--- title: "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city" critics_score: 48 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021): what the critics said Critics' score 48 from 14 reviews: 2 positive, 6 mixed, 6 negative. Most critics land somewhere between disappointed and faintly relieved. The consensus is that this reboot makes the right decision in returning the series to horror rather than action, and in recreating the games’ locations and characters with real care; the 1990s setting, the practical effects and a moody, reasonably tense first hour come in for praise. Several reviews credit it as more faithful and more grounded than the earlier films in the franchise. Scodelario’s performance draws a kind word or two. The reservations are about everything else. The script is thin, the cast of characters too large to develop, the second half is widely felt to fall apart, and the digital effects are called cheap by more than one reviewer. Few critics report being frightened. The spread is wide: Film Stories finds a solid, energetic B-picture, while Variety and the Los Angeles Times find it barely coherent and long for the earlier films’ competence. ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 2 December 2021. The film is a reasonably entertaining, unpretentiously gory horror exercise set in the late 1990s in Raccoon City. It suffers from an excess of characters drawn from older Resident Evil lore but features competent action sequences and nostalgic 90s tech callbacks. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/02/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review-unpretentiously-gory-horror-game-reboot) ## Radio Times — Emma Simmonds Rating 5.2/10. The critic finds this 1990s-set reboot lacklustre, with a story merging the first two games that fails to mesh its disparate threads. The script relies on clichés and identikit characters, while the film offers samey action, autopilot performances and a lack of decent scares or thrills. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-htqbqq/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city/) ## Slant Magazine — Mark Hanson Rating 2/4. 23 November 2021. The film starts with some promising cheeky humor and mounting dread in its first hour but devolves into incoherent sludge in the second half, failing to replace the cool aesthetics and action of prior adaptations or meaningfully engage with corporate malfeasance themes. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review-johannes-roberts/) ## The New York Times — Amy Nicholson Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 24 November 2021. Roberts’s origin tale excuses the absence of Milla Jovovich and embraces ’90s nostalgia with kitschy details like beepers. It sets up the zombie apocalypse in Raccoon City but remains familiar lore to fans without much new to offer beyond the setting. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/movies/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review.html) ## Empire — James White Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 3 December 2021. The film captures the games' spirit through faithful recreations of locations and characters but fails to deliver cinematic thrills. Lazy scripting, thin scares and poor CG effects are singled out as major drawbacks. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city/) ## RogerEbert.com — Brian Tallerico Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 24 November 2021. The film is the most directly inspired by the games yet, with familiar characters, locations, and practical effects that evoke the survival-horror tone. However, choppy action, clunky storytelling, poor geography in scenes, and a lack of tension make it predictable fan service rather than a dread-inducing experience. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-movie-review-2021) ## Los Angeles Times — Kimber Myers Fi1m's normalised score 25/100 (inferred from the text). 22 November 2021. The reboot is brain-dead and fails to replicate the fear or imaginative gore of the games, with thin characters and no real sense of place despite nostalgic ’90s references. It makes one long for the earlier films’ capable horror-action direction despite their flaws. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-11-22/review-resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city) ## Variety — Nick Schager Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 22 November 2021. The reboot supplies fan service and faithful touches from the first two games but has scarce coherent plotting, fewer scares, chintzy CGI, and superficial authenticity that cannot compensate for absent tension or one-dimensional characters. Subpar effects, helter-skelter editing, and a blaring score mark it as a disappointing contemporary B-movie. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2021/film/reviews/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review-1235115912/) ## Film Stories — Simon Brew Fi1m's normalised score 77/100 (inferred from the text). 1 December 2021. The reboot is a solid addition and upgrade on the previous films in the series, with energy, mood and pace that make the first hour fly by. It takes the franchise back to its roots effectively but feels like a standard studio picture in the final act and leaves plenty of room for improvement. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review-an-upgrade-patch/) ## NME — Nick Levine Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 3 December 2021. The film succeeds on its own modest terms as an old-school horror flick, delivering eeriness and sufficient scares in a rundown Raccoon City setting. The director creates a suitably atmospheric and predictable but effective zombie thriller, elevated by Scodelario's performance. [Read the review](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-old-school-zombie-flick-serves-up-sufficient-scares-3110732) ## Polygon — Jesse Hassenger Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 24 November 2021. The film returns the series to its horror roots with moody textures and skillful B-movie style, but it is not particularly scary and feels diffuse with underdeveloped characters. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22800657/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review/) ## Deadline — Valerie Complex Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 22 November 2021. The reboot improves on prior entries with more efficient storytelling, better tension and character development, plus a solid cast led by capable female characters. It falters with a meandering middle section full of unnecessary exposition, disjointed pacing and unconvincing special effects. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2021/11/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review-1234879318/) ## Digital Spy — Ian Sandwell Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 3 December 2021. The movie is very faithful to the games with accurate locations, characters and moments, but this loyalty causes it to lack bite, terror and tension. It feels overstuffed yet undercooked, with no notable scares or memorable set pieces, making it less engaging than prior entries. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a38317958/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review/) ## /Film — Chris Evangelista Rating 4/10. 24 November 2021. The reboot wisely leans into horror and direct references from the games rather than action, but it ultimately feels undercooked and dull with little story holding the game elements together. It is a pointless exercise that fails to deliver on its potential. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/669603/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city-review-the-reboot-wisely-trades-action-for-horror-but-its-not-enough/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/resident-evil-welcome-to-raccoon-city.md