Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Film and Plot Synopsis

Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town. The company’s exodus left the city a wasteland… with great evil brewing below the surface. When that evil is unleashed, a group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night. (Courtesy of Constantin Films)

‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’ Movie Summary

The film begins in a flashback to the 1980’s. Claire Redfield (Lily Gail Reid) and her older brother Chris (Daxton Grey Gujral) are two young children who have been confined at the Raccoon City Orphanage after the death of their parents. Claire befriends a disfigured girl named Lisa Trevor (Marina Mazepa) who hides in the orphanage and generally only comes out at night. Lisa is disfigured due to experiments conducted on her by Dr. William Birkin (Neal McDonough), a scientist that works for the mysterious Umbrella Corporation. Dr. Birkin is also the head of the orphanage and often uses the children in his experiments. Claire escapes from the orphanage when Dr. Birkin selects her for one of his experiments but leaves her brother Chris behind.

An older Claire (Kaya Scodelario) returns to Raccoon City in 1998. She hitchhikes her way there on a semi-truck. On the outskirts of town, the truck driver (Pat Thornton) accidentally hits a woman in the middle of the road. However, when he and Claire argue over what they should do with her, the mysterious woman disappears. The truck driver’s Dobermann licks up some of the blood that the woman left on the road. The truck driver drops Claire off and notices that his dog is beginning to foam at the mouth. Eventually, the dog bites the truck driver.

Meanwhile, rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia) is having dinner at a local diner where some of the police department’s STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Alpha team is present. The Alpha team, made up of Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Richard Aiken (Chad Rook), Brad Vickers (Nathan Dales), and Albert Wesker (Tom Hooper), are dismissive of the inexperienced Leon. However, Leon notices that the diner’s waitress has blood coming out of her eyes. The waitress dismisses his concern and says that it happens some time.

Meanwhile, Claire heads to her brother Chris’ (Robbie Amell) home to warn him about Umbrella’s experiments. Claire informs him that she has been told that the Umbrella Corporation and Dr. Birkin are dangerous and reveals her source for the information is an investigative journalist named Ben Bertolucci (Josh Cruddas). Chris is dismissive of Claire’s concerns and informs her that Dr. Birkin has been good to him. Chris, also a member of the STARS Alpha team, is summoned back to work and leaves Claire alone in his house. Not long after, a mysterious, deformed child breaks into Chris’ house and warns Claire about her mother. The child’s mother, also deformed and bloody, breaks into the house and attacks Claire. Claire flees from the house using Chris’ motorcycle.

At the police station, Chief Brian Irons (Donal Logue) explains to the Alpha team that the Bravo team was dispatched to investigate a death at the remote Spencer Mansion. Chief Iron explains that they have lost communication with the Bravo team and tasks the Alpha team with finding the Bravo team and investigating the death. The Alpha team of Chris, Valentine, Aiken, Vickers, and Wesker take a helicopter into the woods. They find the Bravo team’s transport overturned and hear mysterious sounds coming from the woods. They head towards the mansion and enter the mysterious building in the middle of nowhere. Unbeknownst to the other members of the team, Wesker has been tasked with stealing a virus from Birkin’s lab by an unknown party.

Look, I’m no medical expert, but I think that guy might just be beyond saving, hmm? Chief Brian Irons (Donal Logue)

The lives of the remaining members of the team are secondary to Wesker’s primary objective. Wesker is also informed that the entirety of Raccoon City will be destroyed at 6 a.m., a few short hours away. The unknown party also provides inside information about the mansion to Wesker through an electronic device.
Once inside the mansion, Chris and Aiken encounter several zombies eating the bodies of the Bravo team. Aiken and Vickers are attacked and eaten by the zombies. After being bitten by a zombie, the helicopter pilot crashes the ship into the mansion. Wesker saves Valentine from a zombie before leaving her to fulfill his mission. Chris fights the zombies alone until he is reunited with Valentine. Chris and Valentine decide to follow the path that Wesker took into a secret passage.

Meanwhile, the truck driver turns into a zombie and crashes his truck in front of the police station. Engulfed in flames but still moving, the truck driver walks into the station and approaches Leon before he is gunned down by Chief Irons. Chief Irons decides to leave town but is forced to return when Umbrella guards create a blockade to contain an outbreak and kill anyone who approaches the edge of quarantine zone. In the police garage, Chief Irons is attacked by the truck driver’s now zombie dog, but he is saved by Claire who has come to the station looking for her brother. Claire, Leon, and Chief Irons decide to arm themselves with additional weapons from the armory. Claire and Leon find Ben locked in a cell with a man who is turning into a zombie. Ben is bitten and Claire and Leon are required to kill both men.

Not long after, the police station is overrun with zombies and Chief Irons takes them to the orphanage looking for a secret Umbrella tunnel that leads to the mansion in the woods. A zombie known as a Licker kills Irons and attacks Leon. Lisa reveals herself and kills the Licker. Lisa, who remembers Claire’s kindness to her, gives the pair the keys to the secret tunnel, but stays in the orphanage. Claire and Leon discover the secret labs where Umbrella conducted their experiments on the children.

At the same time, Wesker encounters Dr. Birkin and his family, his wife Annette (Janet Porter) and daughter Sherry (Holly De Barros). Dr. Birkin is aware of Raccoon City’s imminent destruction but is seeking to save some of his research. Wesker seeks to acquire Dr. Birkin’s virus, but the good doctor refuses to turn it over. The two men fight and Wesker is shot by Dr. Birkin. In return, Wesker shoots Dr. Birkin and then shoots Annette in self-defense. When Sherry grabs a gun to shoot him, Wesker hesitates, but he is mortally wounded by a gunshot from Valentine who acts to save the child.

Before he dies, Wesker reveals to Valentine his escape plan which was to use an underground train under the city before Umbrella destroyed everything. A wounded Birkin injects himself with the “G-virus” which begins to mutate the doctor into a monstrous being. Valentine and Sherry hide while Chris takes on Dr. Birkin. Chris is overpowered, but he is saved by Claire and Leon as they arrive and shoot the Dr. Birkin monster. The five survivors then board the train and proceed to try to escape the destruction of the town. They unfortunately don’t make it and are derailed when the city and the mansion are destroyed. The Dr. Birkin monster further evolves and catches up to the stopped train. Leon uses a rocket launcher to finally kill the monster.

In the aftermath, the Umbrella Corporation reports the destruction of Raccoon City was complete and that there were no survivors. However, Chris, Claire, Valentine, Leon, and Sherry emerge from the train tunnel unbeknownst to the evil corporation. In a mid-credits scene, Wesker is resurrected by Ada Wong (Lily Gao) who needs Wesker for an unknown assignment. Wesker appears to be none the worse for wear other than his eyes are extremely sensitive to light.