Reaction & Review | Resident Evil: Degeneration

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the "Video Game Movie Marathon" here on Reaction & Review. Yes, guys, I'm doing a second one of these particular marathons where, for the next couple of months, I'm gonna be dedicating this marathon to me covering video game related movies. And we're gonna kick things off with a movie from 2008. That movie is "Resident Evil: Degeneration".

Now my history with the "Resident Evil" series has been sort of an odd one. You see, my first experience with this series started back when I first played Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube a little over a decade ago. And at the time, I didn't really like it that much. I could see some semblances of fun in it, but my experience with the overall game wasn't really that good. I still ended up beating it, but I ultimately ended up trading it in afterwards. I would later get another chance at the series when I played Resident Evil 6 for the Xbox 360. And unlike Resident Evil 4, where I had no idea that it was one of the most universally loved games of the entire franchise, Resident Evil 6 was a game that was massively polarizing amongst the Resident Evil fanbase. They mostly hated it because it strayed far too much from being a survival horror game to an action game. Myself personally, I wanted to like it more, but I ended up hating not because of the reasons the fanbase had with it, but more so because it ended up becoming too frustrating for me too enjoy. Especially towards the end of Chris's campaign where I hated the final boss with a fucking passion.

So then after that, I kinda just gave up on trying to give the "Resident Evil" games a chance, because my last two experiences with it weren't really that fun. But then one day, probably around last year or so, I played a certain survival-horror game called Dead Space. And it was surprisingly really fun. I actually had a great time with it. So much so that I had suddenly had an urge to try the Resident Evil games again. I started out with Resident Evil 5 and, despite some bullshit moments, the game was actually rather enjoyable. Which then lead me back to replaying Resident Evil 4 on the Switch, and my experience with the game was much more comfortable than it was when I first played it all those years ago. I even ended up beating the game on Professional Mode, somehow. And then it eventually lead to me playing a couple of other games like Resident Evil: Revelations and the Resident Evil Remake on the GameCube. I also played Resident Evil Zero on the Switch, however, I wasn't exactly a fan of that particular game. But despite that, both of the former games are genuinely really good, and I guess you could say I am warming up more to this series.

But I should probably get back onto tonight's subject, since I've already delved enough into my history with this series already. I should first start off by saying that this will be my first "Resident Evil" movie that I'm gonna be watching. And as you may have noticed, I'm not covering any of the live action movies. Because, apart from them having no real connection to any of the games other than name value, they genuinely looked terrible and I have no interest in ever watching them. So I decided on taking a look at the CG animated movies instead. So you kinda already have an idea of what I'm gonna be covering for this marathon.

Now as for the film itself, I don't really know much about it. From what little information that I did look up, apparently, this movie takes place sometime after Resident Evil 2. And two of the characters that are gonna be the center of attention for this movie are Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. I know a bit about Leon, since I've played Resident 4 Evil. But in regards to Claire, the only thing I really know about her is that she is Chris Redfield's sister. And I also believe both of these characters were playable in Resident Evil 2. I could be mistaken about that since I've never played Resident Evil 2, so bare with me if I end up getting any details wrong.

So anyway, I should probably just quit stalling and see if this movie is any good. I'm hoping that it *is* good, but the only way I'm really gonna find out is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Resident Evil: Degeneration".

10 minutes later

OK, I have a really dumb question here, and I know it's kind of a stupid one, but I'm curious about something. So the security guard was first bitten by a zombie after another guy was wearing a zombie mask. And now everything is starting to go to hell. My question here is how far exactly did this zombie get in without being discovered by anyone? Furthermore, it looks like there were other zombies that were possibly hiding around at this airport. So again, I must ask how the hell did no one even notice a *literal* zombie walking around the airport without having it's cover blown? I'm sure the movie will give out some sort of reason for this, but right now, it's kinda starting to bug me a little bit.

10 minutes later

Did she seriously ask the clearly infected person to stop or she'll shoot?! And coupled with the fact that a moment ago, she tried to help somebody up, despite the fact that he was already infected too! Dear god, how *dumb* is this fucking bitch? If they're infected, you shoot first and ask questions later! God damn, I *really* hope Leon had some kind of sense in bringing these two squad members with him. Otherwise, I'm just hoping she, in particular, dies sooner rather than later.

6 minutes later

Well, I would say that this sacrifice from Greg was an honorable one...but considering the fact that he had no personality to begin with, and that he was also voiced by Steve Blum, I don't feel bad about this whatsoever. In fact, I'm actually kinda happy. That way, I don't have to deal with his shitty acting for too much longer. So yeah, I'd consider that a positive.

10 minutes later

All right, guys, I am gonna say this much, so far. The animation in this movie has been pretty good up til now. And the reason why I say that is because Leon has been standing in the exact same position as he has been, since talking to Claire. And the animation, and the acting from him for the past minute has been...rather bad. I'm hoping maybe that this is the only instance where the animation takes a bit of a dump in quality. But until then, I can safely say that the both the acting and animation from him here in this scene is pretty terrible.

