Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
REWIND 008 - Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
35 Plays1 month ago
“Leon S. Kennedy. What’s the ‘S’ stand for? Stupid?”
Life got in the way this week, so we're rebroadcasting one of our favorite video game themed episodes!
We discuss what happens when fan service goes too far, our collective love for Donal Logue, and Brett’s absolute obsessive adoration for all things Resident Evil.
It’s up to us to take down Umbrella. Here’s where to help:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and YouTube.
- Email us your thoughts or requests to disenfranchpod@gmail.com
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky and Letterboxd.
- Check out Stephen’s first novel - Check In, Check Out - on Amazon, now available in paperback or ebook: https://amzn.to/44idk8y
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Letterboxd.
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram.
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including bi-weekly episodes of What Are We Watching? at https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
- Watch our big screen debut in Circle City Supernatural from our buddy J.P. Leck! You can either buy it on BluRay through his website, buy/rent it through Amazon Prime, or watch it free with ads on Tubi!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Episode Theme
00:00:19
Speaker
A franchise right alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams. Welcome to the Disenfranchised Podcast, that podcast about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
00:00:37
Speaker
I'm one of your hosts, Tucker. The boys and I planned on doing a proper episode this week, but I'm going out of town this weekend, Steven's still nipples deep in a move across town, and Brett's computer just shit itself.
00:00:48
Speaker
So this week, we're going to recycle one of my favorite video game-themed episodes that we've ever done. So please enjoy this blast from the past. And until next week, courage.
Host Introductions and Spooky-thon Announcement
00:00:59
Speaker
Witness the beginning of evil. Witness the disenfranchised podcast where that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
00:01:13
Speaker
I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy. And joining me as always with his RPD vest strapped firmly in place is my co-host, Brett Wright. Brett. and Hello, Steven.
00:01:24
Speaker
How are we doing tonight, man? I'm doing okay. I hope so. I hope so. We're going to talk about a lot of good stuff tonight. And I can't wait to be completely lost for all of it.
00:01:36
Speaker
It's going to be a good time. Me neither.
00:01:40
Speaker
Brett's like, now you will know my pain, you SOB. and he's And he's not wrong. um and And also joining us, our new third co-host. you're you're You're starting to get used to him now, I hope. It's our it's our good buddy, Tucker. Tucker, how's it going?
00:01:55
Speaker
Hello, Steven. How we doing tonight, buddy? Doing great. Really, really great.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Overview
00:02:01
Speaker
i So, look, we we just came off of a of a theme month episode.
00:02:08
Speaker
That kind of put Brett a little out of his element. And for a couple of reasons, we're going to put Brett back in his element. Look, October was a weird time for the Disenfranchised Podcast. This past October was a weird time for us for various reasons.
00:02:21
Speaker
And so we've decided we need it we need a mulligan. We're calling a mulligan. So we are doing our second Spooky-thon. of the of the Of the third season.
00:02:33
Speaker
This is Spooky-thon Part 2. And so we have another month of horror movies that are that are coming at you. And we've got some really great guests coming. Some some returning, some new.
00:02:45
Speaker
ah But to start us off, it's just the three of us on this one. ah Brett, what movie are we talking about this week? In honor of the new Resident Evil 4 remake coming out, thought it was relevant.
00:02:57
Speaker
And, you know, this one's for me.
Hosts' Personal Resident Evil Experiences
00:03:00
Speaker
It's Resident Evil. Welcome to Raccoon City. 2021's Resident Evil, colon, Welcome to Raccoon City.
00:03:07
Speaker
ah Written and directed by Johan Roberts. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. And starring Kai Escotelario, Hannah John Common, Robbie Amell, Tom Hopper, Tom ah robbie ammo tom hopper Eva Jogia, Yvonne Jogia, I'm so sorry, um the great Donald Logue, and the great Neil McDonough, ah with a cameo from Lily Gao in the film's final moments. What a cast, gentlemen.
00:03:36
Speaker
What a picture. Agreed. It's something. It sure is something, this movie. Boy, howdy. and And with that, I exhaust everything that I know about this movie. um Y'all have fun. No,
00:03:50
Speaker
no
00:03:53
Speaker
um i Look, this is, again, we got a new Resident Evil 4 game. There's apparently a ah zombie TV series that's burning up the the charts right now on HBO.
00:04:04
Speaker
We're going to talk about that a because we're going talk about Adaptation When It Works, that show, and Adaptation When It Fails Terribly, this this movie. Okay. And I'm sure we'll talk about that behind the Patreon later this month as well, ah that last one, because I know we're talking about ah one of your favorite heavy air quotes there, uh, film franchises behind the, uh, behind the paywall this month as well. So yeah, we'll talk about that too.
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah.
Resident Evil-themed Patreon Content
00:04:31
Speaker
Um, so, so yeah, we, um, you know, there, there are a lot of reasons why we're, we're covering this movie. Uh, but, uh, I, usually this is around the time where we go around the horn and kind of share our experience with the, the franchise writ large. Um,
00:04:48
Speaker
I'll go ahead and start because I have a feeling mine's going to be ah the quickest. I have none. I think I saw some friends of mine do a playthrough of one of the games in college. Not even a full playthrough, just like a scene.
00:05:01
Speaker
And then we ended up turning it off and putting on Empire Records. um So like it didn't last very long. ah Damn the man and all that. ah So yeah, my experience with this just Resident Evil as a whole, very, very limited. Yeah.
00:05:16
Speaker
Brett, I know this is a franchise that's near and dear to you, so I'm going to defer to Tucker first and let you let you let you take us home. Tucker, what is your experience with the Resident Evil franchise? Well, I don't want to to say too much because I kind of want to save my entire history with the franchise for the Patreon episode.
00:05:35
Speaker
But I will say that I've been playing the games since they came out. ah Not as much recently. They lost me at a certain point, but we'll get more into that in another episode.
00:05:46
Speaker
i mean um I never really liked any of the Paul W.S. Anderson movies. He produced this, by the way. He did. I saw that that. Oh, definitely caught that. Yeah. um I never... Like, the first one was okay.
00:06:02
Speaker
Like, it was fun. But after that, I just... I had no interest whatsoever. But this movie... i had I had a really good time with it. It's not good. it's it's This is the reverse disclaimer from the Departed episode.
00:06:16
Speaker
And it's, look, I know this movie is trash. I get that. You don't have to tell me. But I fucking loved it.
00:06:23
Speaker
So, Brett, now it's you. Well, and I before before Brett, before I pass the mic over to you, I do. Tucker did tease something and until I'll just go out. ah We'll front load it ah this month behind behind the paywall. Patreon dot com slash disenfranch pod.
00:06:38
Speaker
ah We're having kind of an unofficial Resident Evil month behind the paywall. So we've got at the at the three dollar level, we've got an episode of Unenfranchised covering Resident Evil, the final chapter from twenty seventeen.
00:06:50
Speaker
And at the $5 level, we've got an Oops All Video Game Corner episode about the entire Resident Evil franchise. So if you are a Resident Evil fan and you are not a patron, now is your time, friends.
Movie Critique: Fan Service vs. Storytelling
00:07:02
Speaker
Patreon.com slash disenfranchpod for all your Resident Evil needs. Brett, what is your history with this franchise?
00:07:10
Speaker
Very extensive. um Lay it on me, man. but's just i mean Just like you, Tucker. like i'll I'll get into it deeper. on the Patreon episode, but the same, I've been playing them since they came out.
00:07:24
Speaker
um Like before Director's Cut, like the very first very first release. um i played I played every single one, except for six, because six is long and bad.
00:07:40
Speaker
And stupid. And very stupid. um Don't pull punches, guys. Please tell us how you really feel. ah it's the worst Just you wait. Just you wait for the Patreon episode. I'll get into how much I hate six. I can't wait. I am going to have so much fun listening to you guys explain Resident Evil to me.
00:07:57
Speaker
It's going to be like a reverse Oops All Christianity corner. ah You guys are going to be explaining to me why this thing is great. We just unfortunately don't have anything for you to watch and reference and ask questions unless you like, here's 50 hours of Resident Evil gameplay. Go watch all this. and God bless you for thinking I have that kind of time.
00:08:18
Speaker
God, no, nobody does. I'm sure there's some lonely soul out there who does, but it's not me. No, definitely not somebody as old as me. Yeah.
00:08:29
Speaker
But yeah, so yeah, I've been playing it from the beginning. i saw all the movies, against my better judgment. um I've read the books. um God, what else have I done?
00:08:43
Speaker
I even played the Game Boy game. Resident Evil Gaiden. did you ever play um Did you ever play the deck building game?
00:08:55
Speaker
yes i did oh wow that's really fun it's really it's a real bitch to set up and tear down but boy is it worth it it is uh and i and it unfortunately got lost in the shuffle along many moves and i don't have no that thing's so expensive now it is so expensive because not only is it out of print the company that printed it isn't even in business anymore so and i'm so mad because i never got a copy Yeah.
00:09:22
Speaker
It's real good, though. It is real good. I enjoyed it a lot. I'm sure if Brett still had it, he would have loaned you his copy, too, Tucker. yeah totally Who I'm going to play it with. I mean, whenever you're in town, you know we can play it.
00:09:36
Speaker
I'm into that, yeah. um Which is, honestly, I'm surprised they haven't made more board games out of that franchise. I don't really know why haven't. It's made for It is, yeah.
00:09:47
Speaker
it is yeah I don't know why.
Plot Analysis and Setup for Franchise
00:09:52
Speaker
So, I don't know, man. you Look, i for a brief period, I um actually wanted to go into and into genetics for because of this franchise. You wanted you wanted to be the Umbrella kind Corporation.
00:10:10
Speaker
i wanted to know more about how the human body worked and how I can corrupt it in terrible ways. How to make dog zombies. I mean, really, isn't that what we're all after? Right.
00:10:21
Speaker
Isn't that what we all want, really, at the end of the day? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no. and like i and Until the lore got too convoluted, I used to know it inside and out.
00:10:35
Speaker
I had the lore books that they released. Wait, Brett, you you dug into the lore of a thing that you love? Yeah, no, right? Weird, huh? That's so unlike you.
00:10:47
Speaker
It is. but Let's be honest. um But really, if you want to hear something crazy, this is maybe one of the first things I dug into the lore the most. This was like the first time this was the first thing that I really became obsessed with and dug into the lore about.
00:11:04
Speaker
Brett, is it safe to say that the Resident Evil franchise is your favorite video game franchise? I think that's safe to say, yeah. Okay. Okay. That's pretty solid. right. I mean, given the way that you were talking about, given honestly how long you've wanted to talk about this movie, um i kind of got that impression, so Yeah, well, I mean, one wanted to talk about this movie is a stretch.
00:11:27
Speaker
Wanted is a large word. In the same way that you wanted to talk about World War Z, because this is ah this is a movie that you were going to have a lot to say about. Now, Brett, did you see this movie in theaters, or was this your first watch through of this movie?
00:11:39
Speaker
No, this came out during the... Not during... the plague times late 21 yeah so around plague time so i did this was a thanksgiving release as i recall i still was not ready to go to a theater yet fair enough
Game Scenes in the Movie: Fan Service Impact
00:11:55
Speaker
so i did catch it on demand okay i paid my premium 20 to watch this damn now at the end of the day brad do you feel that 20 was well spent
00:12:09
Speaker
I have conflicting feelings. ah Okay. I would expect nothing less. Which we'll get into, really, because that's my problem with this movie, is if ah if you're not a fan of the franchise, God help you.
00:12:22
Speaker
ah Hey, hi it's me. I'm the problem. Yeah. I have to imagine you gave this at most half a star. um No, i did I did give it a little more than that. Not much more, but a little more than that. oh that's That's fantastic. I'm surprised. because yeah I mean, look, it...
00:12:37
Speaker
a Kaya Scotellario gives it a full star all on her own. And I think Neil McDonough's presence is worth at least another half star. i i Yeah, I'll agree with that. And you know what? Let's do half star for Kaya, half star for Neil, half star for Donalogue, who is the best thing best part of anything he's in.
