I’m not a fan of Paul W.S. Anderson’s numerous films, but Welcome To Raccoon City is a full reboot with a new cast and director. It also looks to hew closer to the source material. The trailer above shows Leon, Claire, Jill and Wesker exploring locations familiar from the games, including a dusty old mansion, external glimpses of the police station, and even some specific shots directly taken from the games. The original games weren’t exactly high art, of course, and I don’t need all adaptations to be authentic. But if you make a Resident Evil movie without the enduring elements from the original games, then it may as well just be any other zombie/mutant/horror film. It helps that, with some rough CG monsters aside, Welcome To Raccoon City doesn’t look as cheap and poorly acted as the previous films. I am encouraged by the appearance of Neal McDonough as Birkin, because McDonough almost exclusively appears in enjoyable trash and makes them 10% better everytime. Welcome To Raccoon City will open in US cinemas on November 24th, with a UK release on December 3rd. It is not to be confused with Netflix’s live action Resident Evil series starring Lance Reddick as Wesker.
