7. Resident Evil: Damnation
Deemed by some “the best Resident Evil film” Resident Evil: Damnation is the second animated feature in the long-running franchise that received some of the most positive feedback out of its other entries. Damnation features voice actor Matthew Mercer bringing life again to the beloved character Leon S. Kennedy, in an Eastern Slav Republic investigating if bio-organic weapons are being used in the country’s civil war.
What Leon faces is more than he bargained for when he’s confronted by lickers and is captured by rebel fighters. Damnation is a great watch for all fans of the Resident Evil series and especially for fans of the Resident Evil 4 game. This chapter features some great horror elements as what made the video games so popular in the first place. As well as captivating action sequences, storytelling, and a unique traditional setting for viewers to immerse themselves into.
6. Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City was an intent to reboot the Resident Evil film franchise by playing closer to the source material than its predecessors. Unfortunately with the miscast of pretty much every character sans Claire Redfield who was played well in my opinion by actress Kaya Scodelario, and the plethora of easter eggs this movie simply just didn’t strike the landing. Welcome To Raccoon City tried to fit the first two Resident Evil video games that had hours of gameplay into a feature film that ran just under two hours.
Sure it was nice to see familiar costumes, settings, and dialogues, but the film ultimately lost its way by again CHANGING the source material. It seems like it would be an easy task to just transition a great storyline that is presented in the games to film but in this adaptation, it takes what it wants and starts tweaking and changing at its own will.
A big drawback was what they did with Leon’s character in the movie. A character who has become one of the most popular from the games is portrayed so poorly by Avan Jogia that the only similarity worth noting for his video game counterpart is just in the name. It’s a shame because this could have been a great entry and the start of a new film series for Resident Evil if they had made better casting choices and stuck closer to the source material.