00:12:55
Speaker
fucking love Donalogue. I'll do a Donalogue sidebar later. Yeah, and we'll get into the changes they made to his character and why they're bad. Sure.
00:13:06
Speaker
Or boring. Really more boring than anything. They took a really nuanced ah take on, you know, how monsters aren't just mutated, you know, creations and are actually, you know, humans too.
00:13:21
Speaker
They took that sort of nuanced character and turned him into generic, angry police chief number four. Well, I mean, and that's... if if there is one thing that I think the zombie genre as a whole has given to us.
00:13:35
Speaker
And honestly, this is, this goes, this dates all the way back to Mary Shelley as well. It's the monster. Isn't the horror so much as it's the people like that's what George Romero was doing in night of the living dead. That's what Mary Shelley was doing in Frankenstein. The monster is not the monster. It's the titular Frankenstein. It's, it's the doctor who made him like, that's the real monster. That's the real horror there.
00:13:55
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's one thing that I think the zombie genre as a whole historically has done really well when it's done well. I think that's the basic premise that it's operating under.
00:14:06
Speaker
And when you start to get away from that, it starts to be less effective, I think, personally. No, no, I'd agree. I'd agree for sure. So it makes it even worse that they took that commentary from the games and just stripped it right out for the movie.
00:14:23
Speaker
Right. I mean, when, and and that, that, that strikes me as something that is particularly damning, I think in a lot of the adaptations that we do tend to get is you get this adaptation of a thing, but it completely misses the point of the thing. It's adapting.
00:14:41
Speaker
ah We, we talked about that a little bit when we talked about Zack Snyder's Watchmen. um Like how do you do an adaptation that on paper is so faithful while completely missing the point of what you're doing?
00:14:52
Speaker
Right. um And that from from what you're telling me, that seems to be what this movie is on its face. Yes and no, um because the problem with this movie is it goes it it almost has a Watchmen problem.
00:15:06
Speaker
It tries to give us too much fan service. I hate, and if there's one thing that's going to turn me off to a movie, it's fan service. you know You know that. I mean, don't get me wrong.
00:15:17
Speaker
Whoever did the production design for this movie, like the costume design, the set design, all that, they are absolutely fans of this video for game franchise. That's who you should have went and given your $20 to, Brett.
00:15:29
Speaker
Yeah. yeah it That's who was really carrying this movie. Absolutely it was. Look, he gives his $20. They get a cut. like they they They get residuals. They get they get paid as a result. I hope. I don't know how that that pay structure works, but I hope they're getting residuals off of that. oh A whole three cents. I'm sure they got that.
00:15:47
Speaker
Hey, you know what? As long as they're getting paid. but Like, it right down to... i even noticed that the boxes of ammo, when they're getting guns and stuff out of the... Yes....the locker in the police station, the boxes of ammo are the same.
00:16:03
Speaker
Like... And that's just like, its you barely see it. She grabs a box of ammo off the shelf and she doesn't even show it to the camera. It's just not front and center. I mean, and honestly, the fact that they don't do that,
Leon’s Character Portrayal Differences
00:16:16
Speaker
I like. Because you you know how I hate you know when when we give inanimate objects like undo like unnaturally undue attention. like Where you're like, hey, this is a thing from the video game. I'm going grab it now in a very obvious way. i think that's why i i'm normally cannot stand fan service.
00:16:34
Speaker
Like that's what for a time until I watched it a few times, that's what's kind of what kind of ruined Ghostbusters Afterlife for me. It's because there was so much and it was so blatant. It was so, hey, look at this, you know, but in this movie, there's a lot of it, but it's not like smacking you in the face. It's just the whole movie feels like the game.
00:16:55
Speaker
Like it's not good, and but it it really like I had to look down and make sure I like didn't have my controller in my hand at a few points. I was like, this is wow. I think you probably would have made some better decisions than the characters in this movie had you been playing this game.
00:17:08
Speaker
Probably. They did a speed run, too, because each of those campaigns is at least, I mean, 10 hours. and we get know We were in and out in less than two. so yeah And that's that's two campaigns two campaigns in the first game and, what, four campaigns if you count the A and the Bs technically in the second game? Yeah. yeah yeah Four different campaigns. campaigns in the second. yeah We're not going to adapt just one game.
00:17:29
Speaker
That's been done. Let's adapt two at the same time. I think this would have been great as like a mini series. Like the one that came out on Netflix. like I didn't see that. oh No, didn't see it oh no, no, not like that. but no. no no buts no i like say off stephen I'm just saying, give me like maybe four to six 45 minute episodes of something like this, uh, where we actually have a bit of time to develop some characters ah Because like for me, they they were developed I knew who they were. like I played the games.
00:18:02
Speaker
ah You could tell that some people had a few different characteristics from their characters in the game. You realize that, you move on. like It's very early in the film.
00:18:12
Speaker
It was very early in the film when I saw something directly out of the video game. The truck driver picking up the hamburger oh yeah from his dash. And I was like, this is going to be absurd, y'all. like I'm i i've checked in and I'm checked out.
00:18:27
Speaker
Like this movie can do anything and I'm still on board. Like I don't, my, my disbelief infinitely suspended. That's why I had a good time with this movie. and I do it completely completely agree with, except for what they, what they did to my boy. They massacred my boy, Leon.
00:18:44
Speaker
I don't know what they did. Yeah. he said I know you're a big Leon fan, and I was, I
Balancing Fan Service and Story Development
00:18:49
Speaker
was wondering what was, what you were going to think of that. um I mean, to your, to your comment about character development, Tucker, I would say we're building a franchise here. We don't have time for character development. We have to, we've we've got to build a franchise and there's, there's no room for character development in a franchise. I'm sorry. Not, not these days.
00:19:06
Speaker
i thought at first, I thought Leon was Carlos from Resident Evil 3.
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah. Because he has that hair and they share ethnicities. Yeah, but I feel like in this if this franchise had continued, Resident Evil 3 wouldn't exist.
00:19:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. i was kind of waiting for stuff from Resident Evil 3 to happen because the games happen kind of simultaneously. Two and three? Yeah.
00:19:36
Speaker
Well, you know this. I'm explaining it to Steven. Right. And at any level any listeners who made, like me, not be familiar with this video, as familiar with this franchise as you guys are. They take place at the same time, so I was... And Jill was there.
00:19:50
Speaker
So I kind of wanted the Carlos and all those... The bad dude that he was running with, like his squad leader or whatever, that turned out to be the bad dude in three.
00:20:02
Speaker
Nikolai, yeah. Yeah, I kind of expected them to show up. And had it been a four to six episode series with 45 minute episodes, it would have been perfect to have like just do the first three games and do them kind of in the same way.
00:20:16
Speaker
I did like how they were able to like... adapt certain parts of the story so that they did fit together whereas before they happened completely separate and stuff from the two separate games there were a few moments where i was like that's that's actually really clever yeah i was impressed to the point where i'm like i it almost reaches some points where i get with adaptations where it's like you were so close you really you were like that You were this far.
00:20:47
Speaker
You were so close. You were right there and you couldn't stick the landing. Yeah, because the writing is so bad. The dialogue is absurd. That's another thing that kept me in it.
00:21:00
Speaker
The dialogue's just so bad. How could you take any of it seriously anyway? And it's not... It's perfect because it's Resident Evil cutscene bad. Not RE1 cutscene bad. Original.
00:21:12
Speaker
But, like from like, from, like, two forward.
00:21:18
Speaker
Like, that level of dialogue and acting ability. Yeah, which... If that's what they were going for, fucking fantastic. um Great. I love that.
00:21:30
Speaker
But maybe don't. like I appreciate it as a fan. like That's cool that you did that. I see what you did there. um But who are you trying to impress? because Me, I guess. i Well, no, me too. like guess That's the problem with this movie.
00:21:45
Speaker
If you are not a fan of Resident Evil, what the fuck are you watching this movie for? For this podcast, that's what I'm watching this movie for. At the end, after that, which, again, I'm getting ahead of myself here, but that mid-credits scene, that's when I said, oh, okay, this is just a big bunch of fan film. That's what this is.
00:22:04
Speaker
because That's what it felt like. And that's I think that's why i I forgave it as much as I did and let things slide, is because you can tell like there's a lot of effort and a lot of heart and a lot of joy for the series coming from the creators. They're just not very good at telling a story.
00:22:26
Speaker
No, they got really close though. They did so close. they' So close guys. Come on. You can just ah change a couple of things. And I mean, come on, the dialogue may suck, but that, no, this is Jill's sandwich.
00:22:38
Speaker
Chef's kiss. Best mind of the whole movie. Yeah. I was kind of surprised that they didn't mention her lockpicking skills, to be honest. I did appreciate the the knife in the door that Claire did. I did appreciate that.
00:22:53
Speaker
was Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
Shrug. Yeah. travins I mean, I'm i'm um restraining myself for, because like, i'll I'll take the restraining jacket off for the Patreon episode, but not for the main feed.
00:23:10
Speaker
Sure. I don't want to take up the whole time here. No, I mean, you you know you you gotta you gotta to save, again, you gotta to save the good stuff for the paying customers. If you're good at something, don't do it for free. And Brett is real, real good about talking about Resident Evil, so he's not gonna do that for free. I am, yeah.
00:23:25
Speaker
Indeed. So should we do the plot, you guys? let's Let's go ahead and get into the plot. Let's do the plot of this movie in 60 seconds and a little segment that we call The Plot in 60
Plot Summary and Game Connection Analysis
00:23:36
Speaker
Seconds. This is the part of the show where we your hosts, do recount the plot Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City 2021 in 60 seconds or less. The Coin of Justice still packed, still have not unpacked. ah you should probably find the box that that's in sooner rather than later. What'd you guys do last week?
00:23:58
Speaker
We flipped a quarter. tucker Tucker had a a quarter that we flipped. Oh, okay. The die is returned. All right, so we're back to the die of justice, which we are we're coining the the die that Brett has been using.
00:24:13
Speaker
ah Brett will assign each of us two numbers on the die, and then he will roll it, and whoever it lands on will recount the plot of Resident Evil. Welcome to Raccoon City in 60 seconds, or let Brett...
00:24:25
Speaker
What numbers are you assigning to which of us? Well, this this format seems to be continues to work. So, well, it works against me, but definitely works for you guys. Well, no, I mean, I will I will assign it in terms of assigning numbers in in order of how much we care about this movie.
00:24:41
Speaker
Touche. So one and two for you, Stephen. Hey, hey. And three and four for you, Tucker. Five and six for me, because I love it the most. OK. I really hope that Steven gets it.
00:24:53
Speaker
I know you do. i Look, i have gotten it like the last I've gotten it like the last three weeks, so odds are in your favor that I will. I'm really praying I don't, but again, Justice hates me these days, so I'm just going to accept it.
00:25:06
Speaker
Which one am And look at that. You're safe, Steven. That's a five. That's Brett. I get to do it. Probably the best man to do it.
00:25:18
Speaker
Honestly, I agree. i yeah No, no, no. You are. No, no, no. You got this. I will put 60 seconds on the clock for you, my friend, because I care about you that much.
00:25:32
Speaker
um I mean, it won't be that bad. I'll just you recount the plot of the first two video games, and that'll cover it, really. I mean, you'd hope so, but yeah. All right, sir. We have 60 seconds on the clock. you're time I will give you, again, as I always do, the 30 and the 10-second warnings. so Your time, she starts...
00:25:51
Speaker
Right now. All right. So Claire is returning to Raccoon City after running away, um growing up in the orphanage there in town. um She gets back into town looking for her brother.
00:26:04
Speaker
um And some shit's going down. Umbrella's leaving the town, which is a weird choice. um And zombies are happening, maybe. then we then we would Then we cut over and meet the... Are they the Stars team? It's never mentioned. They might just be regular cops. We don't really know. thirty seconds um And then shit goes downhill from there. Some stuff happens at the police station.
00:26:31
Speaker
There's a body up at the mansion. Alpha team has to go save Bravo team, just like the games. um Wesker betrays the team. Birkin mutates. His daughter's there.
