I loved “Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City,” it was an awesome film! However, as a fan of the video-games, there’s some aspects I hated.
Since this film is an adaptation of the game franchise, “Resident Evil,” it tried to be more accurate than the previous film adaptation in 2002. For the record, they tried to combine “Resident Evil,” “Resident Evil 2,” and “Resident Evil 3” into one plot.
I loved the graphics that were replicated almost to a T from the games, and the score by Mark Korven (“The Witch,” “The Lighthouse”) is amazing.
For scenes, such as when the truck-driver is driving straight towards the R.P.D. headquarters, they’re accentuated by intense, edge-of-the-seat terror. Other scenes have an eerie drop or blow that is jump-scare forte, some are haunting yet epic.
Plus, as corny as the original game’s dialogue was, the S.T.A.R.S. (The Special Tactics and Rescue Service) had a legitimate sense of camaraderie that endeared players to otherwise flat characters.
The filmmakers give no care to how the S.T.A.R.S. try to overcome a seemingly hopeless situation. Even Barry (the jovial family man of the original game) has been completely removed in order to cram plot-points from all three games.
With this tight, condensed plot, the film is rushed, and characters are so indifferent to the game that it’s laughable…in a bad way.
Here’s some parallels to the games. There’s a semi-truck driver, an orphanage, the R.P.D. (Raccoon Police Department), and the Spencer Mansion in the Arklay Mountains.
Including accurate locations alone makes the film look great, but the flaws of combining three plots into one, overshadow this.
Now here’s three main plot points comparing the movie to the games.
The explanation to how the town becomes infected, is that the Umbrella Corporation tainted the water supply with the T-Virus, slowly infecting everyone.
Some folks, however, such as Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia, “Victorious”), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper, “The Umbrella Academy”), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen, “Ant-Man and the Wasp”), Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell “The Tomorrow People”), and Brad Vickers (Nathan Dales, “”Letterkenny”) were hinted to probably have taken a vaccine without knowing.
That’s one plot point: how the town got infected.
In the original [game], the Alpha team, Valentine, Wesker, Redfield, Vickers (along with two characters not in the film, Barry Burton and Joseph Frost) were sent to Spencer Mansion.
Bravo team was investigating a series of murders and cannibalism. Alpha team was sent to investigate Bravo team’s disappearance.
As the second plot point, this is the same case. The Alpha team is sent to Spencer Mansion, and this is simultaneously happening as Raccoon City is decaying.
The second game takes place two months later, featuring Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario, “The Maze Runner”) as the main characters. The third game takes place a little before two, then concurrently. In the game, the town was already in massive shambles.
The third plot point focuses on the main characters as they try to survive the chaos and anarchy of a crumbling Raccoon City.
There’s one major problem with this film’s characters. They’re completely different from their original video game counterparts.
One of the most noticeably different characters is Kennedy. The fun, wisecracking ladies man we loved in “Resident Evil 4” has been discarded and replaced by an oblivious, lowlife, rookie cop.
Instead of a stone cold traitor, Wesker has been reduced to an embarrassing flirt. Valentine fills in as his reciprocating flirt companion.
Chris has heart eyes for Valentine, but he’s also not the most compelling guy. You could say his backstory is cliche, which takes direction the moment his sister ran away.
Since then, they’ve been disconnected and he didn’t welcome her with open arms when she came home. He’s the good guy soldier with beef against his sister, not believing her warnings about Umbrella.
Scodelario was a fine actress for Claire, but her persona is less upbeat.
Besides Claire and Ada Wong (Lily Gao, “Chapelwaite”), most of the actors fail to match their characters in appearance as well as personality. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Compare their images and see for yourself.
However, since Lily Gao’s Ada Wong was only teased in a mid-credits scene, I am yet to judge her performance.
Then, of course, the altered backgrounds and other plot points among the characters, including the “love triangle” between Wesker, Valentine, and Chris. It would’ve made sense if Kennedy and Claire had chemistry, but in the film they didn’t.
It’s rather disappointing because of how out-of-character it is. It begs the question if we will see Kennedy have a thing for Wong in the future sequel, just like the games.
Overall, while it has its upsides, I hated the character alterations. Kaya Scodelario was a great candidate for Claire Redfield, but her personality wasn’t. As for the others, their personalities and physique did not accurately resemble the game characters.
Get your tickets to see “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” here!
With that said, I hope my insight has enlightened you and I’d love to talk about things horror and more! If you’d like to see more of my content or would like to contact me, you can find me on Instagram or Twitter. You may also email me at jrnw99@gmail.com if you prefer.
About Post Author
