Resident Evil: Degeneration Review

 

The new look Leon and Claire, back in action.

 

Resident Evil Degeneration is Capcom’s answer to the Hollywood smash hit take on the survival horror franchise that has revolutionised the genre time and time again. Instead of Alice and her telekinetic powers, we see a pre-Resident Evil 4 Leon team up with an old friend to combat a new outbreak. Is this film the true film adaptation of Resident Evil? Or is it as lifeless as a zombie? Read on to find out…

Note: Beware of a few spoilers.

The film’s premise is quite a simple one. In a post-Raccoon City Incident world, Umbrella have fallen and new companies are vying for it’s position as the leading pharmaceutical corporation in the world – with WilPharma leading the charge, so to speak, with the promise that they have taken extra precautions to prevent a similar catastrophe to Umbrella. There’s also some news regarding the usual terrorist stuff thrown in there for good measure. The story begins properly when a viral outbreak occurs at an unnamed Airport in mid-Western America, which just so happens to be where Claire Redfield has arrived. As things take their turn, the virus spreads out as zombies start eating more people within the Airport. Before long, the Special Response Team comes to the Airport and cordon it off to prevent the spread of the infection. With them, by order of the President himself, is Leon Kennedy. Graphically, everyone in the film looks spectacular – the zombies are very well designed, with a great variety and plenty of detail in regards to disfigurements, and the main cast are extremely well done. Leon looks drastically different to how he does in Resident Evil 4, with far more detail in his face and composure, even though he has the same voice actor and the same attire. It’s not so hard to believe he has the most attention to detail in terms of design, given how popular Leon is and how much of screentime he has. Claire is similarly detailed, her attire being quite different to what we remember her wearing back in RE2, with a more detailed body overall. The only problem I have with how the characters look in the film is that some of them look too fake – almost as if the guys at Capcom were trying to hard to get a realistic appearance for some characters.

The plot of the film moves along very nicely, being far better paced and interesting than the Hollywood counterparts, with some nice twists and turns throughout and some cliché scenes line the lot to give a very good and very full feel overall. The connection various characters have are surprising, to be honest, with Leon and Claire’s relationship not actually taking centre stage for much of the film. The script is very solid, even if it does change how certain characters behave, with very few corny lines in it at all and the voice actors all deliver their roles perfectly – fans of Crispin Freeman should keep an ear out for his role as Frederic Downing, an important yet small role in the film. In stark contrast to the wonderfully played out vocals, one of the film’s biggest issues seems to be motion capture – surprising, given how the credits place a lot of emphasis on the work that had been done. While for the most part the characters move about quite well, there are certain scenes where they either walk worse than the zombies do or they move in a strangely detached way. It can really break the mood at times. Thankfully, that’s where the music comes into play. A collection of gentle tunes line the majority of the film, offering the kind of soundtrack that really does complement the film well. When the action picks up, so does the music. In place of the relaxed tunes are stronger, more vibrant ones. Tetsuya Takahashi wrote all of the music in the film, proving how outstanding he is at composing. The action sequences in this film are definitely the highlights, showing us why Leon and Claire survived Raccoon City through their use. Leon, for example, easily dispatches of all the zombies he comes across with single shots to the head. Used as a mechanic to underscore just how professional and badass Leon is, are the two SRT soldiers who are armed with better guns yet kill far less zombies – spending more time spreading fire than anything else. In another scene, we’re shown how skilled Claire is with a gun, when she deftly takes care of a trio of zombies while also protecting a survivor from harm.

Overall, Resident Evil Degeneration is what fans of the series have been looking for. It’s a great representation of the franchise with better set pieces and battles than their Hollywood counterpart. I’d highly suggest this to any fan of the series as well as anyone who would like to watch a good zombie flick. While this won’t beat out films like Dawn of the Dead, it does its job very well and delivers on its promise.