Adapting a popular video game series into a film franchise has proven to be challenging within the realm of cinematic filmmaking with most cases proving to be misfires. Despite a few notable exceptions, most game based film adaptations have fallen short of capturing the glory days of playing their counterparts. With the Resident Evil franchise, none of the live-action films came close capturing the pure shock and terror of their classic Playstation counterparts. Burning out as a film series with the release of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2016, the popular game franchise gets its second attempt to bring the films closer to the original storyline with Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City. The latest rebooted attempt is darker, more action-packed, and overall faithful representation of the games.
Set in 1998, Raccoon City's plot explores the secrets of the mysterious Spencer Mansion and the ill-fated Raccoon City from the first two games. One thing which felt underwhelming about the 2002 Paul W.S Anderson film, was how little of the game it felt with it essentially abandoning the franchises horror aspects in exchange for embracing a more Sci-Fi tone with loose references connecting it to the games. Welcome To Raccoon City takes things further with it operating as being a more faithful adaptation, despite having scriptwriting issues. Carrying a lower budget than the previous films and resorting to old school action which may feel generic to audiences, Evil's main intent in bringing the film series closer to the games stands as being admirable. Whereas one found the Milla Jovovich series to be underwhelming, Welcome To Raccoon City aims to stay close to both the style and mood of the games with the overall experience being reasonably satisfying.
Resident Evil's cast does a strong job of breathing new life to the film series while attempting to do their game characters justice. Though they look nothing like their original counterparts, Kaya Scodelario and Avan Jogia deliver strong performances as Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy. Scodelario makes for a serviceably tough female lead, whose investigating the Umbrella corporation with Jogia being believable as a clumsy rookie whose essentially viewed as being inexperienced by his peers. Hannah John-Kamen does well with her part as Jill Valentine, member of the STARS alpha team and partner of Claire's brother Chris. Robbie Amell is convincing as Chris Redfield, Claire's estranged older brother, whose dispatched to inspect the Spencer mansion. Both Donal Logue and Tom Hopper give impressive performances with Logue stealing the show as Raccoon City's Police Chief Brian, and Hopper as STARS Alpha Team member Albert, whose revealed to be working as a double agent for a rival company. Other noteworthy performances include Neal McDonough in a typecasted role as William Birkin, one of the Umbrella's experiments leaders. Evil's cast definitely make the most of what their given, while adding to the films level of suspense.
Evil's directing by Johannes Roberts is effective in recapturing the desolate feel of the games while keeping things fast-paced and the violence on the level of being ultra-gory with effectively scary sound effects. Some of the films most shocking bits include violence against animals (A Dog, bird, cow, and dragonfly), as well as the showing of a person on fire. The cinematography is well-handled with the film appearing impressively atmospheric with the usage of dark corridors, including key shots of the Spencer mansion and Raccoon City Police Station sets, that give stunning throwback moments to the games. The film carries an effective soundtrack, which appropriately fits the stories 90's setting with the pacing never letting up throughout the films 107 minute running time. Along with the films breathtaking set designs, the creature designs are unquestionably impressive, particularly the iconic Licker from the games. Roberts gives the story the perfect visual appearance that beautifully compliments that of the games. Here, he aims for a look and style of the first two games that's undeniable, with the results being hugely satisfying.
Resident Evil's writing however, comes across as feeling generic with zero risks being taken here. Most of the characters lack true depth, although Claire and Leon receive a fair amount of development. The latter is portrayed as a bumbling cop who likes to drink with him scripted as being the films comic relief. Claire is written as being an estranged individual with a backstory showing her in an orphanage, and ultimately escaping from Dr. Birkin upon being selected to be experimented on for scientific research. Other characters like Wesker and jock are portrayed as being stereotypical with the former being a jock, and the latter being an expert at firing a gun. The script throws out fun references like Hollywood Video or Blockbuster to emphasize the films 90's setting. The writing attempts to combine the storylines of the first two games with the results being mixed. On one hand, it makes the film feel more true to the games than Jovovich's series with the other making it feel crammed despite its relatively short running time. To cover the plot of both games, a much longer running time is required in order to do it complete justice. As commendable as the new Resident Evil's efforts are in following the originals storyline, the writing still feels uninspired and lacking at times.
If the end goal was to bring the series closer to the games, then Resident Evil succeeds in doing so. The film is made with profound admiration for the series and carries enough Easter eggs to please the most ardent fans. Though not perfect and contains numerous faults, Welcome To Raccoon City passes as being decent popcorn entertainment that's well-intentioned but required stronger filmmakers to fully realize the material to its fullest potential. As a reboot of the series, it offers a path forward that's closer to what was originally desired in 2002. It's not a fantastic video game film adaptation, but it gets the job done in delivering a heavy dose of 90's nostalgia for fans of the series.
Final Verdict: Worth a watch if you're a fan of the series.
Images Courtesy Of Screen Gems
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