With the release of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, now's the time to see how the reboot fares in comparison to the originals. Ranker is one way to do this, as it allows the general public to vote. This gives a better indication of what the average viewer considers any given franchise's high and low points.
Time will tell if Welcome to Raccoon City will inspire a long-running series like Paul W.S. Anderson's film. If it does, it will be interesting to see how the two arcs play out; one that strays far from the source material and one that adheres to it.
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
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Resident Evil: Retribution has Alice kidnapped by Umbrella, courtesy of a now-brainwashed Jill Valentine. Several big-name RE characters are featured on-screen for the first time, including Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), Ada Wong (Li Bingbing). Furthermore, one of the scariest monsters in the Resident Evil franchise, the Axemen, are brought back for their best appearance.
Retribution tried to take the series in a new direction, and the return of Sienna Guillory's Valentine and Michelle Rodriguez's Rain Ocampo is welcome (as is Wong, in the character's only appearance in the 6 movies). Even still, the film only managed to get 51 upvotes out of 97 (53%).
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
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The whimper of a series-capper, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, came in next to last on Ranker's list. On the positive side, the return of Dr. Alexander Isaacs is a highlight. The Final Chapter also opens strong, with Alice (again in the post-apocalyptic wasteland) avoiding a grotesque flying monster with bug-like pincers.
The rest of the movie is serviceable if not also a little been-there-done-that. The final Jovovich-led RE movie scored 57 upvotes out of 101 total (56%).
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
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Original Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson came back for the fourth film, Resident Evil: Afterlife. The world has been overtaken by zombies yet Alice is still fighting. Along with Claire Redfield and some clones, she may finally be able to take down Albert Wesker. On the positive side, Afterlife features some first and recurring appearances by beloved RE characters.
It also has some of the franchise's better action scenes, with a focus on the most powerful monsters from the Resident Evil games. This includes a major reappearance by the Cerberus. The original director's return to the franchise did better than its follow-ups, but still paled in comparison to the original. It scored 59 upvotes out of 105 total (56%).
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City (2021)
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The franchise reboot is not listed on Ranker, but it's hard to imagine it ending up anywhere outside of right in the middle of the pack. If the voters were all die-hard fans of the game series, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City would almost certainly end up on top.
It's a serviceable action-horror film if not exactly a world-changing new start. On the plus side, it faithfully adheres to the game series' first two installments and carries a visual layout that is effectively reminiscent of the work done by director John Carpenter. But, like the original series, the script is lackluster.
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
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Arguably the most well-put-together entry in the Resident Evil series, director Russell Mulcahy's Resident Evil: Extinction does a great job of building off of what Paul W.S. Anderson started and would go on to finish.
Extinction strays from Anderson's style (and further from the Resident Evil games' survival horror roots) to more of a post-apocalyptic vibe and it overall is more effective than any other installment. The film scored 81 upvotes out of 125 total (65%).
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
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The most surprising placement easily comes in the form of the franchise's second installment, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Generally the worst-reviewed, Apocalypse is also fairly divisive among fans. It's arguably the last one that makes a genuine attempt to be scary (with the exception of the crows in Extinction) but it could have used some more lighting. With that being said, it's probably the most well-aged of the RE series.
Defenders cite the movie's effective (if not entirely accurate) reproduction of elements from the best Resident Evil games. Nemesis and Jill Valentine alone probably went a long way to securing this movie's 92 upvotes out of 138 (67%).
Resident Evil (2002)
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Still in the upper echelon of video game movies, Resident Evil manages to not only be watchable but also quite entertaining. It's also the only one of the movies with fairly consistent, effective scares. The setting helps, with the narrative taking place almost entirely in The Hive, an underground laboratory that also served as the origination point for the T-Virus.
The Resident Evil films started to skew more action as it progressed, but the first one found the right balance of action-horror. Ranker voters still consider it the best of the six films by a substantial margin, with 122 upvotes out of 156 (78%).