RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION - DVD review

I'm not a huge fan of the Resident Evil video games. I've rented a couple of the Playstation games, but the only one I've owned is the first installment for the Nintendo Gamecube. I count myself as an even lesser fan of the "Resident Evil" films made under the sub par auspices of Paul W.S. Anderson. Even the gamers have voiced their displeasure at the film franchise. This is mainly due to the movies relegating the games' characters to secondary status in favor of turning them into vehicles for Anderson's wife, Milla Jovovich. The third film in the series, "Resident Evil: Extinction," met with the typical bad reviews, yet still made enough box office to warrant another sequel, "Resident Evil: Afterlife," which is currently in development.

For those of you clamoring for a more faithful feature-length film, you may be more interested in the direct-to-video "Resident Evil: Degeneration." This computer animated film picks up where the second video game left off. If you're not at all familiar with the "Resident Evil" universe you'll find yourself scratching your head as you try to figure out what all that talk of raccoons and viruses is about.

A malevolent conglomerate known as the Umbrella Corporation previously unleashed a virus from their labs onto the unsuspecting populace of Raccoon City, turning them into zombies. The town is eventually bombed by the U.S. Army in an effort to eradicate the plague. Time passes and one of the few survivors, Claire Redfield (Alyson Court), is now working for the activist group TerraSave. Claire has led a campaign against a company called WilPharma which has seemingly picked up where Umbrella left off with the T-virus. WilPharma is fully endorsed by Senator Ron Davis (Michael Sorich) as they are supposedly developing a vaccine to prevent any further outbreaks.

Claire and Sen. Davis's paths cross when they arrive at the Harvardville Airport just as a jumbo jet full of infected passengers crashes through the terminal. All hell breaks loose until Claire is saved by her old friend, Leon S. Kennedy (Paul Mercier), a special agent assigned to tracking down bio-terrorist threats. The T-virus was unleashed by Curtis Miller (Roger Craig Smith), another Raccoon survivor who will stop at nothing to reveal the truth about what happened there. It just so happens that Miller's sister is Angela (Laura Bailey), a member of the response team that was on hand for the rescue operation. Together, the three of them attempt to bring Curtis in while investigating the purposes behind WilPharma's interest in the T-virus.

The CG animation of "Degeneration" is done through motion capture in a similar manner as "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf." Much like those films, the characters have a plastic quality to them while their movements are extremely stiff. Oddly enough, fully armed soldiers move smoothly as they draw their weapons, but a reporter simply holding her microphone doesn't look quite right.

While the visuals were created through sophisticated means, the screenplay is decidedly unsophisticated. The opening act of the film is like the "Die Hard 2" version of a zombie movie in and of itself with the undead creatures swarming our heroes. The rest of the movie descends into your standard action picture as the protagonists shoot it out with a giant, mutated creature and attempting to expose the true mastermind behind everything. Don't expect a lot of character development or deeper themes here. The script also relies heavily on contrivances to get the characters together and move the story forward. "Degeneration" was directed by Makoto Kamiya who previously worked in special effects and makes his feature-length directorial debut. Screenwriter Shotaro Suga also wrote "Casshern," an FX-heavy adaptation of an anime series. I should also note that the voice actors playing Leon and Claire are the same ones who voiced them in the games.

VIDEO:
The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The picture quality is impeccable. It's clean and you can see all the little details. A few scenes look a little soft, but that has more to do with the lighting and animation.

AUDIO:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 with alternate Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Thai language tracks. The sound is sweet and does justice to all the explosions and action sequences. Though it is a Japanese production, the film was shot originally in English. I am a little disappointed there was no alternate Japanese track as I found the American voice acting to be a bit lacking.

EXTRAS:
The primary extra for the DVD is The Generation of Degeneration, a half hour behind-the-scenes documentary about the genesis of the project. We get talking head interviews with the cast and crew as well as footage from the green screen room where all the motion capture was taken.

You'll also get text and graphics-based Character Profiles with links to video montages of that person in action. Voice Bloopers are gag reels featuring alternate lines recorded over scenes from the film. Faux Leon Interview is a tongue-in-cheek conversation with the actor doing the motion capture for Leon. Finally, there are a bunch of trailers for the "Degeneration" as well as the next Resident Evil game and for other Sony releases.

FILM VALUE:
"Resident Evil: Degeneration" doesn't feel like an actual film, it feels like they strung together cut scenes from the video game. The script is thin and the action isn't very spectacular due to the stiff motion capture animation. The voice acting isn't up to snuff either since they sound like they're trying to voice cartoon characters instead of actual people. "Degeneration" tries to blend elements of action, sci-fi, horror, and zombie films, but fails on all accounts.