00:26:42
Speaker
i Leon and Claire make it to... did They all get on a train and the place blows up and Birkin somehow mutates twice, but not four times. like That is time. That is time.
00:27:00
Speaker
i think it was Starz because... they It was on their patches. It was on the patches on the... I'm just saying in The Office gave me vibes from The Office and the remake.
00:27:12
Speaker
It did, yeah, but they never specifically mentioned it. And also, that scene where they're first introduced in in the diner felt more like they were just cops. Right. Yeah, because they were messing with Leon. and yeah I thought it said Stark, because I saw i saw like the the acronym on the patch, and I was like, does that say Stark? And then I looked a little closer. No, it's STARS.
00:27:33
Speaker
I don't know what that is, so I had to Google that. Special Tactics and Rescue Squad. And now that is a thing that I know. so Yeah. um Google and Wikipedia helped me out a lot in this and watching this movie. I'm not going to lie.
00:27:48
Speaker
i was pretty much the whole movie. It was just kind of like half watching, half looking at my phone, trying to pick up on the references. So I probably missed half this movie trying to understand the other half of this movie.
00:28:00
Speaker
Should have watched this together. i could have just talked you through it. Honestly, that probably would have been the best. But i I watched this last night. You guys both watched it today. so That's true. Pretty much simultaneously.
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, because I waited to the last minute to watch it. And I didn't want to do that. so I like having it fresh when I get here. i and i And I know you do. I know that that that's something. I like to be able to sit with it. I like to you know see to what level it resonates. And I'm not going to lie to you.
00:28:30
Speaker
ah This one did not really resonate with me all that much. I'm not going to lie to you. can't imagine it would. Um, I, though I will tell you, Kaya Scodelario, maybe one of my kind of favorite up and coming horror actresses. I think she's really, really good. And honestly, I thought she was a lot of fun in this movie.
00:28:50
Speaker
Um, was a big fan of her in, uh, in crawl. Did you guys see crawl in 2019? I did not. Uh, it's a, uh, Alexander Aja alligator in the basement movie.
00:29:03
Speaker
ah ah produced by Sam Raimi and starring her and Barry Pepper as as a father and daughter who are trapped in a basement with an alligator in the middle of a flood. And i got to tell you, that movie fucking rules. I had a good time.
00:29:17
Speaker
i had a good time with Kral. Kral was a good time. This movie, not as good a time. But I, again, I i have some appreciation for Kaya Scardellario. That movie rips. You guys should check it out for sure. Like I, I had a good time with that movie. I thought she was really good in it.
00:29:33
Speaker
Um, apparently she was in the maze runner movies, which is not a franchise that I've seen. She's also apparently in extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile, uh, a movie that my girlfriend, has seen and said it was pretty good. So that's the, the Ted Bundy, but she's also in clash of the Titans and, uh, weathering Heights,
00:29:52
Speaker
And Moon, the the Duncan Jones movie Moon, if you guys have seen Moon. Did not see it. I will say her hair looks great in this movie. And no, I haven't seen Moon.
00:30:05
Speaker
With the ah Sam Rockwell. Sam Rockwell and um Creep of the Month, Kevin Spacey. Oh, wait, I have seen that movie. It's good. It's good. Yeah. I have not, but I love Sam Rockwell.
00:30:17
Speaker
You would probably dig Moon. it's pretty much ah It's pretty much a character study of his character, and it's kind of good. That sounds really rad. Plus, it's David Bowie's son directing a movie, and what's not so... We will actually cover a Duncan Jones movie on this podcast when we get to Warcraft.
00:30:35
Speaker
Oh, boy. I can't can't wait. Oh, I can tell. I can tell. you're kind that you're gonna You're going to have a blast. We're all going to have a blast. We're all going to love it. Yay.
00:30:47
Speaker
I probably won't love it. I'm an not going love it. ain't shit. I can't imagine I'll enjoy it even remotely. Brett, that that honestly, that quote could probably go on your creator page or your tombstone or something you'll be remembered for for all time. I ain't loving shit. What what what a great quote. No, you do actually love ah lot.
00:31:08
Speaker
In fact, you do you give me shit for all the shit I don't love, so... Yeah, that's true. You need to love more stuff and stop being so critical things. That's what I say. having Heaven forbid I be critical about the art I consume.
00:31:21
Speaker
Why not both? I submit, why not both? Tucker, what a what a calming influence between the two of us. You are Tucker.
00:31:32
Speaker
Yeah, you're you're you're the balance. done I'm one extreme. I'm like, love shit more than criticize it. Steven's like criticize shit more than love it. It's like, what? Come on, man. I'm just like criticize shit, but love that. Love the shit that you you you find to be good. And that's kind of where I'm at. And I look, I do love movies.
00:31:50
Speaker
Just the premise of this podcast means that we tend to cover more movies that I'm less inclined to love as as ones I am. so And I feel like over time, if you go back, um I have gone into movies I thought were going to suck and love them.
00:32:04
Speaker
And i don't i I don't know how many times it's actually happened for you. I could maybe count it on like two fingers. I don't know if it's happened that few times. There have been times where I've been like, i don't know about this one. and I've gone and gone. Well, that was a blast.
00:32:18
Speaker
Like, ah I know Speed Racer was one of those kind of like, I don't know about this. And I fucking loved Speed Racer. um I'd say that about Popeye. But the the first time I watched Popeye, that was true. But by the time we ended up covering it on this podcast, I i was an unabashed lover of Popeye.
00:32:34
Speaker
I will continue to be an unabashed lover of Popeye. That movie. God, I love Popeye.
00:32:42
Speaker
You sure do. You sure do. And one day when we get, um oh gosh, 2,000 patrons, we will we will take a disenfranchised trip to Malta and visit the Popeye Village in Malta. we'll record a podcast at the Popeye Village? Yep, 100%.
00:33:01
Speaker
That sounds really rad. Doesn't it? Doesn't it just? You can get married at Popeye Village, actually. But I don't want to marry either of you guys. No, I don't want to marry either of you guys either, but if either of you had someone you wanted to marry, you could marry them at Popeye Village.
00:33:15
Speaker
I thought you meant while we were there to record the podcast, we would get married. No, we should all get married to each other. That would be great. No, I don't think so, man. Think of the tax write-off, Tucker. Think of the tax write-off.
00:33:27
Speaker
Man, I already got a kid, so it's cool. I mean, that is... get money. That's true, you do. That is pretty much the plot of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, though. Let's be honest. literally just described the plot of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. You did it. You wrote it again.
00:33:40
Speaker
Thank you, Steven. Like that movie needed to be rewritten. Some would say it did. i yeah i don't know. I'm less i'm less sure. um
00:33:52
Speaker
um But Resident Evil, welcome to Raccoon City. No, Kaya Scott-O'Lario, wonderful actress. i think she's I think she's a lot of fun. And um yeah, I want to see her do more things.
00:34:04
Speaker
um Maybe more things that are less like this.
00:34:08
Speaker
I don't know. She's pretty good. Claire? i think she's one of the best parts of this movie. Don't get me wrong. But i I would like her to find a franchise that that she can flourish in rather than something like this that kind of just falls out of the gate.
00:34:24
Speaker
Yeah. I'd agree. um But her as Claire in this movie leaves a little to be desired. I think she's she does the badass side of Claire very well.
00:34:38
Speaker
um but never Is there more to that character? There is. There's tons more to that character. Not that you would know, Steven. That's why I'm asking. is Come on. I'm setting you up, Brad. I'm setting you up. Explain it to me. Explain it to me like I'm five. She has her own game in the series, man.
00:34:55
Speaker
Code Veronica is all Claire. didn't know that. What's the reference in this movie? What the fuck? I know. That was yeah so out of left field. I was like, are you seriously showing me the cut scene from Code Veronica right now?
00:35:11
Speaker
never Didn't expect that to happen. that i For the listener at home, I don't know what any of this means. It's okay. One day, Steven, maybe. When you're old enough. I am expecting you to explain all of this to me on the Upsaw Video Game Corner episode for this month, because I am so fucking lost right now.
00:35:26
Speaker
You know, if we all had time and weren't like adults or whatever, ah we would have a disenfranchised Twitch channel and we'd just play through all the games and Steven would just be there with us as we played through them.
00:35:40
Speaker
You know what? i i can I can see that being a thing that a handful of people would probably really like. Yeah. yeah It's kind of like those posts you see where it's like, my girlfriend drew Pokemon based on their names, and like the girlfriend doesn't know anything about it.
00:35:59
Speaker
It would be like that. Or or my girlfriend my girlfriend tries to tell me the names of Pokemon based on what they look like and not anything else. Yeah, the exact opposite of what I said, Stephen. Yes. Exactly.
00:36:11
Speaker
i see i see the the my thing more than I see your thing, but yeah. Yeah, I was trying to say your thing, but you didn't have to rub it in my face, Steven. People knew what I meant. Bring it in. Bring it in, buddy.
00:36:22
Speaker
It's okay. Let's hug it out, bitch. It's too hot in my room. I don't want to hug. It's pretty warm here, which is why i took off my jacket and I'm wearing a tank top right now. So you get to see get to see my fat body and a tu in a tank top right now. one i was i was of a desk fan right here for such an occasion.
00:36:37
Speaker
I have a desk fan, but i have limited I have a limited amount of plugs by my desk right now. I have a desk fan, but I'm a damn professional. I wouldn't run a fan while I was running a microphone. Do you ever hear mine?
00:36:51
Speaker
No comment. Point me. Advantage, right. and So anyway, you so Tugger is correct. Claire gets her own game.
00:37:02
Speaker
Because here's a funny story. I'll tell you, Stephen. Multiple games are built around the premise that Claire is looking for Chris and can't find him. Okay. um Because the mansion incident happens...
00:37:17
Speaker
And then the Chris is is in the mansion. BT dubs. Yes. Chris is in mansion. Well, he's there with the rest of Alpha team, which is there to rescue Bravo team. And Bravo team went into the mansion, didn't come out of the mansion.
00:37:29
Speaker
Some of them made it to the mansion. A good portion of them didn't. um Okay. Touche. Rebecca stopped off at a train, but we'll get back into that later. Wait, wait, Rebecca.
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah. yeah she She stopped off at the train, man. Had to help out this ex-con. For some reason, she's not in this movie. A sex con? was Barry isn't either. I was shocked to see that both Barry and Rebecca are not in this movie. I was very upset.
00:37:55
Speaker
They easily could have just had the dude that died that they got the first Resident Evil 1 zombie reveal shot. He was getting eaten. That guy. That could have just easily been Barry. I don't know why they made to somebody else.
00:38:07
Speaker
I'd been upset. Don't know kill off my boy Barry that easily. I'm just saying it would have been easy to squeeze him in there without really sacrificing too much of what was already in the movie.
00:38:19
Speaker
That's all I'm saying. Would it have been ideal? No, I'm just saying it feels silly just not to include him at all. Well, yeah, true. I agree. For a second, I thought that Richard was going to be Barry.
00:38:31
Speaker
Then was like, that doesn't look like Barry at all. um Also upset that Brad Vickers, the helicopter pilot, um doesn't run away. he just dies.
00:38:43
Speaker
Yeah, what happened there? I think... Crashes into the side of the the building, right? Yeah. So i I need you guys to help me with this memory because I was going to rewind, but I knew you guys would be able to help me.
00:38:54
Speaker
um There's this song that was in this movie. Thankfully, very, very briefly. It's probably my least favorite song of all time, and it's called What's Up by Four Non-Blondes. I fucking love that song. Yeah. That song...
00:39:09
Speaker
Oh, o man, I hate that song. Does it make you cry sometimes when you're lying in bed just to get it all out what's in your head? Steven, I know where you live. Does it make you feel a little peculiar? Actually, you don't know where I live now because I just moved out of state. I could find out real easy all that.
00:39:24
Speaker
You probably could, yeah. i Look, if you asked me, I'd probably just tell you. Let's be honest. and I hate that song so much. And it came on very briefly. They didn't even get to like any of the super annoying parts.
