombies. I thought that was interesting enough.

Unfortunately, the movie suffers from pacing and writing issues. The more you think about it after seeing it, the less it will make sense. Some things are over explained, or not explained enough. Plus there are many deviations from the story of the video games. Normally this should be expected, but I suspect that many fans will find some of them to be intentionally done, and there by off putting, if not insulting. I'll be the first to tell you that the movie could have done without the subplot about Clair and Chris's childhood.

Cast wise it was ok enough. I know the internet certainly bashed the casting choices, but they did what they could. The script wasn't always kind to them though, which led to some cringy moments here and there. (What's a chat room?!?) Leon being the object of lots of comic relief was certainly distracting. We get it. He's a rookie!

So if you're like me and go into it with low expectations, maybe you'll have fun. Just don't think too hard about it. If you're a long time fan of the game franchise and bummed out, fortunately for you the remake of the Resident Evil 2 game was awesome!

Welcome to Raccoon City is rather a bore and letdown. How one can make of such material such a bore feast, I dunno. The movies by Anderson starring Milla are not perfect but masterpieces compared to this reboot or whatever it is. I also don't remember that the games are such dragging and boring affairs - this is my note to all of those who boldly claim that Raccoon City is true to the games. There are a few well done creepy scenes but there is too much stuff I don't like: that cop Leon for example, the whole city is on alert and he just sleeps at the reception. The scene with the helicopter pilot at the mansion too, just silly - nobody would play a game in such a moment. So my issues are: all those moments of comedy, some characters act out of place. All in all a movie that meanders between bad and mediocre, and that fails in too many aspects to satisfy, and really does not add anything new, better or special to the franchise.

People often hate on Paul W. S. Anderson Resident Evil films but this reboot makes the first 3 of his RE films look way better. This film just seemed so unnecessary at its announcement and now after watching it seems that even the director/writer believed that too. The story tries to follow the plot of the original video game at first and continues to do so decently until the end but tapers off somewhat in the end. Visually it's highly entertaining and possesses some moments that do have commendable aspects, but story and acting just doesn't help it overall. There are times of cgi that come off laughable and so sloppy, it makes you want the early to mid 2000s practical effects utilized way more in WS anderson RE films. The film has some fan service that is sure to please the die hards but overall just seems forced and rushed.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" (2021) is video an adaptation of 2 great video games "Resident Evil" and "Resident Evil 2". This movie smashes plots of both games into 1 movie. That wouldn't be a problem if the writing and directing were solid. In this movie's case, they are not. Writing and directing of this movie were pretty bad in my opinion. And performances were very forgettable, but you can't blame the actors much. I didn't like what they did with Leon character - he was more like a clown and comical dumb sidekick then game based character.

Overall, "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" is a poor movie. Its not a terrible one, there are some scenes that do work mostly in third act, but as a whole its a massive disappointment. It just shows that it is not as easy to make a good movie based on video games as it looks like. You can't just recreate the plot. You have to make a good movie, and as there two media's are very opposite they require different skills and techniques to engage the view or gamer. This movie unfortunately failed to do so.

A decent Resident Evil movie with some gore, cheap jump scares and a lot of fan-service. Not everything clicks and it's incredibly easy to be overly critical of this movie but in my opinion it was certainly a lot better than the trash that was Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. I grabbed some popcorn, candy and a coke with my expectations firmly in check and I had a decent overall time. I'm a big fan of schlocky B-movies and it's nice to see something in theatres that isn't related to superheroes or overly-serious dramas. What I didn't like the most though was how Leon was portrayed but I guess that's because I got done playing RE4 on the oculus and I'm used to that representation of him.

After watching Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City I read a lot of the reviews on IMDB and the only reviews being liked are from people who bombed the film. Are people really that desperate to hate on a movie they haven't seen? What are your expectations going into a Resident Evil movie if you have seen it?