This is a rare breed of review for me. It is a cartoon, but it is not aimed at children. Honestly, it is not really aimed at older adults either. It is aimed at a very specific group: people that can pretend that the Resident Evil games have a good plot. The film is rife with zombies as well, so it fits more for this category. Confusing? Yes. You haven't even gotten to the plot of...
To begin with, this film sits in a sort of weird place in regards to Resident Evil continuity. Given that you have Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, plus 0 and all the spin-off games (Code Veronica, etc), nothing will be simple here. This is what you need to know.-Raccoon City is in ashes.
-Zombies were loose there.-Two people survived and kept killing zombies.
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The film proper begins with news-talk about mysterious plagues and diseases in overseas locations and protests regarding the company suspected for being behind them. The company's president is a man who appears to be more slug than man. Needless to say, realistic skin texture rendering does not do him a good service here. We cut to an airport where he is trying to remain discreet and avoid protesters. He runs afoul of a foreign woman and her child, accompanied by Claire Redfield. Man, where's a plane when you need one?
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Suddenly, a plane crashes into the terminal, sending numerous sprites flying and terrifying the others. At least this cannot get worse. Faster than you can say 'I saw this in Nightmare City,' a group of zombies emerge from the wreckage and attack anyone in sight. Claire fends them off, but must flee the mass assemblage of the undead. Send in the big, blond hero!
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Our hero is Leon from the original Resident Evil is called in as to help the situation on order of the President. So, is this after Resident Evil 4? We never get our answer as he goes in with a small number of S.W.A.T. members, one of whom is voiced by Steven Jay "Wolverine" Blum. Sadly, his rough and tumble cop character does not last long enough to distract from the plot for too long. In a relatively short order of time, Claire and Leon meet up and rescue all the innocents...plus the C.E.O. This is just a really short film?
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No, it seems that the plot is a bit more complicated. The zombies were a result of a terrorist attack by someone who stole the T-Virus and wants to ruin the corporation. But wait, there's more. The company...is actually good. I bet you didn't see that coming. Chris and Jill both look into the villain's past, the latter of which goes to the company building. Guess who is coming to pay a visit and kill people.
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The film gets loud, complicated and expository at this point. Lots of people get shot and even more people decide to give you their life's story. The highlights include the squadron of 'red shirt' security guards, the guy who turns into Soul Edge from the Soul Calibur games and Leon's running. Leon runs more than Tom Cruise and actually seems to set many land-speed records in the process. The film turns into really long game cut scenes at times and really overuses the 'run away from peril' in slow-motion-to-full-speed trope. I counted at least ten times of it happening. We get it- he's fast and things fall/explode. Move on, movie. Evil gets killed and good triumphs. You were expecting something else?
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In light of the holiday, I will cover the men of the army...of Thailand. Stay tuned...
Been interested in seeing this being a fan of the (game) series, but Ive heard mixed things.. Put it on low priority, thanks for the review!
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