The Resident Evil live-action movie trilogy starring Milla Jovovich was a box office success but was not as well received by the critics and fans of the video game series it was based on.  Paul W. S. Anderson’s vision featured Alice (Jovovich), commandos and various survivors of the zombie apocalypse in stories that borrowed various elements from the Resident Evil games but had little resemblance to its mythos.  The movies weren’t as bad as other live-action adaptions (*cough* Street Fighter *cough* House of the Dead *cough*).  And I’m sure people who weren’t familiar with the game lore enjoyed the trilogy.  But as a player of the games I always wanted a film that was closer to the source material.  Enter Sony Pictures and Digital Frontier with the recently released CG film Resident Evil Degeneration set squarely in the mythos of the games.

For continunity buffs, this film is set seven years after the events of first game and a year or so after the Resident Evil 4 game.  The film’s protaganoists Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy met in the Resident Evil 2 game.  Claire continued the search for her brother in Resident Evil Code Veronica and Leon braved infested villagers in a search for the President’s daughter in Resident Evil 4.  You don’t have to know the video games to understand the plot of Degeneration.  The film mentions their history and it’s enough to know that they’ve fought zombies and corporate conspiracies in the past.  Degeneration opens with Claire greeting a friend at an airport.  She is working for an organization whose mission is to help those affected by biological attacks.  The Umbrella Corporation, antagonists of the Resident Evil series, is no more, but the effects of their research (the famed T- and G-viruses) are still being felt.  When infected individuals invade the terminal, all hell breaks loose.  While police and hazmat teams setup a perimeter around the airport, Leon arrives on the scene.  He leads two rapid-response agents into the airport to rescue Claire, Senator Ron Davis and other survivors.

The movie has all of the engaging survivor horror moments which the game series is known for.  And when Claire and Leon aren’t battling zombies or a G-virus monster, they are investigating corporate and political evil doers.  Senator Davis’ connection to the WilPharma Corporation, a company that has developed a cure for the T-virus (the one which turns humans into zombies); Frederic Downing, a WilPharma employee; and Curtis Miller, a man seeking to shine the light of day on the corporate coverups of the virus research; and Angela Miller who, upon learning of her brother’s involvement, must stop him; all these threads come together by the end of the film.  A repeated viewing might be necessary to catch some of the rapid news reports and the political macinations.

Resident Evil Degeneration is rated R for CG blood and horror volience.  In comparsion, I thought the unrated Dead Space: Downfall was gorier.  If that’s your thing.  The CG productions made by Japanese studios continue to get better and better.   Photo-realistic, computer generated humans are more necessary when combining them with actors in a live-action movie.  In a CG movie like Degeneration or Final Fantasy Advent Children, I think we’re reaching a point where it’s good enough for most people.  I will have to save my thoughts on CG and the human form for another post.  The voice acting in a few scenes could use some improvement.  A weakness of the video game series as well.  But those thoughs aside, I really enjoyed this film.

Studio: Digital Frontier
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures
Director: Makoto Kamiya
Release: 2008
Rating: R
Length: 97 minutes
Genre: horror action
Source: Resident Evil video games (Capcom)
Official Site: Official Resident Evil Degeneration site