00:39:38
Speaker
And ah for like maybe five seconds, but like, I got so mad because when I heard that song and I just, I didn't really black out. I just wasn't paying attention. Did like a zombie come to the window or something and get him?
00:39:51
Speaker
Yep. it did yeah And then he flew. Okay. Because then the next time he flew the helicopter into the mansion, which he should have flown it into the police station. Um, Look, he's flying it into a building, okay? Just take what you can get. I'm mixing up my references, but if I'm going to get a helicopter in a building in a Resident Evil movie, I want it to be a police helicopter into the police station.
00:40:11
Speaker
Steven has actually kind of nailed it. I think that's what that's supposed to be a reference to. They didn't have a way to shoehorn it into crashing into the police station, so they crashed it into the mansion. Right. and Which is, again, it's kind of one of those...
00:40:23
Speaker
Those things with adaptation and it's it's kind of a fan service moment, but it also it's it's how do you do fan service while still servicing the story you're trying to tell? And that's that's what that is.
00:40:36
Speaker
It's also it was a running joke in the first four games, maybe the first five. I don't remember um that a helicopter has to crash at some point.
00:40:46
Speaker
Okay. So, yeah, don't know why. Sometimes, multiple ones. If we had gotten sequels to this movie, there would have been multiple helicopter crashes into multiple buildings, is what you're telling me. One would assume. Okay. ah yeah I would hope so. I was really disappointed that they didn't um include the, when you knock the dude off the platform with the shipping container, I wanted to see that.
00:41:10
Speaker
we Because they didn' they did the first boss fight perfectly. They have to save something the sequel, Tucker. The boiler room and stuff. that's like what i Like I said, I hate fan service, but this movie, I was really getting into it because like when he first meets the dude with the eyeballs on his shoulder, the the doctor that that jabs himself,
00:41:29
Speaker
Which they really destroyed the character of his wife. She's such a bigger deal. She's a doctor in the game. And she's just kind of this lady. yeah ah But anyway, that first boss fight, that's in the movie. And it's it's perfect. like You're just running around like and turning around and shooting him as much as you can. And just like running and running and running. And just that scene, i i it felt a lot like the actual boss battle.
00:41:55
Speaker
Which I think is why someone like you, Steven, who's never played these games... Like, I can't understand how anyone who hasn't played these games would have any interest in this whatsoever. And I think that's both a blessing and a curse, because you kind of kind of want to appeal to a wide audience.
00:42:14
Speaker
Well, think it's pretty clear that this is a a movie that is made for fans of the game. And if you're not a fan of the game, I don't think this movie really does the due diligence it needs to do to bring in a new audience. It's really going out.
00:42:30
Speaker
I think what it's trying to do, Brett, based on what you've told me about the Paul W.S. Anderson films, um And again, I've never seen any of those movies. I'm strictly going entirely based on what you've told me.
00:42:41
Speaker
Those films are not really true to the spirit of the games or to anything in the games, really. the first They use names sometimes? Sorry, Brett. it's No, you know. Go ahead.
00:42:53
Speaker
They just use the names and some of the locations. like the The story is completely different. It does its own thing the entire time. Every once in a while, you get a character that has a game or a name from the game.
00:43:09
Speaker
um And whether they actually represent that character in any way is kind of a toss-up. Okay. and so And also they're real bad. If they were real good, that would, I would be okay with that.
00:43:22
Speaker
Well, I mean, I've got, I've got three, I've got two words and two initials for you, Paul W.S. Anderson. Um, but, um, I don't know. i this So in that way, this movie feels like a course correction.
00:43:34
Speaker
Like if we're going to reboot the Resident Evil franchise, like that movie, that franchise was too successful for too long to try to do something other than what that franchise was doing until it had run its course.
00:43:47
Speaker
And it officially finished in 2017. We got the final chapter. One of the few movies where final chapter is in the ah header and it actually ended up being the final chapter. They mean it. They, they mean it. They meant it this time.
00:44:00
Speaker
Right. Um, like the final nightmare was not the last Friday it was not the last nightmare on Elm Street movie. Friday the 13th, the final chapter was the fourth movie in that long running franchise. So like, this is kind of a franchise where they meant it when they put final chapter in the, in the heading.
00:44:15
Speaker
Um, But then with all that said, so so again, that that being said, this this movie feels then like a course correction in the other direction. Like, let's make a movie that is so true to the video games and, you know, with so much fan service for the people that felt betrayed by what Paul W.S. Anderson was doing.
00:44:35
Speaker
But again, it's it it feels, based on what you're telling me, it feels all very surface level. It doesn't feel like it actually gets into the story in a way that is meaningful and resonant with what the games are trying to do.
00:44:51
Speaker
Am I wrong? does that Or does that does that vibe with what you're telling This is what I'm hearing based on what you guys are telling me. I think, for me, it's they overcorrected a bit.
00:45:03
Speaker
um And I think there are instances in this film, ah like I said, with certain scenes really feeling like certain parts of the game ah that work and they work really well. it's And you can tell that the filmmakers have a lot of love for this series and they put a lot of effort into this.
00:45:24
Speaker
Just unfortunately, they did not have the raw talent to pull it off and ah appeal to anyone other than someone who is intimately familiar with the story of the first two and a half games yeah and i i do i do agree with your points even i think it is it's all surface level stuff that i don't i mean ah the fact that paul w sanderson produced this movie feels more like a slap in the face really Like, okay yeah okay, you dumb fans, here.
00:45:55
Speaker
Here's your fan service movie. Leave me the fuck alone. But I think, was he a producer or was he an executive producer? Because there is a difference in those roles. He was executive.
00:46:11
Speaker
Executive producer is kind of one of those in-title-only sort of... roles where you don't have to do anything, but your name attached to it gets other people who actually have money to pony up money.
00:46:23
Speaker
Like Christopher Nolan on the man of steel. Exactly. Or like Steven Spielberg on pretty much all of the other Amblin movies in the eighties. Right. Like his, his involvement gets other people interested and involved. So Paul W. Sanderson, I guess is kind of that bridge between the two. Like,
00:46:43
Speaker
Don't worry, Paul W. Sanderson is still kind of involved, but it's a name-only kind of thing, and he's does he's but he's collecting a paycheck. don't Don't worry about it. He's getting money off this movie, but he doesn't have any kind of creative input into it whatsoever.
00:46:59
Speaker
right. Well, I stand corrected. Either way. word um I still feel like this is a course correction and too far in the other direction. No, I mean, now and then again, that's – I feel that – like that's really what it – again, based solely on the conversations that you and I have had about this franchise, Brett, which are minimal, I wouldn't say that we've really – you've really gone too, too deep on this. I know that you don't like the Paul W. Sanderson movies. Yeah.
00:47:28
Speaker
But yeah, this this feels like a ah step too far in the other direction, really. Like it's all, it's it's fan service, which fan service tends to be surface level stuff anyway. It doesn't really, if if you're worried about like being, playing nice with the fans, you're not really worried about getting too deep and into story.
00:47:46
Speaker
You're really just, you're after the Easter eggs. And if you're building a story for the Easter eggs, you're not really telling a story. You're just... I mean, that that was our that was my problem with like The Mummy.
00:47:57
Speaker
like There's a good story in there somewhere. You're just so concerned with building a franchise that you don't pay any attention to the story that you have right in front of you. You're not worried about telling that story. You're worried about telling 10 stories down the road.
00:48:09
Speaker
And that's not that's not how you make a movie. That's not how you build a franchise. Which is absolutely this movie's problem. Exactly. Well, I don't know because I'm not sure how...
00:48:22
Speaker
It's weird because this film is so close in a lot of ways ah to the first two games, but the way it ends doesn't doesn't open up anything to anything that would be faithful to any of the other games.
00:48:40
Speaker
Because the small changes that they've made has thrown everything so far off course that I feel like if they made a sequel to this, it would they'd just be making stuff up as they went along. Do you know what I mean, Brett?
00:48:52
Speaker
i I feel like they, honestly, thinking about it, i bet they absolutely, the sequel to this movie absolutely would have been a Code Veronica adaptation.
00:49:05
Speaker
Because you you cause they're the the twins in the video are from the orphanage. Claire would maybe want to go find them. The whole video's in there. Can I stop you a second and say that whole video's in there with the dragonfly and the ants?
00:49:18
Speaker
The entire cutscene is in the back of the movie. lost my mind so many times in this movie and that was one of them. I was like, ah, I haven't seen that in like 15 years. I forgot about that. The attention to detail.
00:49:30
Speaker
um It's amazing. All of it completely lost on me. Yeah, of course. Yeah, that's because again, this movie is not made for someone like myself. This movie is made for people like you guys who are intimately familiar with this franchise. But that's kind of what's there are some times where the fan service stuff is universal because like making the the Ashford twins orphans from the orphanage.
00:49:56
Speaker
The general audience goes, OK, those are twins from the orphanage. Meanwhile, the fans are freaking the fuck out inside because, oh my god, this is an entire cutscene in Code Veronica. um That's when it works. the the The joke about this is Jill's sandwich. That's a funny line the you know the general public might find funny. They might not. I don't know. It's just a line.
00:50:18
Speaker
But for fans, great. We loved it. It's hilarious. Best line in the whole movie. um
00:50:26
Speaker
There needed to be more of that. Fan service is great when it's buried and hidden behind stuff that the general populace can get behind. Not just, hey, let's say each other's names over and over again.
00:50:41
Speaker
says My name's Jill Valentine. Did you hear it? My name's Jill Valentine. Wink. Wink. My name is Jill Valentine. You know, from the games, you know, you know from the video games, you know, from TV. Yeah, that's me.
00:50:54
Speaker
I'm Resident Evil's Jill Valentine. and Welcome to Jackass. Wait, no, sorry. Wrong. Sorry. the The amount of times that they mentioned Leon's name. God, so many times.
00:51:07
Speaker
Well, I think honestly, it's because he looks so much like Carlos. You gotta remind people. like This is Leon, not Carlos. This is not Carlos. We promise. I know he acts just like Carlos.
00:51:18
Speaker
But he's not Carlos. But like I mentioned earlier, though, talking about Leon, Jesus Christ, they massacred my boy. um Yeah, they sure did. did you ah you He's such a buffoon in this at certain points.
00:51:32
Speaker
It's the exact opposite of how he is in the games. he like he he does' it He's a rookie cop, sure. But see, in the video game universe, Umbrella is in charge of this entire town and never leaves.
00:51:44
Speaker
It's a city. That's why it's called Raccoon City. don't know why they made it like this small little, like, basically a mining town. Like, it's just... It really feels like one of those small towns where there's only like one business that's kind of keeping the entire town afloat.
00:51:59
Speaker
Whereas, i mean, honestly, it would probably be more like we're all from Indianapolis. It would probably be more like an Eli Lilly situation where there's one major like pharmaceutical company in the town that does a lot of national business.
00:52:13
Speaker
But there are a lot of other businesses and a lot of other corporations there as well. Well, and what I thought was weird is they keep describing it as a small town. um And the wide shots, like when they pull out and show the whole town, it looks like a small town.
00:52:30
Speaker
But then you have locations like the orphanage, which was... one-to-one perfect from the game looks just like it does in the game. It looks like a toy store.
00:52:41
Speaker
And so does the, uh, shot for shot, man. Let tell you. No, I believe it is the orphanage. And so does the police station. And if you're wondering, Steven, why the police station looks like that, it's because it used to be a museum.
00:52:55
Speaker
Okay. But see, you have those two locations, which are clearly locations from a rather old, but a big city. Mm-hmm. But what are they doing in this little tiny town?
00:53:09
Speaker
Dang it, you guys are making me not like this movie. Let's stop talking about it so I can still enjoy it Nope. Strap in. I'm not done yet. So the reason that Leon is sent to Raccoon City is because he's like top of his class, rookie. He's sent to Raccoon City because it's a very like prestigious position to get on the police force. So he doesn't accidentally shoot his partner because of his ineptitude?