16 minutes later

So let me see if I understand this. The G-Virus has been kept hidden in secret within this pharmaceutical company all this time, and the reason why it was kept hidden there was because this doctor wanted to create a vaccine from this virus. Now I don't claim to be a doctor, but I'm pretty certain that creating a vaccine from a virus which was responsible for the outbreak on Raccoon City *isn't* the brightest of ideas. But then again, I have never ran some shady pharmaceutical companies to begin with, so what the hell do I know?

20 minutes later

OK, I had no idea you could shoot a handgun from underwater. I'm pretty sure you weren't able to do that in the games. Then again, I guess maybe Leon's handgun was made for underwater purposes. Though honestly, I can't recall any instance in any of the games where you could shoot a gun underwater. Granted, I understand that this is all trivial and stupid to be nitpicking about, but it just kinda bothered me a little bit, you know?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Resident Evil: Degeneration". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So...where to begin with this one? Well, I will say that, going into this movie, I wasn't really expecting much here. Being that I went into this movie as my first experience with any of the "Resident Evil" movies, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this one. And I will say that, for the most part, the movie was OK. It wasn't great by any means, but I can see that there was some potential here. So, I can at least give the movie that much.

So, let's get into this review proper by first discussing the writing. Now I want to clarify myself by stating that I'm not the biggest expert on the lore of the "Resident Evil" franchise. I know *some* things, but I don't claim myself to be an expert on it. So if there are any instances where I get some details wrong or if it's because I haven't played enough games in the series to know what's going on, then I'm sorry. But as I've stated time and again with this series, when I'm reviewing a movie that's an adaptation of something, be it from a video game, comic book, etc, I'm viewing it by it's own standards, rather than comparing it to the games. And being that this movie takes place around Resident Evil 2, a game that I still haven't played yet at the time that I'm writing this review, my knowledge is gonna be very limited here. So any comparisons between this movie and Resident Evil 2 are not going to play too much of a factor here. Again, I'm viewing this thing on it's own standards and whether or not it's entertaining. Which, to me, is what I care most about movies is whether or not they're entertaining. And I can say again that, even though this movie has some glaring flaws, it is still mildly entertaining for the most part. So on that end, the movie accomplishes that much. Especially if you're a fan of the "Resident Evil" games. However, I'll get more into that once I get to recommendations.

So as for the story itself, well, it's kind of set into 3 parts. The first half hour or so is centered around this outbreak that happens at the airport, in which these infected zombies are causing chaos and it eventually leads into our two heroes, Leon and Claire, to team up and get any survivors out of the airport and away from the zombies. And yes, I know that they may not be technically 'zombies', but they still act like them, so I'm just gonna stick with calling them that. But anyway, that's what happens within the first half hour of the movie. The remaining hour is separated into two different stories that eventually coincide with one another. Leon is with another character in this movie named Angela, who is searching for her brother whom is out on his own crusade in uncovering the truth that the U.S. Government was involved with the incidents that happened in Raccoon City. And as for Claire, she ends up going to this pharmaceutical company with Dr. Downing, who's basically the head of it all, as she herself learns more about the events of what happened at Raccoon City, along with the G-Virus that's being kept down at one of the lower floors. Why? Well, as I mentioned earlier, it was because Dr. Downing wanted to create a vaccine for profit via the black market. And to be honest, I already predicted, going in, that when they mentioned that this pharmaceutical company was creating vaccines in order to prevent any further outbreaks, that pretty much guarantees that they are the ones behind the whole catastrophe. Because why wouldn't someone want to portray a pharmaceutical company as evil? It's quite possibly one of the most cliche things you could do when writing a story involving science and all.

But cliches aside, let's talk about one of the big problems about this movie. And it's a problem that I think would've been avoided had it gone in a different direction. What I'm talking about is, conceptually speaking, this movie could've easily been it's own game. And what I mean is that instead of turning this into a 96 minute movie, they could've turned into a video game that's separated into 2 campaigns: One with Leon, the other with Claire. And you could play as either one to experience a different story through their own campaigns. Now if you wanted to keep the first half hour of the movie and turn that into a survival horror segment where you could play as either character, that's perfectly fine, too. And after that segment, the characters would part ways while the player would be in control of whatever character they chose. Which honestly, I would love to play something like that. Which then leads me into asking why Capcom chose *this* story of all things to turn into a movie rather than make it it's own game? I honestly don't really know. But then again, it's probably just a big issue to me because it honestly felt like they just took cutscenes from an unfinished "Resident Evil" game and turned it into a movie instead. However, this honestly is really only an issue if you start to think about it in that way.

