Reaction & Review | Resident Evil: Vendetta

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the "Video Game Movie Marathon" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2017. That movie is "Resident Evil: Vendetta".

Now if you've been following this marathon up till this point, then you'll know that I have reviewed the first 2 CG "Resident Evil" movies for this marathon. And so far, I would say both movies have produced positive results. Granted, the first movie wasn't great, and it was definitely flawed, but I could still find some enjoyment out of it. The second movie was definitely an improvement and I enjoyed that one quite a bit. So, needless to say, I am enjoying myself with this series of movies.

So now this leads us into the third movie, "Resident Evil: Vendetta". And much like with the previous two films, I don't really know much about the plot. I've heard this movie might take place after Resident Evil 6, though I have no idea how accurate that claim really is. Plus also, it's been years since I last played Resident Evil 6, so I wouldn't be able to confirm it even after I get done watching the movie. What I can tell you about the film is that it features established characters such as Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, and Rebecca Chambers. And in regards to the latter character, I do remember having a little bit of experience playing as her in Resident Evil Zero, which was a prequel game to the Resident Evil Remake. I didn't hate Zero, however, it was definitely a game that I didn't feel like it was worth replaying a second time, what with it's difficulty, choice of enemies, and a certain weapon that kinda pissed me off in regards to it's usage. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played the game yet, but let's just say that it wasn't exactly a happy experience for me.

But anyway, I'm not gonna sully things up too much here by talking about that game. I should just focus on tonight's movie. I'm certainly hoping that it will continue this positive trend I've had with these movies. However, I could also see this thing taking a massive dump in quality, and could possibly end up sucking as well. That said, I'm still hoping for the best here. And the only way I'm gonna find out as to whether or not this movie will be any good at all, 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: Vendetta".

13 minutes later

O...K, I wasn't expecting those soldiers to die by going through those sharp invisible wires. Almost reminds me of what I saw from "Audition", where the woman used some sort of metal wire to slice through human skin. Except here, there were a bunch of them hanging around the hallway like that. That was definitely unexpected.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, I understand that this is all suppose to be interesting and everything. However, part of me is not finding a reason to care because I still have no idea who our villains are, I don't know why this woman that works with our villain, Arias, placed a virus that turned almost everyone there into BOW's, and I still have no idea why Leon hasn't shown up yet apart from the opening prologue that lasted about a minute at best. Guys, I'm waiting for *any* kind of explanation to happen, and until I get that, everything that I'm seeing right now feels kind of pointless.

9 minutes later

I think I figured it out, guys. I now know what kind of character Arias is suppose to be. He's basically this movie's version of Albert Wesker, except he doesn't have any of the charm, personality, or intrigue that Wesker had. And based on what I heard a little earlier about him, I'm not really having any high hopes for his character to improve. Now it could happen, and hey, there's still another hour left in this movie for his character to get interesting. But as of right now, I really don't see that happening.

16 minutes later

OK, I have a *big* question here, and it's been bugging since I learned about Arias's backstory. So, a Smart Bomb was dropped at his wedding, thus killing his entire family and his wife. Don't ask why, the movie still hasn't really explained that part. But anyway, the question I had on my mind is that if his whole family and wife had died, then how the fuck is *he* even still alive?! He was right in the middle of that blast, so how the hell did he even survive that, but not his family or wife? I want to know this, and I'm hoping this movie attempts to explain that sooner rather than later, because it's something that *really* shouldn't be ignored.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Resident Evil: Vendetta". Let me shut the movie off here...OK. Oh boy, um...where to even to start? Well, I believe I can say that one of my predictions came true. I was hoping for this thing to continue the positive trend I have had with these CG "Resident Evil" movies up till this point. But I also mentioned that this thing could also just take a dip with it's quality, and it's very well possible that the movie could lean towards that way. Well, I was right on the latter option, because this movie unfortunately dials it back with it's quality to a point where it becomes disappointing. At least to me, it does.