00:53:35
Speaker
Fuck no. I can't imagine Leon would, no. No. ah is leon is Leon is your stereotypical, at least from Resident Evil 4 onward, he is definitely your stereotypical cocky, quipping action hero.
00:53:52
Speaker
Okay. um I mean, after Resident Evil 2, he gets recruited by the U.S. s government to like personal detail for the president. um after the events of Resident Evil 6, when the president gets infected and dies, and that entire city goes down, he becomes this grizzled, day-drinking, I'm-over-this-shit type of character, which is like my favorite Leon.
00:54:16
Speaker
Leon Prime. I mean, I know this was a favorite character of yours, Brett, because don't know if you remember this, but way back in the early days of um of of our blog, we got five on it, the blog that kind of birthed this podcast in and a lot of ways.
00:54:33
Speaker
um We did a top five characters you'd want on your your side to compat to combat a zombie apocalypse. And you, one of yours was Leon.
00:54:44
Speaker
So I knew this was a character that you really liked, that you really loved, but I couldn't figure out why based on this movie. Like, I knew this was a character you really liked, but I couldn't. I was like, why is this the character that that Brett seems to re resonate with the most?
00:55:03
Speaker
He's bizarro Leon in this. Like, he's the complete opposite of everything his character is in the games. It's kind of odd. and i so this is This is a thing you do sometimes, Stephen. will You extrapolate how much I love something just because I included it on a list once.
00:55:20
Speaker
um i don't Of all the characters in this franchise, he's the one you include, though. Yes. ah can't get it We'll get into why on the Patreon. That's way too long for me to explain. Sure, sure. um Because my favorite character in the entire franchise is Barry Burton.
00:55:36
Speaker
And the reason I didn't, I'll at least say this, the reason I didn't include him because he's got a family and he doesn't want to deal with this shit. and That's a very clear part of his character in the first game. he's He gets blackmailed to betray the team with Wesker because his kids.
00:55:54
Speaker
They're going to kill his kids. So he goes along with portraying the team. He regrets it, becomes a hero at the end. um And then we don't ever see him again. Unless you get the secret ending of three where he rescues Jill and Carlos.
00:56:06
Speaker
Okay. But that's not in the remake. So that's questionable canon at this point.
00:56:14
Speaker
um But so, yeah, that's why. Because otherwise i would have included Barry, but I didn't because he's got a family and he doesn't need to deal with that. Touche. Meanwhile, Leon has survived like five different outbreaks.
00:56:28
Speaker
And just, you know, still kicks ass every time. um That could be said about Chris as well. i got Chris is way too much of a bro.
00:56:39
Speaker
The dude punches boulders, Tucker. He's kind of op p He's a little OP, p yeah. Yeah, I can't really get behind a boulder-punching guy. I'm surprised they didn't make a joke about in this movie. Yeah.
00:56:51
Speaker
The boulder punching is kind of like a meme even in the games now. Yes. um but yeah But no, I can get into why I didn't include other characters on that list in the Patreon.
00:57:03
Speaker
I have my reasons. sure I don't doubt it. So Leon isn't my favorite. Okay. He's up there. He's probably top five. Okay. But your favorite character they didn't even include in this movie. No.
00:57:15
Speaker
No. But again, the only reason I know the name Leon Kennedy is because you included him on that list way back in the day. Yeah. I mean, he's also he basically is the face of the franchise at this point.
00:57:29
Speaker
So to the point where people got sick of him for a while. OK. That's why six did so badly. Well, that, and it sucked. No, that too, yeah.
00:57:41
Speaker
So there's that as well. Resident Evil 6 is the most Resident Evil of any Resident Evil game, and that's not a good thing. Hmm. No. They went too far. They did.
00:57:52
Speaker
They really did. but Much like this movie, and it's fan service. Let's steer it back.
00:58:00
Speaker
you just gotta, you know, gotta do fan service better.
00:58:05
Speaker
And i mean, yeah, but again, I'm generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of fan service. So like I always kind of get a little like when I see it, if it's not done, like subtly, if it's not kind of one of those things that's hidden.
00:58:18
Speaker
But if I can tell that's what you're trying to do, like it's not going to work on me. I don't know. Maybe I'm weird, but I mean, and well, in this movie's case, did you even know when something was fan service or not?
00:58:30
Speaker
Nope. Yeah, that's the problem. But again, I'm not a fan of this franchise either. So again, this movie doesn't feel like it's made for me. Yeah, um again, that's this movie's problem.
00:58:41
Speaker
Right. So like it doesn't really do anything to bring me on board as and as a non-fan of this franchise, but it it seems to irk people like yourselves who actually are fans of this franchise. So there there feels like there needs to be a balance. The the right balance is somewhere in the middle.
00:58:59
Speaker
If I'm being honest, I would much rather have something like this than any of the previous films. I'd watch seven of these before I'd watch seven of the Paul W.S. Anderson ones.
00:59:15
Speaker
No, you hard agree. because because it They're so boring, and who cares? and It's just a vehicle for him to show off how hot his wife is. Like, it's really all it is. Which, fair, but also come on. Touché.
00:59:29
Speaker
Like, would that we all had that problem. ah what What a problem to have. my i so So, Brett, I mentioned earlier the 2022 Netflix series, um the Resident Evil series.
00:59:44
Speaker
Okay, and that's what I want to that's what i want to get get into, is what about that Like, I mean, is, does this still rate as the best adaptation of the Resident Evil games, even compared to the series? yeah And what was it about the series that was so egregious?
01:00:02
Speaker
I have to interject. I am so sorry. ah This is not the best adaptation of the video game put on screen or put on film. That would be the Japanese commercial for Resident Evil 2 directed by George Romero himself. Well, sure. Yes.
01:00:18
Speaker
Okay, let's let's count film and television then. Let's let's not include commercials. Who also wrote a script for the original Resident Evil movie. Which was pretty good. Let's see if we can find that. It really good, actually. Let's see if we can find that and record that as a bonus episode sometime. Yes, let's.
01:00:32
Speaker
Way into that, because it's really, really good. and's it I think it would have been a lot like this movie in that it it kind of got the the feeling and and the the look of a lot of places right, but you would have had George back there making sure that the story made sense.
01:00:49
Speaker
Right. You know? Yeah, but it's the funny thing about that, though, Tucker. You know, he wrote a script based on a video game series about zombies, right? um They told him it was ah too much zombies.
01:01:05
Speaker
Yeah. I know. It's it's a's a damn shame we never got George Romero's Resident Evil. And I've been feeling real bad about it ever since the ninety s yeah Much like, honestly, I'll agree with your point a minute ago. I would would love to have seven of these over seven of the other ones.
01:01:25
Speaker
um yeah Because as much as as as much as this movie is not good, um I still wanted to see where they were going with it. I still got excited about seeing Ada and the in the post-credit scene.
01:01:38
Speaker
I did too. Is she, um this may sound a little off, but is she Asian in the game? Yeah, she is. Is she? I mean, her name is Ada Wong. I was going to say, her last name is an Asian name. I I do not recall her character model from the original game because I never played the original Resident Evil 3. I've only seen people play it a few times.
01:02:01
Speaker
I don't recall her character model from that, but her character model in the remake looks like an ex-girlfriend of mine and she's not Asian. I think it's less apparent in the remake, maybe.
01:02:13
Speaker
i don't know.
01:02:16
Speaker
I think they did maybe move away from her appearing to Asian at one point, or at least in the more recent games. Especially in 6, they really kind of downplay it. I mean, I keep coming back to 6 for some fucking reason.
01:02:31
Speaker
but It clearly made an impression. Yeah, and it wasn't a good one, but it still made an impression. um
01:02:39
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Because, I mean, in in the original Resident Evil 4, like... she's wearing a very like Chinese inspired dress design or like Japanese Chinese dress design.
01:02:52
Speaker
Um, that is meant to invoke, you know, that she's Asian. Um, you know I'm looking at photos right now. um And it's weird now that I know that she's Asian. She does look kind of Asian.
01:03:08
Speaker
Why do I feel so racist with this line of inquiry? was going to say. into like I don't mean to. It's just I was i was so shocked at that. I mean, there had been other race swaps in the film, which is fine.
01:03:20
Speaker
so it's just It just hit me at that moment where I was like, her name's Ada Wong, but she never appeared Asian to me in the games. just thought that was weird. Weird subconsciously racist racist sidebar. I apologize, guys.
01:03:36
Speaker
How dare you. Sorry. yeah Look, I've been there on this podcast. Honestly, haven't we all at this point? I think so, yeah. I mean, welcome, Tucker. This is, I guess, your initiation, but ooh.
01:03:49
Speaker
Right, at least it wasn't that bad. Right. It could been much worse. and I mean, mine at least mine was just, does she pass as white? Yeah.
01:04:00
Speaker
There are far worse things than that. I could have broken my racist cherry on the podcast. Sure. oh
01:04:10
Speaker
Sorry. Sorry, listeners. God, I'm the sorry. about um God, am I ever sorry. like where're does three middle aged this why du we We're We're just a bunch of cis white dudes. We're idiots. Look, we're just a bunch of boys trying to be better, man. Go on this journey with me, okay? Some of us were raised in Indiana, so we have to... All of us. All of us were raised in Indiana. Yeah.
01:04:42
Speaker
certain things that we have to get past. Our redneck past is nipping at our heels in the immortal words of Ben Folds. Yes. Indeed it is.
01:04:54
Speaker
So anyway, so and I'll see myself out. of Bye guys. Bye Tucker. It's been great having you as a third co-host for on this podcast for a little while. Tucker, I got to ask you about that post-credit scene though. How did you feel about Ada handing him his sunglasses?
01:05:09
Speaker
Did you also like roll your eyes so hard out of your head? i like I simultaneously had my mind blown and my eyes rolled into the back of my head at the same time.
01:05:21
Speaker
Because boy, was it stupid, but at the same time I was like, oh shit. But at the same time, you're DiCaprio pointing at the screen. Yes. yeah I know that.
01:05:33
Speaker
Yes, yes, that was one of the instances where it it it was a little in in your face. But for me, most of the film, it was just about the the atmosphere and the set design and the costumes and even some of the props.
01:05:47
Speaker
And I thought it was really cool how they kind of made it. It just looked like the game, man. It really, really did. Even the lighting, especially for Resident Evil 2, the lighting looked like Resident Evil 2.
01:05:58
Speaker
I thought it was really cool. So some we haven't touched on. Well, two things. One, I love actually love the introduction of liquor. Whether you can't see it on the ceiling, but you see the lights. fli You saw the lights. Yes.
01:06:11
Speaker
That was actually really fucking cool. It was real, real cool. And it Lisa Trevor in this movie. Lisa Trevor of all people.
01:06:25
Speaker
Was she the she was the the lady in the in the orphanage, right? Yeah, the one was bag on her head? Yeah. Took me a while to figure out what that was.
01:06:36
Speaker
it's a It's a strange choice ah based on kind of where this movie pulls its story inspirations from. It's kind of a weird cameo, sort of.
01:06:50
Speaker
Yeah. Especially fact that she's coherent and talks and is Claire's friend. um to give you some backstory, Steven, because I'm sure you're wondering, I can see the look on your face that says, please tell me more.
01:07:06
Speaker
Always.
01:07:09
Speaker
So in games, she is um she's the daughter of one of the, I think, the mansion's architect, um who ah just decides to submit her to all sorts of testing at Umbrella.
01:07:28
Speaker
She is injected with literally everything. The T-virus, the G-virus, the Nemesis Parasite, everything. um it is that She is the first one to be experimented on in each one of those things.
01:07:39
Speaker
But she somehow manages to survive and just becomes a mutated monster that skulks around the mansion and in the caverns underneath it. She doesn't talk. She just sort of wails.
01:07:51
Speaker
Okay. Yeah.
01:07:54
Speaker
That's about it, really. She's scary. You can't kill her. um She just sort of stalks around. Can she kill you? Oh, absolutely she can. okay and Okay.
