Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Fans have taken the release of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City as an opportunity to jump on Reddit. Now that the film series has been rebooted, they're eager to survey its strengths and weaknesses and provide opinions that frequently go against the grain.
The six-film original series, four of which were directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, certainly generated a slew of unpopular opinions in their own right. It looks like Welcome to Raccoon City is no different and, should it receive sequels, it's fair to assume they'll generate controversial opinions as well.
10 Actors Acting Isn't A Defense
On a thread discussing spoilers for the film, the original poster, LiteraryBo*er, came to its defense. "There are real actors here really acting, there are interesting shots, there's good lighting and well-replicated set design, there's some attention to detail. There's an understandable plot and several characters who seem to have motivations."
PeculiarPangolinMan cited this quote and posited that it was a poor excuse for a movie recommendation. "This has to be the weakest endorsement I've ever read for a movie. Actors acting?! Like...how does that compare to the actors doing whatever they did in the previous series?" It's a fair point, as none of the OP's defenses could really even be called defenses as much as components of filmmaking.
9 The Effects Were Poor
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City had a budget of only $25 million. For a horror movie with an action focus, that's quite low. This is especially true given Resident Evil is an established property. Tetralexicon thought it looked good considering the budget. As they said, "Overall, the movie had its inevitable flaws, but it really took on its challenge of a low budget with some really awesome practical effects and editing techniques that made it all the more charming for me."
ShaneRunninShirtless cited this quote and replied with, "Can you explain what you're talking about here? Because I didn't see many good practical effects and scenes like the Birkin transformation where he's laying on the ground morphing into his final form are just...terrible...."
8 It's Bad On Accident Not Bad On Purpose
Eltardole3rd came in with a perfectly valid point, only to have it countered with an unpopular opinion. As the first Redditor posited, "Sometimes I think people forget Resident Evil is B-movie schlock in the best way possible. That's how I felt about Welcome to Raccoon City, it felt cheesy and fun like the first 3 games."
Then, ynnubyzzuf came back with "There's bad on purpose and there's bad on accident. Know the difference." Welcome to Raccoon City does try occasionally for the cheesy vibe of the best Resident Evil games, so the replier's comment is not only rude (which makes it the true unpopular opinion) but fails to grasp the point of subjectivity.
7 Kaya Scodelario Was Not Charismatic
One Redditor pointed a finger specifically at the performance of lead Kaya Scodelario. As SamwiseG123 said, "What's f***** up is Kaya Scodelario was pretty good in Crawl, but was very surprised she had as much charisma as a tree in this."
While Scodelario did display more range in Crawl, the apparent lack of charisma is really due to the stoic way in which the character is written. She seems world-weary and tough as nails; Scodelario sells that aspect fairly well.
6 They Missed The Mark On Casting
One Redditor, fuzionknight96, disagrees with most of the film's casting choices. As they said, "...they missed the mark for EVERY casting except for Chris, that was a perfect choice. But where was this casting ability when it came time for the rest?"
NN010 came back with "Eh, I think the casting for Claire was decent. Remember Kaya Scodelario being solid in the Maze Runner movies and think she could at least be an OK Claire." In addition to this Redditor's comment, Scodelario was also excellent in Crawl, a film that requires many of the same things from an actor as an RE movie.
5 It's Campy And Stupid
Beezy-slayer backhandedly defends the movie, saying "This movie was bad but in the good kind of way. Absolutely loved how campy and stupid it was it also felt mostly intentional." Then, the Redditor makes an odd point, "I'm still laughing at Claire looking at a vague medical book and just freaking out and ripping it up...." Even the best Resident Evil movies have silly scenes, but this wasn't one of them.
TheSmithSmith concurs and comes back with a fact: "The medical book showed the names of all the children they abducted/killed. It was pretty blatant lol." The replier makes a great point, as the pages of the book very clearly read Deceased next to the names and photos of several children.
4 It's Worse Than The Jovovich Movies
Many Redditors apparently consider Welcome to Raccoon City to be inferior to most, if not all, of the Milla Jovovich-led films. FizzleMaterial comments on this, asking "This movie is actually worse than the Jovovich movies?"
A couple of Redditors came in to disagree with the many. TheSmithySmith said, "It's not. Some people are just overreacing. It's way way better than any of Jovovich's movies." While the latter part of the reply may be an exaggeration ("way way"), the reboot is solid. Eltardole3rd appears to agree that it isn't so bad, saying "Yeah, I don't understand the hate. Feels like a lot of these comments are just basing their opinion off of others without seeing it."
3 Leon Wasn't Supposed To Be A Drunk
DancewithRance raises a lot of issues with the cast of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, but wraps it up by attacking the film's portrayal of Leon S. Kennedy. "...We get a rookie cop that they showed A) drunk on the job B) so bad at it he shot his training partner... C) Accused of nepotism."
Another Redditor, raisingcuban, replied by citing the "A)" section of the poster's comment. In their words, "Lol, you've never played the games if you never knew Leon was supposed to be completely hungover from heavy drinking the night before. That is very much part of his character's backstory." This is true, some of Kennedy's game appearances have at least alluded to a hangover.
2 They Butchered Wesker
There have been complaints about how this adaptation of the 90s survival horror game strays from accuracy when it comes to casting. As Albert Wesker, Tom Hopper has at least the look for the character. Wardoghk thinks it just didn't work at all, saying "Yeah they really butchered some of the characters, specifically Wesker."
Raisingcuban came back with "Wesker's character was a fresh interpretation." The latter Redditors point is a fair one; this interpretation of Wesker is just somewhat less of a blank void than other versions. Here, he has a clear if not also cliche motive. He's to expose Umbrella's schemes in exchange for, naturally, money."
1 It Would Do Better On Streaming
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a game-faithful, intense ride that benefits from a dark theater. Fortunate, then, that the film's tight-quarters zombie-killing can only be seen on the big screen. GarlicRagu disagrees with this release strategy, saying that people are really only willing to go to theaters for "big tent pole films or family films."
They go on to remind Redditors that Raccoon City is neither, and it doesn't look to have the must-watch quality that necessitates a trip to the theatre in the middle of a pandemic. As they said, "This movie would probably have more success as an online release...."
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3xn1fi4
0 Comments