Despite Arcane's rousing success, the video game adaptation curse is alive and well. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City currently sits at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes with seven critic reviews.
The film takes the first two games and combines their narratives. However, it only has a runtime of one hour and 47 minutes, meaning it's juggling a lot at once. Some ideas got the axe because of that like Mr X who is completely absent. Aside from that, it's reported to be fairly accurate - Digital Spy reviewer Ian Sandwell stated that it's faithful to the games but flawed and "lacking bite."
Carla Hay, writing for Culture Mix, said, "When will the makers of bad zombie films learn that gory doesn't always equal scary? Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City has plenty of gore but absolutely nothing terrifying or imaginative." However, EJ Moreno, writing for Flickering Myth, praised the film's silly antics: "B-horror movies are precisely my cup of tea, and this film hits all those notes. While it's a messy video game adaptation, it's a fun '90s horror-action throwback."
There are only seven critic reviews at the moment so the tide could turn - it might land a higher rating. But it could just as easily go down. For now, it boasts a less-than-impressive score of 29%, but it isn't the worst-rated Resident Evil film to date. That honour goes to Apocalypse, the 2004 film directed by Alexander Witt. However, it does have an audience score of 60%, so it might turn out that moviegoers end up finding something to like about Welcome to Raccoon City.
The highest-rated - 2016's The Final Chapter - is only scored at 37%, so it's not like the adaptations have a spotless track record, anyway. As it stands, Welcome to Raccoon City is the third best on Rotten Tomatoes. It's not saying much, but it's something.
It's rated R, directed by Johannes Roberts, and stars Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Tom Hopper, Avan Jogia, Donal Logue, and more. You can catch it in cinemas tomorrow in the US or on December 3 in the UK.