So with that in mind, let's start this review off proper by discussing the writing. Now I want to make a claim that the "Resident Evil" series, as a whole, whether it's the games or the movies, never really had the greatest of writing. Now yes, I understand I'm making this claim despite the fact that I haven't played enough of the games to make this sort of statement, but just based on what I've experienced, the writing in "Resident Evil" has never really been that great. And this movie is no exception. It has all of the things you would expect from the "Resident Evil" series, a story that deals with a virus outbreak that is turning people into BOW's, we have a villain that wants to dominate the world with these BOW's (I'm gonna talk more about him in a minute), and we also have some establishing characters coming into this movie so that they can stop the outbreak, kill some BOW's, and save the world. It's very formulaic, but it does work most of the time. And if you have been, or are a fan of the "Resident Evil" series by this point, then you should know what to expect, and you most likely won't notice or either care about the flaws that this movie has. However, for me, personally, I just feel that none of it really impressed me all that much here. OK yes, they also really amp it up with the action scenes here, but it still didn't really wow me all that much, as I've seen better action sequences done better in other action movies. So, at least on that end, I could just chalk this thing up to being a mindless action film that could entertain some people, but not me, since I prefer a little more substance with most of my action movies.

But let's set that aside and talk about one of the biggest problems this movie has, which is our characters. And I'm gonna start with the main villain himself, Glenn Arias. Now I mentioned earlier that this guy was essentially this movie's version of Albert Wesker. And I stand by that statement, because he essentially has the same goals in which he wants to take over the world by using controlled BOW's so that no one would be able to stand in his way. And I also stand by the fact that this guy has none of the charm or interest that Wesker had. Do you want to know why? Because Wesker actually had some level of buildup throughout the games that he was featured in up until Resident Evil 5. This movie, however, is Arias's only single appearance, and I have no reason to care about him whatsoever. The movie tries to give him some kind of backstory, but it quickly falls apart the moment you start to think about it. As I mentioned earlier, a Smart Bomb dropped on his wedding and killed everyone at his wedding, including his wife. Why did this happen? Well, fuck you, that is why. That would be the short answer. However, as I was thinking about it, it never really occurred to me as to why Arias was even targeted to begin with. Specifically, what was he like prior to his wedding? And why exactly did someone need to drop a Smart Bomb on him of all things? Was there an outbreak that was going on at the time? Not to my knowledge, since his wedding looked rather hunky-dory to me. And even then, how exactly did Arias come to the conclusion that it was Chris and the BSAA that were responsible for the Smart Bomb, which would then lead to his "revenge" against them? How exactly did he take over the new Umbrella to unleash his plan? Guys, there are so many questions I have about this, and *none* of them ever get answered. So it really leaves me feeling empty about our main villain, because his backstory is too stupid and convoluted that it really doesn't make any sense if you start to pick it apart like I did.

Now, setting aside our villain, what about our other characters? Well, admittedly, they don't fall into the stupid category that Arias does in terms of having a retarded backstory, however, that doesn't really help things much since almost all of our characters are about as bland and shallow as they come. Chris has no real personality other than that he's a soldier for the BSAA. Leon, for some reason, goes back to his roots of acting how he did back in "Resident Evil: Degeneration", where his character was seriously boring as shit. And I feel like it's gotten worse here, because when he first gets introduced in this movie, he basically feels very emo about some events that happened at the beginning where his team got killed in a small outbreak and ends up blaming himself for what happened. And it just feels very out of character for him to be acting like this. Now admittedly, I don't know where this movies takes place, timeline wise, in the "Resident Evil" series, however, the very fact that he feels more emo in this movie just feels like a huge downgrade when compared to the previous movie in the series, which was "Resident Evil: Damnation". Rebecca Chambers is kinda just there, really. She has no defining character traits other than that she is a professor developing the vaccines and that she use to be a part of the medical team back during the early days of "Resident Evil". And one other thing I should mention is that I kinda made an error earlier when I said Aria's family was killed. However, that's not *entirely* the case. There's a couple members of his family who somehow end up also getting turned into BOW's. And without spoiling too much, by the end, it looked like they were teasing something with one of them. However, aside from the fact that they are also bland as shit, I have no idea if what they actually teased here is gonna play any part in the other "Resident Evil" movie that I plan on covering later this month. And if not, it makes me wonder why in the hell they would even go this route if they weren't going to do anything with it? However, I will withhold my judgement for when I eventually get to that last movie.

