Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Starring Kayla Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Avan Jogia
Directed by Johannes Roberts

We all know by now that movies based off video games have a very lackluster history, to say the least. Possibly one of the more "passable" movies of this subgenre was Paul W.S. Anderson's "Resident Evil" back in 2002, but even that's a bit of a stretch. Yet compared to the multitude of sequels he directed with his wife Milla Jovovich as the lead role of Alice, a character created solely for the films, and it didn't really follow the video game format its namesake was given, especially with the later sequels. When "47 Meters Down" director Johannes Roberts decided to reboot the franchise, he decided to ditch the cinematic story and return to the roots of the "Resident Evil" video game series, making "Welcome to Raccoon City" more of a fan service than anything else - by spanning the stories of the first two video games and including well-known characters from those games, he set out to make a truly adaptable movie based on the video game franchise - and proves that sometimes even doing this will result in stuff getting lost in translation.

After running away from the orphanage at Raccoon City as a young girl, Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) returns to the town that the Umbrella Corporation built in order to warn her brother, Chris (Robbie Amell), that the Umbrella Corporation is up to no good and experimenting on the children at the orphanage. Chris doesn't believe her, but when the sirens sound, he heads off to investigate, leaving Claire at his house alone. She's soon attacked by a neighbor who's lost her hair, has blood coming from her eyes, and exhibits a carnal nature.  She heads down to the police precinct but instead of finding Chris, finds new recruit Leon Kennedy and the police chief who are trying to keep a gang of sick citizens out of the station.

Chris and his fellow officers Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), and others were sent by the chief to the Spencer Mansion to investigate a murder, and discover the mansion is overrun with cannibalistic humans who attack them. Deep within the Spencer Mansion lies the truth of the Umbrella Corporation, and as Claire, Leon and the chief make their way there, they must survive the night before the Umbrella Corporation decimates the entire town.

"Welcome to Raccoon City" is solely a fan service film for those who grew up with the iconic games, as it splits the stories from the first two games by splitting up the action taking place on screen. The Spencer Mansion was the setting for the first game, while the RPD is the setting for the second, and both replicas look almost identical to their video game counterparts, so much so I was surprised I didn't see floating med kits or ammo stashes laying around. Roberts did an excellent job in re-creating the locations and provided an exciting setting as it takes place entirely at night, with little light to go on, and helped to amp up the action.

The film also focuses on the characters that we've come to know, love, and play as as the series evolved. Claire Redfield, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, and Leon Kennedy are household names when it comes to the franchise, and it was cool to see them finally get their on-screen due.

The action is intense and wild, from a helicopter flying into a building to deadly shootouts with zombies with only the light of a lighter to guide their way. The effects were decent enough to establish the main villains from the video games to the big screen, and although they sometimes looked a bit cartoony (especially the main villain), they also were exciting to see on the big screen as well.

The film has a runtime of under two hours, which is great because it doesn't overstay its welcome compared to other movies recently. It knows what it wants, sets out to accomplish it as quickly as possible, and doesn't leave a lot of downtime for the viewers to get bored.

The performances don't really lend to anything other than people playing video game characters. Kaya Scodelario looks bored throughout the film as she effortlessly blasts her way through hordes of undead while giving the thin expositional dialogue. Robbie Amell has absolutely no depth at all to Chris, other than being Claire's older brother, having a tighter connection with Umbrella, and generally not really knowing what's going on. Hannah John-Kamen gives Jill the badass service she deserves, but doesn't delve any deeper than the fact that she's an expert shot and fearless.  Avan Jogia's Leon is simply the film's comedic relief, a bumbling lovable fool who manages to slip his way through impossible situations. Through and through, these would be forgettable characters for anyone who's never played the games before.

While the film served as a fan service for those who played the games, for those who never picked up a controller, they wouldn't really know what was going on due to a surprisingly thin story. Umbrella Corporation bad. City go boom by 6 am. Kill multiple zombies in dark, claustrophobic locations. Get out before city go boom. We never really know what the Umbrella Corporation was planning (despite talking about creating super soldiers, but there has to be more than that), and the story doesn't really lend to any in-depth investigations. Yet that's not what's needed for a film like this - it merely serves as a way to escape reality and enjoy some good ole-fashioned blood and guts being spewed on the screen, and maybe will re-ignite your desire to return to the video games that inspired the film.

Some movies exist merely to entertain the audience in mindless ways, and in that respect "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" serves its purpose - it's an entertaining horror action film that's a major fan service to those who played the game, while not overstaying its welcome.

The Score: B