01:08:06
Speaker
That seems a little unfair, but all right. She's kind of like the the Mr. X or the nemesis of the game. Kind The character that kind of pops up and follows you around for a while until you can wriggle away.
01:08:20
Speaker
Fooled Head him off at the pass and all that. Steven, you don't have to keep shrugging. We know you don't know what this is. Look, the listener at home can't see it. Which makes it worse. This is for your benefit.
01:08:36
Speaker
Do you want me start going, on I don't know. I can do that. i can start making noises. You could just not react at all. Okay. there's that too Stephen Foxworthy smiling politely.
01:08:47
Speaker
So who is the... I recently played the remake of 2 and 3, but most of these games I haven't played in a really long time, especially the first two.
01:08:57
Speaker
um Was the guy in the jail cell, the guy that was on the videotape, was he the reporter guy from the second one? Yes, he was. Okay, okay. I was making sure that that's who they were, because he kind of suffers the same fate as that guy.
01:09:12
Speaker
i had to look him up to make sure he wasn't the ah the the asshole guy from the Evil Dead remake. um The guy that like literally causes everything terrible to happen and then blames it on someone else.
01:09:23
Speaker
and He like looked identical. He's like that guy if he were a cartoon, is this guy. i mean, that guy is kind of a cartoon anyway, but yeah.
01:09:35
Speaker
Yeah, it's, you know, yeah, he does get the same fate. Although his fate in the movie, not as gruesome as his fates in the video game, depending on which one you see. Yep.
01:09:46
Speaker
The worst one being in the remake, where it just crushes his skull. yes You see his eyeball pop out of his head.
01:09:55
Speaker
Yeah, no, he's the reporter that exposes everything. Which I thought was cool. That was a cool inclusion. Um... But that that scene solidified Leon's character. He's like, I hate this guy.
Character Development: Movie vs. Game
01:10:08
Speaker
Because you compare the scene of their banter in the movie to the scene of their banter in the game originally. and Leon's like, well, fine, I'll just leave you in there. If you don't tell me anything, I'm just going to leave you in there.
01:10:21
Speaker
like Why do I care about what you have to say? Leon's such a goober in this movie. yeah Whereas in this movie, he lets him get a hold of his gun. My question is, why oh why didn't he just shoot that zombie in the jail cell with him?
01:10:37
Speaker
Instead of standing there looking ahead, but knowing that the guy's getting up to bite him. There were a lot of instances in this film where people did things that weren't just stupid.
01:10:50
Speaker
They didn't make any sense. It feels... And that was one of them. It feels to me like that is what they're substituting for character development. Like, we're gonna make this character who's actually really savvy and really smart in the games, we're gonna make him a fucking idiot so that we can make him maybe seem like less of a fucking idiot at the end of the movie.
01:11:10
Speaker
Um... And that's that they that that that's what passes, and I use heavy air quotes when I say passes, for character development in this movie. Again, we're building a franchise here. We don't have time for character development.
01:11:21
Speaker
You have to kind of come in knowing who these characters are, and if we if we diverge in any way, it's only so we can try to make some sort of change to make them seem like they're more dynamic than they might be otherwise. And that that feels like what they're trying to do with
Storyline and Character Focus Issues
01:11:35
Speaker
Leon. Like, we need kind of a character that we can...
01:11:39
Speaker
who kind of feels like an idiot kind of as an audience area characters kind of figuring out all this outlook with the audience. um And it feels like that's what they're trying to do with Leon, except Leon's not our POV character, so it doesn't really work.
01:11:52
Speaker
um It kind of falls apart in a lot of ways based on that. We don't really even have a POV character in this movie. Not really. Yeah, I feel like it's supposed to be clear, but they really kind of abandoned that about halfway through the movie.
01:12:05
Speaker
Yeah. ah And again, at the end of the movie, I'm sitting there thinking like, okay, Sherry's there, but why do we care that Sherry's there? Um, wait, I legitimately, at one point I looked away from the screen to like Google something. I looked up and I'm like, who's that kid?
01:12:20
Speaker
And there she is. couldn't figure out who that kid, I'm like, who who the fuck is that kid? Well, the reason yeah i mean she's so important in the game, you spend like a whole most of the third act of of Claire's campaign in the second one, just keeping her alive.
01:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, which made it like I kept expecting Claire to be the one to show up at the end. Instead of Chris. To fight with Birkin.
01:12:50
Speaker
So that way she could like rescue Sherry. in like That would have made a little bit of sense. yeah Yeah. But no. Chris showed up. And they have to pay off this. Birkin was his surrogate dad thing. That they only talked about maybe in one line earlier.
01:13:05
Speaker
Yeah. ah like There's a lot of half-baked storylines here. That just never get fleshed out. And at the end of the movie. I was just like. not why do I care about any of these? If I hadn't played the games, i knew who these characters were, why do I care about any of them?
01:13:23
Speaker
You know what? Why do you need good character development or cohesive story if you've got Leon with a rocket launcher at the end? I mean, look.
01:13:34
Speaker
Because where does it come from in the game? I guess she throws it to you, doesn't she? Yeah, Ada throws it to me, yeah. He just has a rocket launcher. and' pretty much ah he just That's kind of how it happens in the game. He's like, oh crap, I guess I have this rocket launcher now.
01:13:49
Speaker
Bang! Right, which is how you have to end the game. You have to blow up the final creature with a rocket launcher. That's the rules. Yeah, and well there are there are a lot of things in this movie that I feel like they kind of skipped a whole bunch of and moved forward in the story without really spending too much time on that I thought was okay.
01:14:11
Speaker
But the fact that they did the doctor and his wife and that kid so wrong, like they kind of built up a little bit with the doctor. But then the whole scene where he gets shot and then he turns into the monster and all of a sudden he's the boss. And it just felt like even for somebody who has played the games, it just felt like there wasn't enough there.
01:14:36
Speaker
Like there wasn't, i don't know. I didn't feel like there were stakes. on that and that's it's kind of the third act kind of trips over its own bullshit
Adaptation Struggles with Game Elements
01:14:46
Speaker
in that way yeah because like and again i keep coming we all keep coming back to this like i liked that scene only because i'm like oh ah i know that scene he's he's protecting the g-virus because it's his life's work and he doesn't want any but somebody to get a hold of it So he has to like, I knew, like, here's the thing. I knew he was going to get shot.
01:15:11
Speaker
I knew he was going to inject himself. I knew he was going to mutate and they were going fight him. Like, is that kind of cool as a fan? Yes. Yeah. But again, for anybody who's not a fan, why would they care?
01:15:26
Speaker
And they did his wife so they did his wife so dirty, man. like I know I already brought this up, but she was such a big character in the second one. Even, i would argue, a bigger character than her husband, the monster.
01:15:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. like And they just... She has one scene, and then they have the scene where they're in the lab, and she just gets popped, and it's it. That's it. She's just gone.
01:15:50
Speaker
Bye. Bye, extraneous female character. Bye. Because in the game, she's also a scientist. She spends most of her time during the outbreak after Birkin mutates trying to find a cure to save him.
01:16:07
Speaker
um And yeah, just ends up dying accidentally. Nobody shoots her. But again, that's again, that's character development, Brett. And we don't have time for character development. We've got to get to the end of the movie so we can get to the next movie in the
Future Adaptations Doubts
01:16:23
Speaker
franchise.
01:16:23
Speaker
Yeah. And it's a problem of the timeline too, because Umbrella comes to get those samples of the G-Virus. That's what causes the outbreak in the city. Because in the process of shooting him, he drops the vials on the ground.
01:16:41
Speaker
um the The squad that come to pick it up, carry it into the sewers. He tracks them down and kills them in the sewers, and the rats in the sewers eat the virus and carry it to the city.
01:16:57
Speaker
So the outbreak is already happening when he's this stage of mutation. It doesn't all happen at the same time.
01:17:05
Speaker
So was an interesting way to tell all those stories? done maybe almost. um But it also messes with a lot of stuff. It keeps you from doing things that you would be able to do for the character development.
01:17:20
Speaker
Well, that's what that's what kind of gets me about if they had made this into a series, like, where would they go? Because they've twisted things so much. Like, you can't follow the source material after all of that.
01:17:33
Speaker
Like, where do you go? You can still do fan service, though. Let's be honest. Like, you can still, you know, put in Easter eggs and things to make. But, I mean, it's clear from the mid-credit sequence, or, the yeah, the mid-credit scene, they they were going to do sequels. Like, Wesker was going to come back. He was going to be...
01:17:50
Speaker
I guess more closely in line with who he is in the video games. Like we were, they were planning on doing more of these. bret Brett said Code Veronica seems like a really good place for them to have started.
01:18:02
Speaker
For all I know, that's probably accurate. Well, yeah. Cause I mean, Wesker's in Code Veronica. um Even it's even the Wesker, like, this is why I think Code Veronica would have been the next movie because, Up until Code Veronica, Chris thinks Wesker's dead, is still dead after the mansion is it. He doesn't know Wesker's still alive.
01:18:20
Speaker
So when Wesker shows up and all of a sudden he's got superpowers, and like it's I absolutely know that's where they were going to go with the sequel. After that, yeah.
01:18:31
Speaker
don't know. So it looks like when the director was, when this movie was you know coming out, the director said that They were going to adapt Code Veronica next, and then it would have been Resident Evil 4.
01:18:44
Speaker
Said he also wanted to do Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village going forward. and They wouldn't do Resident Evil 4. Not with that, Leon. No, God, no, it wouldn't work. And and robby Robbie Amell said he wanted to he wanted to, he hoped that there would be a boulder punching sequence and ah like the one in Resident Evil 5.
01:19:04
Speaker
My dude. Good on him. He knows what's up. See, I would have wanted to see a whole franchise of these movies. don't even care. Yeah, I mean, look, the the actors seem to be into the idea. The director seems to be into the idea. You know who didn't seem to be into the idea?
01:19:20
Speaker
Anyone else? The general populace. Yeah.
Music Influence on Viewer Opinions
01:19:24
Speaker
I don't know. Are we ready to move on to box? i don't want i don't want to step on anyone's toes here. Are we are we ready to move on or you guys got more to say about this? I feel like you guys could, if if I let you you, guys could just keep going on this. That's why there's going to be an Oops! All video game corner on it.
01:19:37
Speaker
Okay. i do I do have notes though. Let me check my notes make sure I got everything. Please. Oh, I forgot to mention the most important part. The part that will elevate this movie one half star more than it was.
01:19:52
Speaker
And that is it features a song by the best band in the world. Four non-blondes. Fuck you.
01:20:02
Speaker
The best band in the world. The Cardigans.
01:20:08
Speaker
My favorite game from the game Gran Turismo 2, and their record also called Gran Turismo, is ah what they're listening to when they're driving with the truck driver, when Claire's in the thing with the truck driver, in the truck.
01:20:24
Speaker
At the beginning movie. Yep, and they're the best band ever, and nobody can tell me any different. um And your movie, your movie, going to fight you, Steven. going to fight you so hard.
01:20:37
Speaker
um I don't even, man, now you got me all all flustered, man. I'm trying to talk to my favorite band and you're talking about that stupid song that I hate so much. that If you hadn't gone on for at length about how much you hated it, I would have never said anything. hated it so much. I mean, i I pretty much had to after that after that screed. So much.
01:21:00
Speaker
my this is this is This is a thing I do that drives Brett crazy, and I think the reason Brett's laughing so hard right now is that it's not him. That's what I was about to say. is is If there's a bear to poke, Stephen's going to do it.
01:21:11
Speaker
oh man aye Oh, Stephen, you said you wanted talk about Donald Logue.
Donald Logue’s Acting Versatility
01:21:18
Speaker
i do I do love – look, Donald Logue, I mean, – god is i he's, he is, I think one of the great utility players in, in movies. Like he is not the guy, unless, unless your movie is the Dow of Steve, you're not going to get him to lead your movie, but he is going to be like such a great utility player. Like he will just show up for like a scene or two and absolutely fucking kill the game. Like the best part of the Cloverfield paradox, that really unnecessary and dumb sequel in the Cloverfield franchise that,
01:21:53
Speaker
Really wasn't a Cloverfield movie until literally the last second of the movie. um But, you know, he's, he's incredibly great in like one scene there um in future episode of this podcast, Max Payne in one of my all time favorite movies, um Zodiac. Zodiac. Yeah.