But yeah, guys, when it comes to this film's writing, it's definitely weaker when compared to the other CG "Resident Evil" movies. Granted, I don't know if it's weaker than Degeneration was, since I felt like that movie felt really cliched with it's writing. Which is probably gonna sound hypocritical, considering this movie is working with all of the cliches and tropes that you would see in the "Resident Evil" series. That said, I would probably give the slight edge to this movie over Degeneration, because I feel like there was a bit more effort put into Vendetta. It's just effort that I didn't really care for. But anyway, with that said, let's actually get into the acting. And the acting here, I will say, is decent for what it is. It's not that great, and I feel like whoever they got to voice Rebecca Chambers definitely felt the weakest of the bunch, but I can see that the acting here was OK for what the actors had to work with. So on that end, I can at least say the acting here is decent for what it is.

Animation here is also another positive. I will say that this movie, when compared to how the previous two movies looked, looks great. It definitely has that more realistic look to it. Which kinda makes sense, given that the previous two movies in the series felt like they came from video game consoles of the time. For Degeneration, it looked like a PlayStation 2 game, and for Damnation, it looked sorta like a game you would see on the Xbox 360 and PS3. This movie, while it may also just look like a cutscene from one of the newer games, definitely looks great. The character models are really good. Although admittedly, and this is just a minor nitpick, I'm not really the biggest fan of Chris Redfield's hairstyle. I don't know what it is exactly, but something about it just felt rather off to me almost every time he appeared on screen with it. However, that is just a minor nothing that almost nobody is gonna care about except me, because I kinda tend to notice the smaller details sometimes, and that one stood out to me the most. So it's just something you have to take for what it's worth.

Sound-mix here is mixed fine. The score and soundtrack is also decent for what it is. However, I can't really call it memorable, since I couldn't think of a single piece of music here that I could imagine myself humming to or even remembering within a few hours. It's just there for the sake of being there. So again, it's just something you have to take for what it's worth. However, "Resident Evil" isn't really known for it's memorable music. At least, not on my account, it hasn't been. So yeah, the score here is still decent, just nothing memorable overall.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Resident Evil: Vendetta"? Um...well, like I said, if you've been a fan of the "Resident Evil" series up till this point, and you've enjoyed the previous two CG animated movies, then you're probably gonna find that same amount of enjoyment here. The story is still the same formulaic thing we've seen done before, and if you like seeing you're favorite characters in this for fanservice, then you're probably gonna enjoy this just fine. However, if you're somebody new to this series and you want to get into these particular movies, then this one is definitely *not* a starting point for you. Like I mentioned before, you should probably watch both Degeneration and Damnation before getting into this one. And even then, it's best you play any of the games first before you even consider watching these movies. Which probably isn't saying a whole lot, considering the timeline of these movies feels a little all over the place. But still, I could recommend this thing for fans of the "Resident Evil" series. Newcomers or casual fans should probably avoid this thing, at least for now. And as for myself, well, I really wanted to like this movie more, but with it's characters feeling really bland and shallow and the story not really being really interesting, I'm probably not gonna be giving this movie a second viewing. Which is a bit disappointing to say, because I could see some level of potential here. However, it just wasn't enough to impress me, so I'm not gonna be holding onto this movie for my DVD collection. And on that note, I'm gonna find something from there to watch, since I want to watch something better. And since I mentioned my reference for action movies earlier, I think I'm gonna go and watch a different and better action movie. Hmm...got it! I'm gonna go and re-watch "First Blood" again. Hell, I might even marathon a couple of the "Rambo" movies while I'm at it, since those movies have some really good action in them.

And with that, guys, 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.