The Resident Evil franchise is no stranger to the world of movies. Several film adaptations based on Capcom’s iconic video game series have come out, many of which have starred Milla Jovovich.
The next Resident Evil movie, set for release on September 17, comes from Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger. The movie is a departure from previous Resident Evil movies, set during the events of 1998’s Resident Evil 2.
Ahead of Cregger’s new Resident Evil movie, we’re taking a look back at the franchise’s best movie efforts. There’s a lot to choose from, so we’ve narrowed it down to the five best Resident Evil movies that have released ahead of Cregger’s iteration.
5 best Resident Evil movies
5) Resident Evil: Retribution
2012’s Resident Evil: Retribution takes place directly after Resident Evil: Afterlife, and is probably one of the most chaotic entries in the entirety of Paul WS Anderson’s Resident Evil films. The movie has some awesome action sequences, including an actual car chase filmed throughout Moscow, as well as some wild monster fights sprinkled throughout. Milla Jovovich is once again at her best as Alice, and really is the highlight of pretty much any of these movies whenever she gets to go on a badass spree in any given fight scene.
Much like many of Anderson’s Resident Evil movies, Retribution does suffer from a lack of restraint. There’s just so many ideas being thrown about here that it’s hard to really hone in on a specific one. The movie does give us some fun reveals in the form of Leon S. Kennedy, Barry Burton, and Ada Wong from the games, but other than that, it’s just a fun action movie at best.
4) Resident Evil: Extinction
Extinction is a perfect film to showcase not only what works in Anderson’s Resident Evil movies, but what doesn’t. The movie is a sequel to 2004’s Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which itself ends on a fairly big cliffhanger. However, Extinction has no real desire to touch on that, and instead features an entirely unique plot. The world has now been consumed by the T-virus, and the Umbrella Corporation has developed clones of Alice to try and create a perfect replica of her and her powers.
On the one hand, it makes for a really fun movie that just isn’t afraid to lean into some of the more absurd moments of the Resident Evil franchise. Tyrants even appear later in the movie, a real treat for fans of the game. However, there is no real narrative cohesion, and things in the movie just seem to exist to move everything forward to the next wild action scene. For a movie based on a game releasing in the 2000s, that sounds about par for the course, but it still results in a good enough time.
3) Resident Evil: Apocalypse
The aforementioned Apocalypse stands out as one of the better Resident Evil movies simply due to its scope. The original film was much more contained in its storytelling, but Apocalypse takes things to a much larger scope. The movie also introduces the game’s Jill Valentine into the world, albeit in ways that don’t really capture her character all that well when you look back at it.
Ultimately, Apocalypse is at its most fun when the movie is just going full schlock, and it does that often. Wild editing sequences, endless zombies, and standoffs against gigantic monsters ending in big explosions and fight scenes is all you’re getting here. But really, what more could you ask for?
2) Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
For decades, fans of the Resident Evil games had been hoping that a movie would release that just adapts the game’s stories a bit more closely. In 2021, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City arrived, and was largely panned and mocked by critics and fans. Despite that, though, there is a lot of charm in Welcome to Raccoon City, and it gets a bit of an unfair shake in the larger Resident Evil movie canon.
Welcome to Raccoon City is by far the most faithful interpretation of a Resident Evil movie to date. The film follows a group of survivors as they try to make it out of Raccoon City amidst a zombie outbreak taking place in the city. The movie essentially adapts the first two Resident Evil games, and features a cast of characters from the game, including Claire and Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, and more.
What ended up holding Welcome to Raccoon City back was its lack of budget, really. The movie very much looks like a small scale, cheaper movie, and that’s just something that’s tough to succeed against when you’re trying to adapt huge games about zombies and monsters. The movie also tries to squeeze in two games’ worth of content in just under two hours, and the movie does suffer for it.
1) Resident Evil
To date, no Resident Evil movie has been quite as good as the original. 2002’s Resident Evil is by no means a perfect film, but does present the most concise vision of Paul WS Anderson throughout his history with the films. Not only is the movie fun, but it features some of the best action sequences in the entire franchise, including the now infamous laser hallway scene from Jovovich.
The 2002 entry also features Jovovich’s best performance as Alice, and presents her with the most to do. Where other Resident Evil movies essentially treat Alice as a post-apocalyptic badass that does nothing but fight zombies, the original movie presents her with a ton of emotion, and features at least a few moments in which she’s doing something besides going toe-to-toe with zombies. Make no mistake, though, there are plenty of zombies in this one, including a few zombie dogs that get in on the chase scenes.
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