When Sony announced that it would relaunch the live-action Resident Evil series, I was cautious, but after watching the first trailer, I was impressed and wanted to see what director Johannes Roberts would present to us. Unfortunately, as a horror movie, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a big disappointment.
In fact, the film sometimes feels more like a comedy to me, less intimidating. Although there are some good ideas in the film, but suffering from the mediocre level of screenwriters, it has not been able to portray the character image more fully. In addition, the pace of the third act is rather rushed, and as a fan of this series, I said I would not watch it again.
The plot of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is based on the plot of the first two Resident Evil games, and part of the story will focus on Chris Redfield (Robbie Amer), Jill Valentine (Hannah Jon Carmen) and Albert Wesker (Tom Hooper) exploring the mansion; the other part will focus on Leon Kennedy (Awan Joja) and Claire Redfield (Kaya Horber) as they explore the mansion; the other part will focus on Leon Kennedy (Awan Joja) and Claire Redfield (Kaya Horber). Skodario) the experience of the two escaping before being bombed by a nuclear bomb in Raccoon City.
The cast is not a big problem, and each actor's performance is very suitable for their corresponding role. In addition, the scene at the end of the film is definitely hinting that we will see more characters in the future, provided there is a sequel.
Despite Awan Jogja's excellent performance, Leon's character portrayal in the script is still not in place. His identity background has changed a bit, but he's still positioned as the new cop from Resident Evil 2 (in that game, he was on his first day at work).
However, in most scenes with Lyon, he either behaves extremely incompetent or appears rather ridiculous, and if you are a fan of Lyon, you may feel particularly frustrated and annoyed. I can convince myself of his "inexperience" to accept all this, but too many jokes can quickly get boring, not to mention that the audience was expecting a darker, scarier movie.
When I watched the movie, my biggest fear was that it would stitch the plot of the two games together, and it turned out that 107 minutes was really not enough, and by the third act, the whole rhythm became extremely rushed. In other words, I never wanted to go through the plot of the first two games in its entirety, because there was no need at all, and you could always go online and search for all the cutscenes.
Although the whole film feels bland, and they try to cram so much plot to make the audience feel a little "indigestion", the spirit of director Roberts is commendable, because he tries to create more than Paul Roberts. W· Any of S. Anderson's titles in the series are closer to the game's films. But I still think it might be more realistic if people were more focused on telling the story of a game than trying to insert all the key plot points in a short period of time.
The main background of the story (i.e. Raccoon City) is actually quite interestingly shaped. In the first act, Roberts portrays Raccoon City as an economically chaotic and decaying town where powerful and influential Umbrella Companies developed medicines and weapons that led to a series of tragedies that followed. The film's atmosphere and several scenes focus on the city itself, really helping to bring a fresher look to this fictional region. However, the director still did a lot of blank treatment, and it would be better if he could see more portrayals of Raccoon City.
In some cases, we have seen not only the impact of the umbrella on the town, but also the impact of the company on the local people's livelihood. For example, the walls of the Raccoon City orphanage are full of propaganda posters, and the Raccoon City Police Department has left only a small number of people due to budget cuts, which are clever ways to enrich the background setting. But I'm eager to see more descriptions of the city before its destruction, after all, the existence of the umbrella is actually a double-edged sword.
As for the film's theme, it's true that there will be a fair number of zombies on the screen (and some other mutant monsters that anyone who has played the game can recognize), but don't expect many thrilling fights and horrific killings. There is no shortage of tense and exciting plots in the film, but if you expect to see the high frequency of zombie battles here, you will be disappointed.
It's a good idea to introduce some of the enemies from older games into the movie, like Lisa Trevo, a boss in the 2002 game Resident Evil HD Remake. Although she is a by-product of the Umbrella Company's brutal experiments and is arguably the most tragic character in the entire series, her time in the film is simply so short that even if the character is completely deleted, it will not have much impact on the entire plot.
By the second act, when the infected began to take over the city, they were surprisingly incapacitated. I did see a wave of zombies pouring into the gates of the police station, but it was a bit disappointing not to see infected people scurrying around in this chaotic city. Of course, Resident Evil 2's main focus is on the police station and other areas, but this seems to be a missed opportunity to show the destruction of the city.
To be sure, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City isn't the worst video game adaptation, or even the worst Resident Evil movie, but we can't compare it.
With Paul W· Johannes Roberts' work, which is more close to the original than S. Anderson's films in the same series, is indeed commendable, but the lack of length of the film, the rush of the third act narrative, and the lack of really exciting horror elements greatly hinder the film's performance.
However, considering that there are many game-related Easter eggs and tributes in the movie, it is still an interesting work for fans of the Resident Evil series of games.
Lots of content that is faithful to presenting the original game
Added a lot of classic monsters
Characterization is a failure
The plot is hastily patched together
The story develops unremarkably
To be sure, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City isn't the worst video game adaptation, or even the worst Resident Evil movie, but we can't compare it. With Paul W· Johannes Roberts' work, which is more close to the original than S. Anderson's films in the same series, is indeed commendable, but the lack of length of the film, the rush of the third act narrative, and the lack of really exciting horror elements greatly hinder the film's performance.
This article is compiled from IGN US related content, the original author Taylor Lyles, unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.