Resident Evil: Damnation

Title: Resident Evil: Damnation
Director: Makoto Kamiya
Released: 2012
Starring: Mathew Mercer, Dave Wittenberg, Courtenay Taylor, Wendee Lee, Val Tesso, Robin Sachs, Salli Saffioti

Plot: Leon S. Kennedy (Mercer) enters the Eastern Slav Republic to investigate rumors of Bio-Organic Weapons (BOWs) being used in the civil war currently dividing the country

Review: Following on from Resident Evil: Degeneration and taking place prior to Resident Evil 6 and with director Makoto Kamiya back in the directors chair after helming the first film and thankfully learning from his mistakes and now with Shotaro Suga providing a script in one of his rare departures from writing for anime series including Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Blood+. 

Heading to Eastern Europe for this latest outing which sees the return of Las Plagas the parasites which first appeared in Resident Evil 4 replacing the T-Virus but still continuing the body horror which certainly is in full effect here with plenty of exploding heads and swirling tentacle as Leon finds himself in the midst of a civil war in the fictional Eastern Slav Republic were the President Svetlana is also running her secret bio-organic weapons program. This change of location is certainly a welcome one much like the freedom to play around the lore that Suga’s script brings to the film not to mention the fact that this actually feels like a film rather than an extended cut scene in the game which was one of the biggest issues with the previous film. 

Compared to the personality void Leon was in Degeneration thankfully this is not the case here with veteran voice actor Matthew Mercer giving him a much needed personality overhaul so that he’s an actually enjoyable character to follow this time.

Joining him this time is series favourite Ada Wong who once more seems to be playing both sides like the catwoman of the Resident Evil-verse as only further added to by her hinting at romantic connection between them. Ada though here really gets a chance to shine not as well as showing off her resourcefulness which only adds to the fun of her character outside of being the mysterious lady in red. 

The action scenes through the film are all alot of fun, especially with Leon finding an ally in former teacher turned revolutionary Buddy who has the ability to command lickers which is used to great effect especially when it comes to the the pair facing off against a group of seemingly unstoppable tyrants which is essentially an opportunity to cram in numerous explosions, hardware and a tank all used with the kind of extravagance typically reserved for Michael Bay.

A real step up from Degeneration across the board with improved voice acting, a better script and Kamiya approaching this like a feature than a video game all making for a good time if one that’s unlikely to make it into the regular rotation, it’s still a fun time while it lasts.

Resident Evil: Degeneration

Title: Resident Evil: Degeneration
Director: Makoto Kamiya
Released: 2008
Starring: Paul Mercier, Alyson Court, Laura Bailey, Roger Craig Smith

Plot: Based on the long running survival horror games as Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy reunite to investigate a potential conspiracy surrounding the outbreak of the T-virus while a survivor of the Racoon City outbreak is planning his own revenge.

Review: Set between the Resident Evil 4 + 5 video games this cannon entry in the long running survival horror game series marked the first CGI outing for the franchise after Paul W.S. Anderson brought his own spin to the series while introducing the world to a new action heroine in Alice who after being such a cornerstone of the movie world of these games feels noticeably absent here with director Makoto Kamiya making his feature debut after spending most of his career as a visual effect supervisor for series like Bleach, Alice in Borderland and Kingdom. 

Opening with series mainstay Claire Redfield finding herself in the midst of a zombie outbreak at an airport in the first of the films big action set pieces and it’s certainly an effective start to the film especially as the zombie horde is added to by a plane crashing into the terminal after suffering it’s own zombie outbreak. Here we are introduced to the actual lead of the film in Leon S. Kennedy who leads the rescue effort to get Claire and her fellow survivors out including the shady Senator Davis.Frustratingly after this sequence the film hits kind of a lull as it sets up the WilPhama research facility which despite being a hi-tech facility is surprising easy to break into as proven by the revenge seeking Curtis who is keen to expose the cover up of Racoon City (see Resident Evil 2).

Plot wise it’s nothing to write home about and really just there to get the film onto its next big action sequence. At the same time Leon is such a charisma black hole he hardly makes for the more thrilling character to be stuck with especially when the voice acting is pretty much on the same level as the games. As a fan of the games though it was frustrating to see Claire being reduced down to being a damsel in need of constant rescue than the kicker of zombie ass fans of the series best know her as.

Were as Anderson’s films took the spirit of the film and went in their own direction, Kamiya sticks more closely to the video game world with the end result being a film that feels like an extended cut scene from the game, with a number of sequences looking like the film is suddenly going to hand the controls over to the player which possibly might have made for a more engaging experience. Still the obvious upside of being a CGI feature is that there are really no limits when it comes to crafting over the top action sequences so if you want to crash jumbo jets, or have a giant zombie hulk tearing a facility apart you can with ease and these are the  moments were the film really shines even if it falls into the usual tropes of video game action sequences with the small army of troops surrounding out hero and drawing guns all perfectly synchronized. 

While it certainly has it’s bursts of satisfying over the top action it’s ultimately let down by the weak plot and less than stellar voice acting which only serve to detract from the film. Fans of the games will likely enjoy seeing this outing for these familiar characters, but for newcomers it will likely leave you wondering what the fuss was about.