I will preface by saying I enjoyed both films.Okay, it's just what the title says, out of the two, which is the better movie in your opinion, and why?
I’ve yet to see WTRC but have been wanting to watch it recently and now you’ve really piqued my curiosity.That all being said, WtRC was very fun to watch, for me, however even though I very much enjoyed it, it's blazingly obvious that if I didn't have prior video game plot knowledge, the film would have been extremely bare bones story wise. But, I liked what they did with most of the characters (especially Leon) and I liked all the references to the games as well as fan theories/memes. I laugh every time I hear Chris talk about dieing in Weskers burly arms. But I degress.
Both have problems, but the 2002 movie already an iconic zombie film on its own merits, though I wouldn't be surprised if 10 years from now the 2021 film becomes a cult classic or something. I just don't think it's found its audience yet.
In hindsight, even though both are terrible films at least the 2002 movie didn't disrespect the characters from the games. Although to be fair there weren't any of them in the movie, and if they were I'm pretty sure they would've been disrespected (which they were in the later films such as Jill in Apocalypse).
Overall, there are more scenes that I find enjoyable and closer to the source material in WTRC. For example there is an excellent one-shot scene taking place in Chief Irons's car as he's trying to leave the city in panic, that was some great filmmaking and cinematography right there. Also, I liked the portrayal of Chris and Chief Irons, while I didn't like any character at all in the 2002 movie.
I loved the first movie. Alice was actually cool in the first two movies IMO. And the soundtrack, especially that opening. Charlie Clouser(did Saw) and Marilyn Manson collaborated for the first films score.Ok, it's difficult to compare the two because they are nearly 20 years apart, all I can do give my impression of both when I walked out of the theatre.
RE 2002: "That was nothing like the game! Where's Chris, Barry, Rebecca, Wesker, and fancy surreal mansion? Wasn't Romero supposed to do this? I expected more grit and gore. Bahh!"
WTRC 2021: "Low budget, short, dark dystopian adaptation with no atmosphere and characters were one dimensional, I really expected more here, Leon's and Iron's exchanges were pretty amusing, but I can't believe this is all we get considering I've been waiting 24 years for a really good adaptation. The references to the games were better than nothing but still quite weak. Bahh!"
So yeah, I guess both were pretty bad but in their own unique way.