01:22:09
Speaker
yeah I mean, he just like, and, and again, it's, it's, it's a perfect example of a comedic actor He gets his start in comedy, doing comedies, but ends up showing some really decent dramatic chops as well.
01:22:27
Speaker
um But no, I, I, every time I see Donald Logan, something I'm, I'm DiCaprio pointing at the screen. Like I, I dig on Donald Logan. I think he's phenomenal. And I think he kind of elevates everything he's in just, just that much.
01:22:41
Speaker
um Somebody, let me pull out maybe a deep rooted memory that you might not have. Hmm. um do you remember jimmy the cab driver the mtv bumpers no i didn't i didn't watch mtv no i i know what you're talking about yeah yeah that is where i originally and ultimately where i know don't look from and blade that and blade blade of course blade of course blade yeah But yeah, those Jimmy the Cavs. Go look them up on YouTube, Stephen. They're pretty funny.
01:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's good stuff. I believe it. They were just bumpers in between the music videos on m MTV. um He was also great in a movie. If I made sidetrack for about 30 seconds here, it's worth it.
01:23:27
Speaker
He was also great in a movie called American Splendor. Have either of you seen ah that film? or i love American Splendor, yes. It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I really enjoyed that movie, yeah. don't Don't sleep on a rewatch, Stephen. It always holds up.
01:23:40
Speaker
It always holds up. I have no doubt of that, actually, whatsoever. Brett, have you seen it? No, I have not. Are you aware of it in any way? I am, yeah. I've heard You should definitely check it out. It's on HBO Max. It's a really interesting subject, really interesting movie.
01:23:57
Speaker
It's one of the better biopics, honestly. directed Isn't it directed by Terry Zwigoff? like off and am i right about that let me let me check uh no it is not it is uh sherry springer berman and robert pool cheney that's weird because it just seems like one of his movies it does but yeah it it it definitely does see feel a little a little zweigoffy but yeah um but yeah no um Donald Logan, that movie. um
01:24:29
Speaker
Judah Friedlander in that movie. paul Everybody's in that movie. Fucking Paul Giamatti. Peter Millarck himself. Josh Hutcherson in that movie. Everybody that the movie is about are actually also in the movie as themselves.
01:24:43
Speaker
Animator James Urbaniac stars as Robert Crumb. ah God, that movie that movie is a trip and a half. I have not seen that movie since it first came out. I need to i need to rewatch that one.
01:24:56
Speaker
Hope Davis, like, gosh, Molly Shannon. What? What? Well, you should watch it, Brett. It's a it's a rainy Sunday afternoon kind of movie. 100 percent. 100 percent.
01:25:07
Speaker
And again, on your rainy Sunday afternoon list, a really solid biopic. One that I forgot when we did our biopics list on We Got Five on it. I think probably the most unique biopic I've ever seen. Most of them pretty much follow a formula for good or for ill.
01:25:21
Speaker
But this one mostly for all over the place. Right. It's also kind of a documentary at the same time. Which is why it feels very Zygoff-y. Yeah. Yeah. But that's not what we came here to talk about. It's just anytime I see American Splendor somewhere, I just got to say something because like people loved it when it came out and then she's been cricket since then. Nobody talks about it and it's an amazing film.
01:25:43
Speaker
You know, one of the, one of the weirdest things that, that didn't happen as a result of that movie, Paul Giamatti did not get an Academy Award nomination for best actor for that movie. And he absolutely should have.
01:25:54
Speaker
It's a crime that he did. I'm actually, you can make me mad. Let's talk about Resident Evil. Dang. Let's get back to it. Sorry, I just got shout out American Splendor because like I said, it just doesn't get enough love anymore.
01:26:06
Speaker
Also, for the entirety of the time I was in college, Donalogue was in a TV show called Grounded for Life, ah which I definitely watched when I was in college. i was It wasn't like regular appointment viewing for me, but I definitely got several episodes of that show.
01:26:19
Speaker
People liked that show Terriers, too. I never saw it, but I know people really liked that show, right? He was in that show? He also plays, I think, ah Harvey Bullock in Gotham as well. That's right. does. never saw that.
01:26:31
Speaker
Too bad that show is bad. i mean, yeah, I watched maybe half of the first season. um Did not get very far in that show, but...
Character Portrayal Choices: Chief Brian Irons
01:26:41
Speaker
No, I was real upset when they teased Two-Face a little bit, and then he just never, Harvey Dent never shows up in the show ever again.
01:26:49
Speaker
Yep. That was cool. ah Yeah, your favorite Batman villain just not showing up. Yep. i can I can see how you might be a little perturbed by that. Yeah, especially when you're going to tease me with it.
01:27:00
Speaker
Don't do that. That's just giving me Batman blue balls. Nobody likes that. I mean, as opposed to this movie, which gives you Resident Evil blue balls by never delivering on the sequel. Yeah, really.
01:27:11
Speaker
I really would like a sequel. Do you know why you're not going to get one, Brett? Uh, well, hold on. Before I answer that question. Okay. I didn't want to pay off earlier when I mentioned that Donald Logue's character, Chief Brian Irons. Yes, we were going to talk about this. Yes.
01:27:27
Speaker
Um, so in the games, he is basically just being bankrolled by Umbrella, um, to cover up all their bullshit. Um,
01:27:39
Speaker
And, you know, decides when everything's going to shit that he's going to kidnap, rape, and then taxidermy the mayor's daughter.
01:27:50
Speaker
ah Fuck. Yeah. I mean, you should read some of the files that you find about his inner inner thoughts about that. Fuck. um that's That's my favorite part of the game.
01:28:03
Speaker
I like playing the game and stuff, but I will spend so many extra hours just reading everything that I pick up. I do that in every game, and... It takes a long time, you guys. But boy... i do the same thing, so yeah. people these guys That's where the lore is. People who write these games, they put a lot of effort into like just a little little tiny story. like You'll pick up a note from one NPC to another that you never hear about or see about again, it'll be like two pages, and there's a whole little story there.
01:28:36
Speaker
And, don't know, it's great. Hell, that's how Ada was born. yeah Ada was just a random name in a file you found in the first game. And they just decided to make her a full-ass fleshed character in the sequel.
01:28:50
Speaker
I'm playing a game right now that i started playing yesterday called Weird West. I've heard of that. I wanted to play it. It's real good. You should check it out. it's they have It's natively a PC game. Of course, I'm playing on Series X. um It's essentially the first two Fallout games ah mixed with a twin stick shooter.
01:29:12
Speaker
Which sounds right up my alley. It's real fun and it's real addicting. i stayed up until 3 o'clock this morning playing it But I'm currently replaying Control. so Oh, no!
01:29:24
Speaker
I've been wanting to do that, but I just... I'm going to wait until we're closer to Alan Wake 2 to take that journey. But anyway, this game... Well, and Control has a lot of stuff like that, too. Like, so much stuff. it's so much stuff, yes. i Like, probably the most out of any game that I've ever played.
01:29:41
Speaker
ah But Weird West has a lot of... A lot of um stuff that you can pick up. Even newspaper. A different newspaper for each day. You go to different towns, you can read the newspaper and stuff.
01:29:53
Speaker
can read people's diaries and medical logs and stuff. I always find that stuff really interesting because they tend to put a lot of effort into it. And I'd say 75% of gamers just don't even read them.
01:30:06
Speaker
Which is really upsetting. That's what I love most about Control. Like, if you didn't read any of those files in Control, you might not have any idea what was going on. You're missing out on a lot, at least. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, so Brian Irons, real big bag dicks in the video game.
01:30:21
Speaker
um I think I prefer what they do with him in this movie, honestly. I don't. He's more, he's way more of like that commentary on, you know, humans are also monsters.
01:30:32
Speaker
Like he gets his comeuppance. He gets torn apart in multiple ways, depending on how you play who you're playing as. So he, you know, he gets his.
01:30:44
Speaker
I want to know what happened to his beard when the liquor killed him. His beard disappears. I'm guessing a reshoot. I don't know. Well, he has the beard when the licker grabs him, but when they do that, they settle on his body for a minute to show you how gross it is.
01:31:04
Speaker
His beard is gone. it probably was. They probably realized they needed an insert shot, and they got him back, but he probably already shaved it for another roll. So... I mean, it was kind of like what they had to do, but you know, if it's just for a shot, maybe continuity is not as important or maybe they decided, Oh, we can do it digitally. And then didn't, but like Chris Evans had a similar problem for, um,
01:31:26
Speaker
the the the final post-credit stinger at the end of Avengers when they're in the shawarma restaurant, which is why his hand is in front of his face through that entire scene because he'd grown a goatee for, was i think, Snowpiercer or something.
01:31:39
Speaker
like He'd already grown that that out, so he just kind of had to have his hand in front of his face the whole time so you didn't see that he'd grown facial hair. I'm just saying, if I noticed it on my first viewing, you fucked up.
01:31:51
Speaker
Because like I'll probably notice it on the second or third, but if it's so glaring that I notice it during a movie, I'm having as much fun as I was watching as I was this one. That sentence made no sense, but you know what I mean?
01:32:03
Speaker
Maybe. Then maybe they should have CGI'd a beard on him or something. They weren't afraid to use CGI in this movie. and Nope. A lot of it was appropriately bad.
01:32:15
Speaker
To varying degrees of success. Yeah, I was about to say. I'd say it was bad, but it fit it fit the film for me. It looked good in the context of the film and how silly and absurd it was.
01:32:26
Speaker
Except for when the doctor changes and he's following him and he's talking to them. That looks really, really bad. Like some sci-fi channel shit. hu Agreed. Real, real bad.
01:32:39
Speaker
The rest of it, like I said, it's bad, but it fits. Well, at the same time, it was kind of cool that he kept mutating throughout that entire scene. That was rad. yeah I think for me, like the actual monster part looked cool and the eyeballs looked cool.
01:32:53
Speaker
But connecting the actor to that digital asset, they did not do a very good job. No. At all. And honestly, I was upset that it was multiple eyes and not one giant one like it should have been.
01:33:05
Speaker
But, you know. Yeah, I did. I did get really excited when he ripped the thing off the train because I saw that big claw. and It made me jump like it does in the game before the fight where you have to knock him off of the shipping container when you're just in that room hanging out, flipping some switches, no big deal.
01:33:21
Speaker
And his arm just comes to the roof. He's like, what's up? It's real, real scary. like gave Those games are really scary, Steven. the remake Really, really scary. The first time I played this the remake of 2, when Mr. X first shows up and you realize he's just chasing you yeah and he doesn't stop, it gave me such anxiety I had to stop playing the game for a week.
01:33:46
Speaker
Oh, wow. yeah you have to You have to get far enough away from him or you have to go he won't come into the save rooms. That's the only place he won't go is into the save rooms. right ah So you stick around in the save room long enough and it takes a while and you'll hear him.
01:34:02
Speaker
You'll hear him just going around and around and around his big footsteps. Eventually they'll stop but then you still got that liquor in the hallway that you haven't dealt with yet so it's like where are you going to go anyway?
01:34:12
Speaker
up the stairs again I guess. And if you try to kill the liquor, it alerts Mr. X and here he comes. And now you're having to deal with him while you're trying to kill his liquor and you're probably going to die. I hate that when I'm really like, just like trying to do something and I've got focused. I'm like backtracking. I'm getting this item and I'm going to this place. I know where I'm going. I know what I'm doing. And all of a sudden, thump, thump.
01:34:34
Speaker
thump and i'm like son of a bitch and the music sting when he opens it the door or room you're in there's that music sting like oh god i'm gonna have heart attack boy those games are scary steven they're so scary i don't get scared like at movies really that much but i i will jump and i will make loud noises out of being startled in at least the first three resident evil games and resident evil zero
01:35:02
Speaker
I think a lot of the time what startles me the most outside of the stuff that's supposed to startle me is when I'm shooting at one zombie and I don't realize there's one behind me. Yeah. That's how they get to it. I get so mad. Those ninja zombies, I get so mad, man.