Now setting that part of the writing aside, what about the characters? Well, most of them are really bland and forgettable. There's a Senator named Davis who acts about as slimy as any generic corrupt politician. I would say that Angela has the most character depth in this movie, however, that's not really saying a whole lot because the character herself also falls into the bland category. She really has no defining character trait other than the fact that Curtis Miller, the guy who she's after, is her brother. And that's kind of it for her character. As for our two main leads, I can easily tell you, of the two, Claire is easily the best character in the movie. She actually has something resembling a personality, and I feel like if she wasn't in this movie, then I would have to deal with just Leon. And speaking of which, Leon in this movie is 100% boring as fuck! He is basically the definition of a bland hero that's just there to save the day. Now granted, I don't know how much of a character he had in Resident Evil 2, but if it's anything like this movie, then there is almost no comparison with his counterpart in Resident Evil 4. Because with Leon in Resident Evil 4, he definitely feels a little more upbeat, and is also able to joke around a little bit in that game against the villains. Here though, there is *nothing* in this movie that makes Leon interesting or worth caring about. And even though he's paired up with Angela in this movie, it still really isn't enough because there's hardly any chemistry between the two characters. I don't even know if Angela is even in any of the other "Resident Evil" games or movies. And if not, then her character just comes off as one and done. Which, if that's the case, then I don't think it's gonna impact the "Resident Evil" series at all, so I have no reason to care about her again if, for some reason, she shows up again in the future.

Now beyond all that, the writing here isn't really that great. But then again, the "Resident Evil" games, what few I've played anyway, didn't necessarily have great writing, either. So, it's just something that's par for the course with this franchise. Now with that all said, let's get into the acting. The acting here is decent, for the most part. There are two actors, in particular, who I need to make mention of. One of them is Steve Blum. I'm getting him out of the way first because his character is not at all relevant to the overall story, and, well, he dies anyway. So I was quite happy to see that. But in terms of his acting, well, it's mostly the same, lazy phoned-in shit he's done for a really long time, and I really can't say much beyond that. Now for the other actor, I need to talk about the guy who voices Leon in this movie, who goes by the name of Paul Mercier. Now I should mention that this is the same guy who voiced Leon in Resident Evil 4, and he was pretty good in that one. But when it comes to this movie, his acting comes off as very stoic and wooden. And that's part of the reason why Leon's character in this movie feels so bland to begin with is because Paul didn't have anything to work with when it comes to a voicing character he's familiar with. I have no idea if that was the original intention for his character, or if it was just a case of poor direction. But either way, his acting is just not very good here. Which is really disappointing, especially when you consider that it's only been about 3 years from between voicing Leon in Resident Evil 4 to this movie, and *this* is the kind of performance he gives out. However, I could also easily just blame the script he was given, because you can only do so much with what you're given. So as it stands, the acting from him is the most disappointing of the entire cast. Everyone else, minus Paul and Blum, put on decent performances for their characters, so at least there is that.

Let's get to the CG, which is somewhat of a mixed bag here. Now I mentioned a moment ago that it felt like, to me anyway, that they took cutscenes from an unfinished "Resident Evil" game and compressed it into a 96 minute movie. And I wasn't kidding about the cutscene part either, because this movie looks like it came out of a cutscene from a PlayStation 2 game. Now I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that it's all bad. I will say that most of the animation is pretty smooth and functions mostly well. But then there are those exceptions where it will look *really* bad. And most of it comes from, once again, Leon Kennedy. There are a few moments in this movie where Leon will be talking with somebody, and throughout these scenes, his body doesn't move at *all* when he's talking with someone like Claire or Angela. It's really awkward, especially when you see him talk while doing nothing else, and it just comes off as if you were talking to an NPC character in this way. The closest example I can think of are the "Batman Arkham" games, where anytime Batman talks to an NPC character, they will do nothing else with their body language besides moving their mouths. However, I give the Arkham games a pass on this, because whenever those scenes happen, they are all done in-game. But in this movie, it's suppose to feel like an FMV, but Leon feels like an NPC character that wasn't given any attention for whatever fucking reason and he just stands there, motionless, as he talks. And there are also a couple of moments where a scene between him and either Claire or Angela will happen as they talk, and the camera will do a still shot between them for a few moments in complete silence while the music is going on, almost as if there was something else to add to these scenes, but nothing else comes from that. And it just leaves these scenes looking really awkward and unfinished. They really could've polished Leon's character model to stand out a bit more, but regardless, this is what we ended up getting for this movie, and it looks terrible.

Sound-mix here is mixed fine. The music is here is also really forgettable. I couldn't remember a single piece of music in this movie because it *really* is just that forgettable. And the score itself is also not remembering for either. It's just there to exist for this movie and that's about it. There's really nothing else I can say about the music other than that, so it is what it is.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Resident Evil: Degeneration"? If you're a fan of "Resident Evil", you most likely will find something here that will keep you interested. And as for non-fans, I could easily recommend it as a mindless popcorn flick, where if you shut your brain off for about 96 minutes, then you're probably going to love this thing. As for myself, well, like I said, the movie is just OK. It's not a great film, but it's not really awful either. OK yes, the movie has a lot of flaws to it, what with the story being kinda stupid, the characters mostly being really bland, and the animation definitely showing it's age. But still, I could recommend it to both fans of the "Resident Evil" franchise and for anyone who's looking for a mindless popcorn flick to watch for a little over half an hour of it's runtime. And I'm hoping the other movies are gonna be better, because if the potential with this movie is to be seen, then it's very well possible that the other movies could get better. I'm certainly hoping that they will be, but we'll just have to wait and see later on this marathon. For now, though, I think I'm gonna go and replay Resident Evil 5 again. That game definitely has it's fun moments, so I'm gonna go and do that next after I get done typing this review up.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.