Everything About Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, The New Movie in Town That’s Getting Bad Reviews

When it comes to the modern-day survival horror-zombie-apocalypse, Resident Evil can be said to be one of the most iconic progenitors of the genre.

First starting out as a game in Japan, it has since gone on to spawn live-action films, animated films, television series, comic books and even audio dramas.

After all, who can forget the scene where a burly, manly soldier was cut into square chunks of meat by lasers? Definitely not me, to my eternal horror.

So when you hear that there’s a new movie in town on the Resident Evil franchise? You know you have to catch it.

Unfortunately, it seems that the movie might have fallen short of expectations.

We’ll get to that, but first, the movie itself.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a 2021 reboot of the Resident Evil film series.

Adapted from the stories of the first and second Resident Evil games, it is the seventh live-action film in the franchise.

Pre-production for the film started as early as 2017 (early-2017, in fact), while another movie in the franchise, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was still screening in cinemas.

Plot

The movie is set in 1998 and it explores the secrets of the Spencer Mansion and the unfortunate Raccoon City.

Once a booming city housing the pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, it’s now a dying midwestern town. The leaving of the company left the town a dying wasteland with a great evil brewing below the surface.

When the great evil finally reached the tipping point and explodes out into the world, a group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it out alive.

A Darker Movie

Johannes Robert, the writer and director of the movie, said he wanted it to have a “darker” tone:

“The big thing for me in this film is the tone. What I loved about the games was that they were just scary, and that’s a lot of what I wanted, that atmosphere. It’s raining constantly, it’s dark, it’s scary, Raccoon City is a rotten character.”

The movie, he explained, will be split into two main locations.

The first will be at Spencer Mansion, the setting for the first game.

The second is the Raccoon Police Department, which made its first appearance in Resident Evil 2.

The tone of the second game—constant darkness, the rain, the atmosphere and the look—was chosen as the model for the entire film.

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Filmed During The Pandemic

So, now, you’re wondering, when was this movie filmed?

Well, turns out, it’s in the midst of this global pandemic that we’re experiencing.

Casting was carried out in early 2020 but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While final casting details were to be announced in March 2020, it was only announced in October that year.

The filming started on 17 Oct 2020 and was completed by 24 Dec 2020.

In May 2021, however, some of the scenes had to be reshot in Toronto.

Reception

The film, which had its release dates delayed for over two months, finally screened in cinemas (in the US) on 24 Nov 2021, and in Singapore yesterday (2 Dec 2021).

Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone appreciates the movie.

On Rotton Tomatoes, critics gave the movie an average rating of 4.9 out of 10.

The consensus they had towards the movie was that it was a “faithful adaptation” of the original series, which showcases how “ill-suited” the source material is “for the big screen”.

Movie-goers, on the other hand, were more generous with their reviews.

They gave an average of 3.7 out of 5 and said it’ll be a satisfying experience for long-time fans of the games.

A similar situation played out on Metacritic as well.

Giving an average of 44 out of 100, critics took issue with how overstuffed the film was with characters and plots, leaving no room for them to grow.

Meanwhile, users gave it a 3.8 out of 5; some thought the CGI was bad but the storyline was okay while others felt that remaining too true to the source material was a bad choice.

Overall, it seems that people familiar with the Resident Evil franchise would enjoy the movie, while those who are not would just be confused.

Decide For Yourself

But ultimately, just like food reviews, these are just opinions expressed by people of different tastes.

If you’re curious about how the movie will turn out for you, why not check it out for yourself?

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is now screening in cinemas, and it is available in Golden Village, Shaw Cinema, Cathay and WE Cinema.

Basically, everywhere.

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Feature Image: Resident Evil Wiki / IGN