The Ending Of Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City Explained
In the wake of Raccoon City's destruction, William Birkin's death, and Albert Wesker's resurrection, unanswered questions emerge. Firstly, does Lisa Trevor survive? In the game, she's nigh invincible, only dying for good when the mansion explodes around her. In the film, she shows off her physical strength when she tears a Licker apart in physical combat. Thus, she and her video game counterpart clearly have physical traits in common. Much of her game-bound backstory doesn't appear in the film, however. Will fans learn more in a subsequent film?
Secondly, who is Ada Wong working for? In both the games and "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," Ada Wong is a mysterious agent with a penchant for spy games. She only makes a brief cameo in the film, but it's a sure bet she'll play a key role in a sequel, if the box office fates allow it.
Thirdly, how much does Chief Irons know about Umbrella? In the games, Brian Irons, the RPD's chief of police, is an outright villain who murders the mayor's daughter and nearly kills Sherry Birkin. In the movie, he seems to know more than others do about Umbrella's dastardly deeds, but his more overtly evil traits are absent. As a result, he's not a villain — in fact, he even brings Claire and Leon to the Raccoon City Orphanage and tells them how to get to Spencer Mansion before getting attacked and killed by a Licker. He's likely in on Umbrella's plot to some degree, but whether or not that qualifies him as an outright bad guy is open to debate.
Finally, just how close are Jill and Wesker? It's implied Jill has romantic feelings for Wesker, much to Chris' chagrin. It's unclear how much Wesker reciprocates those feelings, but they don't appear to be a proper couple. In the likely event they reunite in a future sequel, there's definitely unfinished business between them ... Especially since their relationship ends with Jill fatally shooting Wesker.
The Untold Truth Of The Resident Evil Movies
You can't keep a good, or at least a profitable, movie franchise down. When a film series says a certain installment is the final chapter, you can expect that to be retroactively altered if the box office results are even half good. So it was with "Resident Evil: Extinction," the third entry in the "Resident Evil" film series, which was marketed as the last chapter of the saga. However, that was before robust opening weekend box office results immediately made this promise of finality seem far shakier.
Speaking to USA Today after "Resident Evil: Extinction" premiered and scored the largest opening in the franchise's history, Sony's then-head of distribution, Rory Bruer, said that he wouldn't be shocked if the team behind the "Resident Evil" movies found a way to keep the franchise going. His comments turned out to be quite prophetic, as the next set of "Resident Evil" feature films lasted for three more installments. Even "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" in 2017 didn't prove to be the end of everything, though, as a reboot and prequel called "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" would hit theaters just four years later. After all these years, the only thing that's for sure is that the "Resident Evil" films aren't going anywhere.
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City Is Very Faithful To The Games – But Lacks Bite
Resident Evil has not had the best time of it on the big screen in terms of its critical reaction, with its high point being Resident Evil: The Final Chapter's 37% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Commercially, it has fared a bit better with fans, grossing more than $1.2 billion across its six-movie run (live-action movies only). So it's no surprise that producers Constantin Film wanted another crack at bringing the hugely popular video game series to life, even after the so-called "final chapter".
The 2016 movie did mark the end of Milla Jovovich's run in the series, meaning it was time for a reboot – and time to go right back to the beginning. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City takes fans back to Day Zero of the outbreak in the titular city, but is it any more successful than the previous movies?
Not quite. While long-time fans will adore the faithfulness to the games, this approach has its own flaws that lead to the new movie lacking bite. You might recognise the locations and characters, yet you'll experience none of the terror of playing the games.
Set over one fateful night in Raccoon City, the new movie combines the plot of the first two Resident Evil games, adding in a splash of the ticking clock hook of the third movie and elements of the remakes, such as Lisa Trevor.
Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town after the company's exodus left it a wasteland. A skeleton crew is left in town, as well as anybody who is too poor to leave, but they're all unaware of the evil about to be unleashed.
Shortly after arriving back in town to reunite with her brother Chris (Robbie Amell), Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) finds herself in a battle for survival after the horrors of the Umbrella Corporation are revealed.
Teaming up with rookie cop Leon S Kennedy (Avan Jogia), Claire sets out to find Chris and fellow STARS members Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen) and Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper) to uncover the truth. But can this ragtag group of survivors make it through the night?
If your biggest complaint about the previous Resident Evil movies was that there was no sense they were connected to the games, it's not something that can be levelled at Welcome to Raccoon City. It's clear writer/director Johannes Roberts is a huge fan of the series and it can be felt in practically every frame.
Key sequences and moments have been replicated faithfully here, such as the slowly-turning trucker crashing through the city and the first zombie reveal in the Spencer Mansion. Locations from the games have been perfectly recreated, including that mansion and the Raccoon Police Station too, while you'll spot the fixed angle view of the game at points too.
It truly feels like these characters are walking through the games and there are Easter eggs to be found everywhere. Roberts has also brought over several other characters from the games alongside those main five, including Chief Irons (Donal Logue) and Umbrella scientist William Birkin (Neal McDonough).
Whether an intentional homage or not, this faithfulness unfortunately extends to a ropey script (fortunately no "Jill sandwich" here, though) and some sub-par CGI in the recreations of iconic monsters like the Licker. When so much attention has been paid elsewhere, it's a shame more wasn't paid to these elements.
Once you get over the initial thrill of seeing the games so vividly brought to life, you'll also realise that there's a point when being too loyal to the games comes at the detriment of the movie. Namely, it's just nowhere near as terrifying as the experience of playing those games and lacks any tension.
Roberts keeps things dark (and we mean literally, not tonally), but you never really feel a sense of dread. If anything, you'll be as likely wondering what the hell is going on. The games knew when to mix it up as it was just as scary to see a zombie in bright light, while the tension also came from a regular lack of ammunition where the characters in the movie seem to have unlimited amounts.
Because it's mashed together two of the games, Welcome to Raccoon City can't help feeling overstuffed yet also undercooked. The cast all look the part (despite reservations from some fans over Jogia's casting as Leon), but they're given no time to flesh out their characters as there's so much plot and backstory to fit in.
If you know the games well, there are certain blanks you can fill in for yourself, but what of newcomers or casual fans? In the end, Welcome to Raccoon City just feels like another origin story where the good stuff is still to come. Whether those newcomers will want to return for a sequel is questionable though as there's nothing particular new here.
And that's the real kicker. While it's great that the movie is super faithful to the games, it needed to appeal to a wider audience as well. There's just not enough there without any notable scares or memorable set pieces. Dare we say it, but even the first Resident Evil was more engaging than this.
Fans will undoubtedly get a lot out of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, but Easter eggs and faithful recreations can only go so far. Everybody else will be left wondering why there's all this fuss about Resident Evil... Again.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is released in US cinemas on November 24 and in UK cinemas on December 3.
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