The ideas are good, but the runtime is too short
Early reviews for Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City are out, and to put it simply, it’s an improvement. After the movies we had been getting all these years, it was good to see the main characters of the franchise finally take centre stage.
Pluses and minuses
The lore for the Resident Evil franchise is rich. However, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City comes no way close to it. Newcomers will enjoy to a certain extent, but as a fan, it will be better to go with very low expectations. There is no horror that will make you arch back in horror, the dialogues are not good, and the characters are not fleshed out either.
Two storylines are explored, adapted from the first two games. One part of it focuses on Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), and Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper). The trio are investigating the Spencer Mansion. On the other hand, we have Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) and Leon Kennedy (Avan Jogia), trying to escape Raccoon City, which has been rigged to blow.
The cast do a fine job, but in Leon’s case, his background had some changes. Similar to his first appearance in RE2, he’s a rookie cop in ‘Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City’ as well. But in this, he’s not very good at his job, and is often made fun of the most. Leon fans will be especially disappointed. The movie is not as dark as we thought.
Biggest drawback
Nothing disappoints further than combining two game plots into one movie, and slapping a 107-minute run time onto it. Also, the movie has a post-credit scene that teases a possible future if the movie turns out to be successful.
Overall, director Johannes Roberts did an okay-ish job. The titular Raccoon City, the police, the after effects of the Umbrella Corporation had all been done well. But ‘Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City,’ was rushed, and we do not feel any particular attachment to any characters. It will be better if they made it slightly bigger, and focused more on the evil. It’s Resident Evil, after all.
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