Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City Review (Written By Tarek Jad)

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City takes full inspiration from its videogames having Kaya Scodelario and Avan Jogia fight against the undead, the complete reboot to the most popular videogame film series.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is the latest instalment to the Resident Evil film series based on the Japanese video game franchise by Capcom. Knowing this is a complete reboot to the series had me expecting the exact formulaic copy and paste style previously created by Paul W. S. Anderson. However, to my surprise, I was pleasantly shocked to witness a unique zombie period piece that expands on its beloved videogame characters. Unlike past iterations, this I feel is the most accurate adaptation to its source material. In all previous films, we follow covert operative Alice played by Milla Jovovich, who is the face of the franchise and only made for the movies (not in the Resident Evil games), but Director and Writer Johannes Roberts chose to create a narrative separate without the famous protagonist. Welcome to Raccoon City's cast includes Kaya Scodelario, Avan Jogia, Hannah John-Kamen, and Robbie Amell. 

While the film is enjoyable at times, it is not perfect. Johannes Robert's creative choice to write characters from both of the first two videogames causes the plot to be disorganized. The combination gives into fan service and makes the story not as refined because of it. Kaya's performance as Claire Redfield is reserved and almost lacks emotion at times. The script did no favours in breaking the boundaries for her performance. 

The film truly feels different as it chooses to go against the previous films in the franchises. Compared to 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Welcome to Raccoon City's look and world-building is truly more cinematic. The entire movie is done with hard lighting and complemented with a unique range of colour palettes. Unlike the wave of grey CGI corpses from the Final Chapter, the zombies make up/effects in Welcome to Raccoon City appear very realistic. Unfortunately, compared to the thrill you get from playing the games, it isn't awe-inspiring. 

For being the 7th film in the series and rebooting the entire franchise, this is my favourite movie from the franchise. Unlike the previous predecessor Paul W. S. Anderson, Johannes Roberts gave the fans what they wanted. This story chooses to expand on the original game lore and hint towards future plotlines on the big screen. The resident evil series has been able to stay afloat although the constant negative criticisms regarding their films. Viewers will be happy to see this new approach to the series to create a new foundation for the franchise. The post-credit scene teases for a sequel, and I hope it gets it.