Resident Evil Degeneration

Not to give away the plot, it seems the sole point of the movie is to introduce ties to Africa and Tricell, the new Umbrella. Another pharmaceutical company who I’m sure will stick to Umbrella’s tried and tested business plan of building underground research laboratories with doors locked using medallions. But all this is speculation as the movie focuses on events at WilPharma. A further pharmaceutical company, but good guys who make vaccines… in underground laboratories.

You have to feel sorry for the writers. Bound by the games style and story they have done their best. It feels like they have had to tiptoe around series plot points. It’s so nondescript I can’t place within the universe. It falls somewhere between Resident Evil (RE) 3 and 5 (completely forgetting Code Veronica) but nothing in the movie places it. That aside it sticks to the games with action sandwiched between hammy ‘cut scenes’.

The whole thing is inconsistent. Animation, voice acting and plot all oscillate between impressive and laughable. So in essences it matches the games. The CG is most jarring element. Environments are stunning. This highlights the waxy character models and lack of facial animation (probably to limit movement) leaving them looking impassive.

Characterization and voice acting is another problem. Returning RE characters (Leon and Claire) are introduced with little more than a perfunctory update to the courses their lives have taken. Arguable this is necessary with the movie’s time constraints. Unfortunately Paul Merrcier (Leon’s voice) either studied at Harrison Ford’s school of emotional expression or had some of the worst direction imaginable. This isn’t a problem in a game, where you connect through interaction. When passively watching however this lack of emotion makes Leon unbelievable – or maybe believable considering his past.

Leon’s new personality may make him hard to relate to but this doesn’t excuse other characters introduced. It is always tough to communicate motivation and personality over ninety minutes but everyone introduced in Degeneration are two dimensional stereotypes. The character only believable character is the horrifically modeled Senator Davis. But at least he shows some emotion and development.

Degeneration can’t shake its game routes. This helps keep an authentic feel but the plot suffers. The games kept the story moving by spreading action over several locations. This is necessary to hold interest during the second act (middle) of an eight hour game. But in a movie these location changes result in a choppy experience. It feels like a television movie, two short stories grafted together to fill the allotted time.

The movie is unapologetic fan service. Technically it looks less impressive than my impressions of RE 5. The plot at least is better than previous RE movies (possibly on par with the first) and has the advantage of being ‘lore’ not a re-imagination. Cannon it maybe but it is completely superfluous and serves only as a side story. Degeneration is made for die hard fans only, people like me who are preordering the special edition of RE5.