Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City (15)

Claire Redfield returns to Raccoon City to find her brother Chris, a member of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (Stars) Alpha Team. She intends to warn him about the nefarious activities of the Umbrella Corporation, which managed the orphanage where they grew up. Claire arrives as a deadly contagion infects residents and transform them into crazed predators. Chris joins the rest of his Stars squad to investigate his sister's claims.

LondonNet Film Review
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City (15)

In the late 1990s, I (mis)spent many fitful hours with a dwindling supply of ammunition hunting zombies around the dimly lit Spencer Mansion in the PlayStation survival horror game Resident Evil. The vicarious blood-spattered thrills of that first title spawned countless imitators and laid the groundwork for a sprawling franchise that continues to this day, encompassing video games, films, TV series, novels and comic books. In 2002, Northumberland-born director Paul WS Anderson delivered the first instalment of the Resident Evil film adaptations and now, writer-director Johannes Roberts reboots the zombified carnage with an origin story based on the plots of the first and second games. Pivotal characters including Claire Redfield, her brother Chris, Jill Valentine, Leon S Kennedy and Albert Wesker are faithfully brought to life along with a zombie dog, infected crows and hulking humanoid soldier Tyrant. An additional scene buried in the end credits adds another familiar face to the fold…

Once the buzz of recognition subsides, Roberts’ picture reduces to a predictable cycle of showdowns with the infected, grisly character deaths and recreations of key set-pieces including the subterranean escape train. Digital effects aren’t convincing and pacing is leaden, even with an onscreen countdown to 6am when an entire community will be levelled to contain the outbreak.

Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) hitchhikes through torrential rain to Raccoon City to find her estranged brother Chris (Robbie Amell), a member of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (STARS) Alpha Team attached to the local police department. She warns him about the nefarious activities of the Umbrella Corporation, which managed the orphanage where they grew up under the dubious care of Dr William Birkin (Neal McDonough). Claire’s arrival coincides with a Chernobyl-style leak of the T-virus from a deserted Umbrella Corporation facility. Residents mutate into crazed predators with an insatiable hunger for flesh.

Chief Irons (Donal Logue) despatches Chris and the rest of STARS comprising Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Richard Aiken (Chad Rook) and helicopter pilot Brad Vickers (Nathan Dales) to search the mansion of Umbrella Corporation president Oswell Spencer. Meanwhile, Raccoon City Police Department rookie Leon S Kennedy (Avan Jogia) teams up with Claire to neutralise the slavering hordes.

Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City is on par with Anderson’s first outing including a few cheap jump scares. Scodelario pales next to Milla Jovovich’s competing angel of death from almost 20 years ago but she wears Claire’s signature red jacket with stony-faced conviction. The script achieves unintentionally hilarity when Chris soothes a critically injured cop, who has just had their throat ripped out, by chirruping: “You’ll be fine. This is nothing!” If you believe that, you’ll believe Roberts’ film warrants a sequel.

– Kim Hu