Coming to DVD Tuesday, December 30th
Vocal Cast:
Alyson Court as Claire Redfield
Paul Mercier as Leon S. Kennedy
Laura Bailey as Angela Miller
Steve Blum as Greg Glenn
Crispin Freeman as Frederic Downing
Directed by Makoto Kamiya
Review:
Capcom’s addictive, long-running and lucrative horror video game series Resident Evil, depending on who you talk to, has arguably been butchered by Hollywood with three live-action films loosely cobbling together elements of the games yet forging a mythology all its own. As a result, we get Resident Evil: Degeneration, a CG-animated feature film shuffled into the timeline of the game universe that’s strictly for the fans. And by fans, I’m talking about the breathless, anxious horde that chirped, cheered and swooned at the introduction of every familiar, artificial character on screen during a free Los Angeles preview I attended. I can’t say I shared their enthusiasm. When Paul W.S. Anderson forged ahead with the first Resident Evil feature film, I preached from my soapbox saying an animated take was the way to go. Man, was I wrong. The live-action films have their problems, but it’s going to be hard for horror fans or the casual game player to warm up to this stilted 90-minute adventure.
The emo-haired Leon S. Kennedy and humanitarian Claire Redfield are drawn back together to figure out who’s responsible for the terrorist activities that occur at an American airport. It’s seven years after Raccoon City was nuked; the Umbrella Corporation has crumbled and sinister activities are suspected within the walls of WilPharma, a pharmaceutical company mucking about with viruses and anti-viruses. Redfield finds herself at the center of a disaster in an airport terminal, opening Degeneration on an explosive note with the exciting crash of a passenger jet that sets the undead that are on board free. There are some amusing flourishes to the scene such as a zombie mask-wearing jokester being mistaken for the undead and, later, zombies walking and falling out of the downed plane’s open hatch like lemmings off a cliff. But the action grinds to an abrupt stop once Redfield and the other survivors are extracted by Kennedy and the situation is considered contained.
Degeneration fumbles when it comes to the drama of the story. Where the cinema scenes of the Resident Evil series are broken up by game play allowing you to interact and get involved in the plot, here there’s no way off this narrative train. You’re stuck with the story at hand and you’re not allowed to participate. And as a stand-alone tale…it’s rather dry. A string of mediocre action set-pieces glued together by convoluted exposition and laughable character chemistry. Redfield is sent off to WilPharma with one of its chief execs and Kennedy is paired with newcomer Angela Miller, an Angelina Jolie clone mourning the loss of her partner and haunted by a brother who may be mixed up in the viral terrorist activities. Oh, and she’s also Kennedy’s love interest – fuel for rather silly potential scenes of passion that would break this film’s back if they were not punctuated by a comedic beat. The dialogue is delivered excruciatingly overdramatic and Kennedy and Redfield’s tasks are not at all engaging.
Director Makoto Kamiya allots the entire third act, thankfully, for an elaborate showdown that pits all of the characters against one big bad-ass mutation that, in itself, isn’t particularly inspired (not to those familiar with Resident Evil 2) but is still welcome to fellas like me who felt jilted for not getting enough action in this film. Kimiya tosses in a few good stunts but this brawl is by-the-numbers. Same goes for the animation which doesn’t try hard to transcend what anyone can see on any gaming console, nor match the dialogue that is being spoken. Three strained false endings later, the picture almost looks slap-dash.
The Resident Evil die-hards out there will without a doubt be willing to overlook all of these complaints and be quick to embrace a film fashioned entirely for them. Hell, I listened to them giggle excitedly and cheer on the prospect of Kennedy and Angela making out. It’s as faithful as can be the games, but too much so to be entirely successful. But Resident Evil: Degeneration is as cold as the few undead that appear within it. It’s a tedious exercise that lacks the thrills of the games and had this writer, who was yearning for an all-out monster bash, reaching for my cheat code book to learn how I could cut to the end.
