Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Plot

Claire Redfield returns to her home, Raccoon City, to warm her brother of a vast conpsiracy. Once a booming city and formerly the home of pharmaceutical company, Umbrella Corps, the town is dying. While talking with Chris, a mysterious siren goes off and Chris gets a call to investigate a mansion in the nearby mountains. As the residents of the city become flesh eating zombies, the siblings must fight for their lives and deal with a vast conspiracy.

 

Review

A combination and reinterpretation of the video games Resident Evil 1 and 2 this movie is definitely closer to the source movie than the original franchise. This version of Raccoon City could have been a hundred different dying towns in the Rust Belt or greater Midwest. It ever kind of reminded me of my home town. 

I enjoyed the cast. Kaya Scodelario was fantastic as Claire. Hanna John-Kamen's take on Jill was interesting. I like the idea that she might be a little crazy. Tom Hopper's Wesker is definitely an original interpretation of the character, but I liked the down to earth Wesker better than the pretentious one. Donal Logue (who I didn't know was in the movie) was funny as Chief Irons. Neal McDonough plays a perfect bad guy, as usual. I was happily surprised to see Letterkenny's Nathan Dales in the movie. Robbie Amell was beefy eye candy, which lets be honest, that's what Chris is in most of the games.  

Okay, I skipped over one of the leads because I wanted to talk a little bit more. Avan Jogia's Leon S. Kennedy while a vastly different interpretation than previous versions. Yes Leon was introduced as the rookie in RE2, but he was super capable. This Leon is comedic relief. The circumstances that lead him to Raccoon City are silly he's already there and known when things start. This didn't sit well with me as some of the other changes, because Leon is my favorite protagonist in the series and is a total badass. However, when all was said and done, I liked the character in the movie. Avan Jogia did a great job of playing the clueless rookie. The fact he was easy on the eyes, might have helped. 

The effects of the movie were hit and miss. While I do like the slower transformation of the townsfolk into bio-weapons, the zombies looked lame at times. The monster CG didn't look like big budget Hollywood, though it was alright. The exception being the Licker, which I thought looked great. Lisa Trevor is thoroughly creepy and looked cool. There are some really cool shots in the movie.

The last thing I wanted to talk about are the video game Easter eggs. There are a lot. Names are dropped constantly, there's some footage of the beginnings of Umbrella that tie back to the franchise. My favorite throwback though is a line Jill has that references two of the more absurd bosses in the first game.

It's final verdict time. Do I think this was a great horror flick. Sadly I do not. I think it had a lot of great potential and sadly didn't live up to it. That being said I think it's a fun movie and I enjoyed it. I really hope it does well enough to get a sequel. 

In Your Game

Add Lickers to your Zombies! or other ST games.

Licker

Armor Class: 15

Hit Dice: 8
Move: 15
Actions: 2
Attack: Bite (1d6-1) or Claw (1d6) or Tongue (special)
Special: +5 to Toughness, bite spreads zombie virus, 
Bonuses: +5 to Melee attacks, +3 to Damage
Morale: 10
Pack Size: 1
Methods of Termination: Reduction to 0 HP

Anyone hit by the Licker's tongue attack is restrained. While restrained they have Disadvantage on all physical rolls except for trying to escape. It requires a DC 15 Str or Dex check to escape. This can be a straight stat check or skill check if players justify use of the skill.