Netflix’s Resident Evil series has one of the lowest audience ratings among Rotten Tomatoes. The lowest for any Netflix original, the score is currently a staggeringly low of 25%, well below the 51% critical rating. Action horror is the latest adaptation of Capcom’s video game franchise, following six films by Paul W.S. Anderson and Johannes Roberts’ 2021 reboot movie, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. While the new series is set in a universe different from the source material and previous adaptations, several game threads serve as the backdrop for the plot.
Developed for Netflix by Andrew Dabb, Resident Evil features a cast of a team led by Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker clones. Ella Balinska and Adeline Rudolph play his foster daughters, Jade and Billie Wesker. Tamara Smart and Siena Agudong introduce younger versions of these characters, and Paola Núñez appears as James Marcus’s daughter, Evelyn. In addition to writing and directing the series, Dabb is executive producing with Mary Leah Sutton. Robert Kulzer and Oliver Berben of Constantin Film are also producers.
Set in 2036, Netflix’s Resident Evil kicks off more than a decade after a deadly virus caused a global apocalypse. At the heart of the crisis is Jade Wesker, who vows to defeat those responsible for the struggle for survival in a world overrun by bloodthirsty infected creatures. In the midst of this carnage, she is haunted by her New Raccoon City past and the chilling ties of her father to the Umbrella Corporation. But most of all, Jade can’t come to terms with what happened to her sister Billie. The plot is intertwined between the two timelines.
The first story in the Netflix Resident Evil franchise is about Jade and Billie Wesker during their days in New Raccoon City, where they discover their father’s dark secrets. Unaware of his daughters’ findings, Albert Wesker coordinates the response to the outbreak of a retroviral biological weapon known as the T virus. became a disease and became the wandering gangs of mutant cannibals. This is where Jade is trying to survive as the Umbrella Corporation tries to hunt her down.
Following a creative Netflix marketing campaign featuring Resident Evil monsters popping out of three-dimensional billboards, the series debuted on July 14. While responses from critics were mixed, there was praise for the show’s loyalty to video games. However, narrative inconsistencies, lack of ingenuity, uninspired writing, slow pace and stereotypes of young adults were vilified. And judging by the very low score, viewers don’t care about the show either. But that shouldn’t deter people from checking. Audience Score is not the most reliable measure of quality as anyone can add it even if they haven’t watched a single episode.
Since its release in 1996, Resident Evil has become one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time with over 100 million units sold worldwide. Created for Sony PlayStation by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara, the series consists of survival horror, third-person shooters and first-person shooters. She is credited with defining the genre and returning zombies to pop culture. Netflix began working on its Resident Evil franchise in 2019 with Constantin Film. The series, consisting of eight one-hour episodes, is currently available for viewing on the platform.
