Screenhead

Once again, Capcom proves that it can solidly handle a zombie movie by offering up the best in the industry.  It’s called Resident Evil: Degeneration, and it has the honor of being the best Resident Evil movie to date.

Paul W.S. Anderson et al, take note. The reason WHY Resident Evil: Degeneration beats the sludge you were continually chucking at us in theatres is very simple–it’s because they actually STICK TO THE CANON!!

In this installment, set about five years after the nuclear destruction of Raccoon City, Umbrella has folded (a joke they’ll manage to make very convincingly in the film itself) and much of its intellectual property has been taken over by the WilPharma corporation, that’s managed to develop a vaccine for the T-virus.  That of it, of course, that isn’t being sold on the black market to random terrorist outfits by former Umbrella employees, most of whom are probably disgruntled because their unemployment has run out and their 401k’s were probably exclusively in Umbrella stock.

There are, of course, two problems with this–one, they haven’t managed to develop a LOT of vaccine, and they also don’t have any vaccine yet for Umbrella’s other hot property, the G-virus.

So now, Leon and Claire, two plucky survivors from Resident Evil 2, are on a worldwide manhunt for the former Umbrella employees and anyone else who thinks they’ve got a lock on the whole T- or G-virus thing.

Most of the entire first half hour of Resident Evil: Degeneration is so jam-packed with action that it’s impossible to tear your attention away for very long.  Gunplay will wildly ensue, zombies will come stumbling out of every dark corner in a room, and you will be firmly locked on the edge of your seat watching it.  The plot is deep and complex, and once again, blows away anything that half-baked hack Anderson could’ve come up with.  The voicework is top-notch, and video game and cartoon buffs will easily recognize the voice of jack-of-all-trades voice actor Steve Blum.

Perhaps the only issue I had–and a lot of people have with this sort of thing–is that the animation was all CG.  While this is common, and lends the series a note of authenticity as it closely mirrors the CG cut scenes of the original games, it has a tendency to waver into the so-called “uncanny valley”, where characters look realistic, but just to the left of comfortably so.  Also, I agree with those who would have liked to see more T-virus zombie action and less G-virus superhuman nightmare monster action.  Both are purely matters of personal taste–it doesn’t affect the film quality at all–but if you get creeped out easily by CG characters, or can’t stand the antics of monsters that can leap several stories straight up then this will not be the film for you.

It was, however, definitely the film for me.

Everything is solid in Resident Evil: Degeneration.  If the game–if the next movie–is anywhere near this good I will be eagerly in line for both.