01:35:19
Speaker
Woo, boy.
Resident Evil's Horror Elements in Games
01:35:20
Speaker
Nothing that makes me madder than getting chomped on by a ninja zombie sneaking up on me from behind. That's true facts. The worst. Real quick, shout out to the actual, uh, uh, uh,
01:35:34
Speaker
card keys the the uh diamond heart spade and yeah with the symbols yes yeah that was cool i was like hey look at that shout out to those yeah shout out to nemi who almost gave tucker a heart attack just then by jumping on the back of your chair ah That's true. we're Because we were talking about some scary stuff, you guys.
01:35:53
Speaker
And I thought i thought the monster from Resident Evil 2 had put his hand down from Brett's ceiling to grab him and squish his eyeball out. as just a cat To prove how big of a fan I am, my cat is named after Nemesis from Resident Evil 3.
01:36:06
Speaker
So that's how big of a fan of the series I am. Anyway, think we can move on now. Other than that segment that we should have been doing from the beginning, but we're just doing it now, so shut up.
01:36:19
Speaker
That's the official name of it. We were trying to figure that out a couple weeks ago. but It's fine. We nailed it. We nailed it in one. It's fine.
Does the Movie Deserve a Sequel?
01:36:28
Speaker
That's all we needed was the shut up part. Shut up.
01:36:31
Speaker
yeah We should have been doing this from the beginning, but we're doing it now. That's all that matters, so shut up. That's the official title. All right. Does this deserve a sequel?
01:36:42
Speaker
Are you asking me? I'm asking both of you. Because, yeah. I mean, shit, yeah. um How much does this movie cost to make? What's the budget on this, Steven? $25 million.
01:36:54
Speaker
That's all? Yep. Well, shit, yeah. i'd i'd I'd take another little... You could shave some off the budget, man. I'd probably be even happier. I'd say the lower the budget, the the better these movies are going to get.
01:37:06
Speaker
Somebody gets sci-fi on the horn. Yes, slash that budget. Get the same people behind the camera. Let's do it. Direct to video, let's do it. I'll watch it Look, agree. Yes.
01:37:19
Speaker
Stephen. No, I'm good. Yeah, I figured. oh But no, I absolutely agree. I would love to see more of these movies. I'd watch the shit out of that. Honestly, Tucker's effusive enthusiasm about how good, bad this movie was kind of bumped it up by a star.
01:37:36
Speaker
so A whole fucking star. Wow. star Yeah. Yowza. Okay. i Just you wait. Just you wait. Good Lord. I i shudder to think.
01:37:47
Speaker
Um, Resident Evil colon and welcome to Raccoon City came out on November 24th in the year of our Lord 19 I'm sorry, 2021 1900. Good Lord. What's wrong with me?
01:38:01
Speaker
Thanksgiving weekend. Um, it, um, it, uh, it, it is on a budget of $25 million. dollars It makes, ah right around seventeen million dollars domestic Another 24.9 internationally. So almost makes it budget its budget back internationally worldwide box offices, $41.9 million, dollars not enough of a return on investment to really garner a sequel, which is probably why we get the 2022 Netflix series.
01:38:35
Speaker
um But there you go. Which Brett you said was, was bad. Real, real bad. Okay. Real, real, ah real, real, real bad. Okay. Um, It opens against two other movies that do significantly better than it.
01:38:50
Speaker
In number one is the the Walt Disney animated release of 2021. ah During the very brief window when it was out in theaters, it is Encanto. ah We might talk about Encanto, but Lord knows we don't talk about Bruno.
01:39:05
Speaker
In second place, Brett, the movie that I, a movie that came out that I know contradicts your earlier statement of you weren't ready to go back to the theater yet because I know you saw this one opening night.
01:39:15
Speaker
ah Ghostbusters colon afterlife. Did I go opening weekend for that? I don't think I did. I, I am pretty sure you did. Cause I think we saw it like the second or third night. I think you and I went the second weekend. It was out, which would have been the weekend that welcome to raccoon city opens.
01:39:36
Speaker
Memory is a funny thing. But ah big i think you did because you wanted the you wanted the AMC like giveaway that they were giving out opening. That was a thing? What is it? I want to see it. Do you have it?
01:39:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's a popcorn bucket. Can I see it? yeah one Oh! There it is. How do you put popcorn in that? The top opens like that.
01:40:01
Speaker
That's a strange container for popcorn, I tell you. But I'm here Nobody's using popcorn. like That's what they called it, but like nobody's using this for popcorn. It's just a model of the Ecto-1. Yeah, there you go. So that's that's how I know you went opening weekend because I know you didn't want to miss out on that.
01:40:16
Speaker
In fact, I think you and I saw it the night after opening night. Because I think you wanted another one. And then I was so down on the movie. You like were too depressed to get one, I think is, is how that worked out. Yeah. Thanks Steven. could have two and
Box Office Performance and Criticism
01:40:29
Speaker
have given me one.
01:40:31
Speaker
Thanks Steven. I, I look, Long time longtime fans of this podcast will know I ruin everything. Steven, you're fired. You're fired. All right. Well, it's been great. Me and your host on this podcast.
01:40:43
Speaker
Security. Steven, the best in his future endeavors. Okay, bye. In third place, ah the Ridley Scott film of 2021, House of Gucci. ah Father, Son, and House of Gucci. um In fourth place, also in its second weekend, ah ah The Eternals.
01:41:02
Speaker
um Maybe future episode of this podcast, maybe not. I don't know what Feige has planned for that one yet. What if there were some Eternals? what if What if people were Eternal?
01:41:13
Speaker
And finally, in fifth place, we have this film, Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City. ah it In its opening weekend, it earns $8.9 million. So over... nine million dollars so over I think right around half of its domestic budget in its opening weekend, not a good multiplier at all.
01:41:33
Speaker
ah Running down the rest of our top 10 of another future episode of this podcast, Clifford, the big red dog in seventh place, the movie that got Will Smith, his Oscar, ah which he will a ceremony. He will never return to King Richard ah in eighth place. One of my favorite films of 2021 Dune in ninth place. No time to die. That bond film.
01:41:55
Speaker
That was a Bond film. Sure was. And in 10th place, Venom colon, let there be carnage. ah The movie has a 30% Tomatometer score. The critics consensus Resident Evil. Welcome to Raccoon City is an affectionately faithful adaptation that further proves its source material is ill suited to the big screen.
01:42:19
Speaker
that's fair The meta score is a 44 that is based on mixture average reviews from 21 critics. And the letterbox score is a 2.2. two Tucker, out of five possible stars, how do you rate Resident Evil colon Welcome to Raccoon City?
01:42:38
Speaker
I give it three stars and let me break it down for you. So it's by itself on its own. It's 2.5 stars. But it gains a star because it has a cardigan song in it.
01:42:51
Speaker
A half star? It loses a half a star because it has that damn Four Non Blondes song in it. So three stars. I don't know. That makes me feel a little peculiar. that's You better stop right now.
01:43:05
Speaker
Three stars that it is.
01:43:08
Speaker
ah Brett, how about you? Out of five stars, what do you give Welcome to Raccoon City? It was originally three. Tucker's Enthusiasm bumped it up to a four. And then I remembered zombies the zombies talk. So it drops back down to a three.
01:43:22
Speaker
oh Fair enough. Yeah, I thought that was kind of cool at first, but then after a while was like, I'm kind of done with this. Because it was like what they were saying was kind of creepy at first because it was like kind of weird and sad and stuff. And but then after a while, I don't know, this movie's focus shifts so much. There were a lot of times where I just forgot there were even zombies in this movie.
01:43:43
Speaker
Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Severe lack of zombies. I mean, I love the fact that they're all over the fucking mansion. That was like intense and kind of cool. Yeah. um Well, they had to speed run the mansion because like they only we only have an hour and 47 seconds to cram these two games in here.
01:44:01
Speaker
Yeah. Hour and 47 minutes, not 47 seconds. Sorry about that. It feels like when the zombies are in the movie, it's like cool and intense and feels like the game's a little bit.
01:44:13
Speaker
um But that's maybe like twice. And I do not like CGI gore, but I thought it was used pretty creatively in this movie. And I think it kind of added to... There are a lot of movies where the budget, I think, adds to the charm of the film and the atmosphere. Movies like, for example, Don't Look in the Basement is one I always kind of cite when I mention that.
01:44:36
Speaker
um But in this one, the CGI was at a level to where like the CGI gore, it looked bad, but it was appropriate and it looked kind of cool. Like ah when they're in the jail and and dude gets killed in the jail cell and Leon, ah before he pops that other dude, the guy that's lurching and like all the blood's coming from his mouth, like dripping from his beard.
01:44:58
Speaker
That was all CGI and it looked fucking rad. Like I was way into that. It looked really good. ah was surprised. that's where the CGI is hit or miss in this movie. Agreed.
01:45:10
Speaker
Anyway, I gave it a 1.5 if we're still interested in what I gave this movie. yeah Yeah, that's fair. you know that That tracks. Honestly, that feels higher than I was expecting. Right? and you You came in thinking I was only going to give it a half star, and maybe I should have. But again, you got Kaya, you got Donald, you got Neil.
01:45:29
Speaker
Three actors that I really enjoy. You also got that kid from the Umbrella Academy in it, but you know.
01:45:36
Speaker
He doesn't really, don't know, he doesn't really tell me in this movie. So, you know, what going to do? But yeah, there you go. um any Any last final words to say about Resident Evil, Colin, welcome to Raccoon City. Itchy Tasty.
01:45:54
Speaker
Indeed. ah Checking my list. No, all my notes have been covered. All right. Well, in that case, um that is it for our Resident Evil Welcome to Raccoon City episode.
01:46:07
Speaker
And again, if you're if you just you you've been listening to this and you're like, you know what? I love that my guys are talking about Resident Evil. I want more. then now is there is no better time for you to be a patron. In addition to the, all the additional Patreon content that we've got coming up this month, we've got literal hours of, of content behind that paywall that you can sign up and listen to.
01:46:30
Speaker
Patreon.com slash disenfranched pod. That is the number one way for you to support us. as a podcast. ah You can also support us by going to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts and leaving us a nice juicy five-star rating and review so that we can find a lot more listeners like yourselves.
01:46:45
Speaker
um Not a lot of you guys have been doing that. And honestly, it is it is literally the single best way to support us if you do not want to do so monetarily. So even if you are supporting us monetarily, please, please, please go ahead and give us a rating and review on the podcast. That goes a long way and would really help us out quite a bit. Thank you.
01:47:03
Speaker
Thank you for that. um You can also shoot us an email, disenfranchepod at gmail.com. And who knows if you do, we might read it here on an episode coming up. If you want to see us cover something that you're not sure that we're going to cover, hit us up there. And Lord knows we might actually cover it one of these days. So.
01:47:21
Speaker
um That is something that could very well happen. You can find us on social media at disenfranch pod. We're there on Twitter, Instagram, and letterboxd. Also Facebook as well.
01:47:33
Speaker
um I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, and letterboxd, but not Facebook at Chewy Walrus. Brett, where can we find you on social media these days? You find me on letterboxd and Instagram at sus underscore warlock.
01:47:47
Speaker
Tucker, what about yourself? You can find me exclusively on YouTube at youtube.com slash ice 909 I C E N I N E the number zero and the number nine.
01:47:59
Speaker
All right. And that is all we've got for this episode. Join us next week as the February Spookython continues. Spookython Mark Deer. I'm not sure what we're calling it yet. it the it's It's the second Spookython of the season.
01:48:14
Speaker
And it it rolls on next week. We've got a really great guest, one that has been a long time coming, and I'm very excited to get them on the podcast. So until next week, I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy, for my co-host, Brett Wright and Tucker.
01:48:30
Speaker
I was really close, Steven. You were almost a Steven sandwich.