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Resident Evil: Degeneration Review

At the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, Capcom hosted the premier of the new movie Resident Evil: Degeneration. The movie has the distinction of being the first fully computer generated Resident Evil movie, and it actually ties together some of the story line introduced in the games.

We got our first taste of this new movie at Comic-Con in San Diego, where the producer and director treated us to a brief teaser in hopes of drumming up some excitement. We learned that the story features Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield reuniting after the events that take place in Resident Evil 2.

We waited patiently for the feature to begin, watching the various guests assemble. It wasn’t a surprise to see a mix of fans from both horror films and Resident Evil games mixed in with media.

The lights dimmed and we were treated to a movie preview of a new Jean Claude Van Damme movie, where he plays himself in a self-depricating action film where he robs a bank. The movie, aptly title JCVD, looks like it could be a lot of fun so keep an eye out for it.

Soon the film began, and it opened with a stereotypical news montage that was used to briefly introduce characters and set up the story. After the news break, the film moved to a gorgeous airport scene, showing planes taking off and landing.

It is in this airport where we catch our first glimpse of Claire Redfield. It wasn’t entirely clear why Claire was there. She met up with some extended family, however, there were some hints dropped throughout the movie that led us to believe that she may have had ulterior motives.

You also meet a couple of other characters, including Senator Ron Davis, a one-dimensional character, whose blatant egotism and greed drives a good portion of the story. Then there is the enigmatic Frederick. While his character is more interesting and well-rounded, he still comes off as stiff and unbelievable.

It isn’t long before you are treated to an outbreak scene that has Claire scrambling to save a little girl with familial ties to her. A rescue squad is called in to kill off the zombies and save any survivors. Leon Kennedy is in charge of the squad and wastes no time in taking control of the situation. Soon after Leon and Claire are reunited and work together to escape the airport with Ron Davis, his entourage, and the little girl.

I will spare you the rest of the story and the details of the other characters. Needless to say, if you know the story of Resident Evil, you already know the outcome. Unfortunately, this fact turns out to be one of its better assets.

Michael, April, and I attended the event and each of us had a different experience watching the movie. So each one of us will let you know our opinions:

Norm:

If you are a fan of the Resident Evil series, you will probably have fun with the film. They give fans some fun nostalgic moments. Sadly, this includes the same campy, stiff dialogue from the games. In fact, Leon’s character was missing some of the tongue in cheek sarcasm that was present in Resident Evil 4.

There were some pretty fun scenes, like when the zombies walk over cliffs lemmings-style, and when Leon’s cell phone keeps ringing during the awkward silences.

For the fan of zombie films, you might take a pass on this one. There isn’t so much of a zombie story here. It starts like one, but in the end it’s all about the G-Virus and the creation of the Nemesis project, which is more of a mutation than a zombie since it seems that the hosts personality can still break through the surface.

If you have played every Resident Evil game and are looking for a fun, albeit long cut-scene, go see this movie. If not, play the games instead.

April:

I did enjoy this movie, it was a lot of fun.  However, I did have a few issues.  I thought that a lot of care was taken
in the rendering of the backgrounds and buildings.  The opening scene was a news media montage that played more like a video game cut scene.  The next scene was an airport and I was blown away by how realistic everything looked!  I was also a bit disappointed with how stiff all the characters were.  They felt lifeless and stoic – I think that the zombies actually had more emotion and life to them!

If you are a fan of the Resident Evil series, you will probably want to check the movie out.  I do agree with Norm that if you are a zombie movie fan – the film may disappoint.  The beginning of the film dealt with zombies and the latter half dealt with the G-Virus and its mutations.  I loved every scene with a zombie in it so it may be worth it for you die hard zombie lovers out there.

Overall, the film looked great albeit inconsistently in some scenes.  The voice acting was not my favorite, however one must keep in mind that the film was released in Japan first so the mouth movements don’t always match.  The plot moves along a lot like a video game plot would – there is a lot of action and then even more action.  I think it’s worth a rental and you can decide from there whether or not you want to add this to your DVD/Blu-ray collection.

Oh, and Leon is so much hotter in the Resident Evil 4 game.  What happened?!?!

Michael:

There are so many things that can and should be said about this film, but I shall try to relegate it to something concise.  Resident Evil: Degeneration has some beautiful shots, but they are not as beautiful as Final Fantasy: Spirits Within.  Furthermore, the storyline is nowhere near as deep or involved as FF:SW.  It is, however, better than Final Fantasy: Advent Children.  That being said you will find the most joy in this film if you go into it with the understanding that you will feel like you are watching someone else playing Resident Evil (campy lines/jokes and all) with poor dubbing.  Put it on your Netflix queue before you decide to buy it.

Resident Evil: Degeneration will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on December 30, 2008.