It’s been a long time sinceResident Evilfirst went into the live-action format.Resident Evildebuted in 2002 and kickstarted a huge franchise that went completely away from the video game series. Despite that fact, they still did decent numbers at the box office as their own little action zombie franchise.
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In 2021,Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Cityrestarted the live-action timeline as a way to better follow the games. And now,Netflixhas its own live-action series in the works but has set things far into the future. Of the two new live-action reboots, which does a better job at representing the games?There will be spoilers.
8Sticking To The Lore: Netflix’s Resident Evil
Netflix’s show takes place in the same universe as the main games in the series. Fans might find that hard to believe, as the show takes some leaps in logic, like reestablishing that Umbrella could be as huge as it is in 2022 and the future of 2036.
Save for a few loose ideas like that, it treats the lore with some unexpected respect.Welcome to Raccoon Citytries to combine the first two games into one cohesive story, but it does not work. Things are rushed, and theychange a lotabout the lore, like how Claire and Chris meet when they don’t in the games untilCode Veronica.
7Legacy Characters: Welcome To Raccoon City
As much as they change with the lore,Welcome to Raccoon Citydeserves kudos forusing the charactersfans know and love. The first Resident Evil movie featured absolutely no recognizable characters and instead created the new protagonist of Alice.
Welcome to Raccoon Citydoes not do that on any level. It does mess up some characters like the aforementioned issue with Chris and Claire. Leon and Jill also don’t act quite right, but overall the film gives what fans wanted originally from aResident Evilmovie. Netflix’s adaptation only has Wesker for fans.
6Wesker: Netflix’s Resident Evil
While Netflix’s adaptation doesn’t have familiar faces besides Wesker, he is at least a highlight of the show. Lance Reddick plays him amazingly well as a father trying to do his best while still having the capacity to be menacing.Welcome to Raccoon Citymesses up Wesker completely by not making him an agent of Umbrella.
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He is instead hired by another company to infiltrate Umbrella and steal its secrets. It doesn’t make sense why the movie would make that change. Netflix admittedly does make some bizarre choices too, like making multiple Wesker clones. However, fans should be able to buy the idea that Wesker would create clones, as he is an egotistical maniac in the games.
5The Zombies: Welcome To Raccoon City
When it comes to modern films, most story writers tend to use fast-moving zombies, as that can feel more threatening to an audience.Resident Evilstarted with slow shambling zombies, and thankfully,Welcome to Raccoon Citystuck to that concept.
The zombies in the film look terrifying and move with one purpose only: to eat. The zombies in the Netflix show were turned by digesting too many pills, making them fast for some reason. Using fast zombies fits with modern adaptations, but it goes against theclassic monster designsfrom the games.
4Acting: Netflix’s Resident Evil
The acting throughout most of the games is cheesy. This is especially true for the PS1 generation of titles. The acting inWelcome to Raccoon Cityis not great, but not in a cheesy way that is fun or harkens back to the early games. Not everyone is terrible in the film, but overall the acting is mediocre.
Even though Netflix’s show can be slow, the acting is well delivered, such as the aforementioned role of Wesker played by Lance Reddick. There are even some moments of cheesy line deliveries, but they don’t feel out of place. Evelyn, the new CEO ofthe Umbrella corporation, goes full over-the-top villain at times, and it is priceless.
3Lisa: Welcome To Raccoon City
Lisa is a mysterious character that was added to the GameCube remake of the first game. She was an early experiment of Umbrella, who had a small role in the remake’s plot but was never seen in the series again.
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She is an obscure character butWelcome to Raccoon Citydid its due diligence and tried to incorporate her into the plot. The role is small in the film as well, but Lisa at least gets some redemption for being ignored. Lisa, in the Netflix show, only had what could be described as a cameo.
2Best Jill Pun: Netflix’s Resident Evil
There are two great lines from the first game that fans love quoting. There is thereference to Jillbeing the master of unlocking, along with her almost becoming a Jill sandwich. The latter joke was made inWelcome to Raccoon City, andit might have had fans roll their eyes so far into the back of their heads that they could see their brains.
Netflix’s adaptation makes the master of unlocking joke in a moment that leads to something truly badass. The context fits better in the show more so than the lame attempt in the movie.
1Verdict: Netflix’s Resident Evil
Netflix technically made the better live-action version ofResident Evil. It might even be the best adaptation to date. Not all of it works, as it takes about six episodes to truly get going. The pacing then is not great, but it would be a lie to say things didn’t end on an interesting note. Legacy characters, suchas Ada Wong, were already teased, and who knows what other characters might show up.
There are good things aboutWelcome to Raccoon Citytoo, but it changed too much, again, sometimes in baffling ways. It is certainly a better adaptation than the original film series, at least.
