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"Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City" dir. by Johannes Roberts


"Resident Evil: Welcome To Toronto"

First off, there are two paths that the Resident Evil franchise have paved: the games and the movies. They're pretty separate in terms of tone and story until now.

I've been a fan of the game series since reading about Resident Evil 2 in a video game magazine in 1998. I've played through all of the entries (with the exception of the "gun survivor" spin-offs). They are the archetype for survival horror and remain unmatched in what they offer gamers in the way of puzzle solving, action and true terror.

I've been a fan of the movies. They are a whole different ballgame. They are schlock, meat-headed sci-fi action b-movies... but they fully embrace that and I love them for it. Also Milla, of course.

I remember being let down by the first Resident Evil movie in 2002 but coming to terms with the fact that they'd taken it in a different direction than the games. I always wanted a film adaptation that was true to the game and took itself seriously as a horror film.

So... was "Resident Evil: Welcome To Racoon City" the film I've been waiting 20 years to see?

Not quite, but ehhh close enough I guess...?

This movie merges the plots of RE1 and RE2 (the games) and is chock full of references to make all the gamers foam at the mouth. That being said, everything looks cheap and the CGI is literally worse than the graphics in the games.

Also, strangely for a movie trying to cater to fans of the game, they rewrite Leon S Kennedy into a bumbling idiot comic relief character. I have no issues with the physical differences these actors had to their game characters, actually its refreshing that they took those liberties, but making Leon a doofus is unacceptable.

If you've never played the games you'll probably hate this movie. If you played and loved the games you'll probably be somewhat let down.

Shame we didn't get to see someone use a green herb.

All in all, it was 'aight.

6/10

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