Johannes Roberts promised fans of the popular survival horror game series “Resident Evil” that the upcoming film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City would be closer to the source material than Paul W.S. Anderson’s film series that pretty much had nothing to do with the games (a trend with his works based on video games). Fans were excited to learn that the film will combine the first two Resident Evil games and were pretty much on board with the film…till yesterday (August 30, 2021) when the first three production stills were released showing the cast and instantly divided fans.
The one picture that really irked fans were the image of Resident Evil 2’s main heroes, Leon and Clair and fans were quick to show disappointment in the casting of Avan Jogia as Leon with many saying his appearance made him look more like Carlos (Resident Evil 3) than Leon. Some fans were also quick to criticize the appearance of the casting of Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, some saying she looked like a copy of the character Rain (played by Michelle Rodriguez) from the Anderson film series.
(from left) Albert Wesker, Richard Aiken, Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield
Many fans voiced their disappointment that they hoped that with a film following the story of the game series more closely that the cast would also reflect what was promised, even making the comparison that though the Anderson films did not truly follow the game series’ story, they cast actors that fit the roles of the characters from games better.
True I’m scratching my beard after seeing the production stills, and though I’m a purist when it comes to one of my favorite game series, I’m still open to seeing what the cast has to offer. I call into question why the character Richard Aiken (Chad Rook) is featured as his character was only seen in (alive) in the GameCube remake and animated film Vendetta, as well as the creature character Lisa Trevor (Marina Mazepa) who was only seen in the GameCube remake as well as the rail shooter for the Wii Umbrella Chronicles but I’ll admit they have kept her appearance in the film close to her in-game one.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will be coming to theatres November 24th.
