Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

With Resident Evil: Degeneration, video game producer Capcom took control of the reigns and decided to produce this particular film version of their highly profitable franchise in-house. Eschewing the live action treatments that the series has suffered through, much to the chagrin of gaming fans everywhere, for three iterations, Capcom brought the series back home, so to speak, to the world of CGI. Aiming to keep Degeneration as true to the video game as possible, a story was built around two of the game's most popular characters, Leon S. Kennedy (Paul Mercier, voice) and Claire Redfield (Alyson Court, voice).

Resident Evil: Degeneration takes place some seven-years after the events at Raccoon City that left the area wiped out by the T-Virus created by the corrupt Umbrella Corporation and somewhere in between Resident Evil 4 and the forthcoming Resident Evil 5 video game. Beginning at the Harvardville Airport where an airplane full of passengers infected with the T-Virus crashes into the terminal thereby infecting everyone, the film has a thin plot that involves, naturally, the flesh-hungry, T-Virus infected zombies, a suspected bio-terrorist that must be hunted down and captured, yet another malevolent corporation, WillPharma that is possibly responsible for developing an even more potent variant of the virus known as the G-Virus, and a corrupt U.S. Senator who may be in on their plans.

It is up to Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield to infiltrate WillPharma, stop the bio-terrorist, gain access to the information to expose WillPharma and, oh yeah, dish out some major carnage to the walking dead along the way. Fans of the Resident Evil video games can finally rejoice, because Capcom have succeeded in producing a film that feels authentic. Truth be told, this is what a movie based on a video game should be. Degeneration plays like one long cut-scene from the game. The movie is at its best when the guns are blazing and the blood is spilling. Some scenes might even have gamers inadvertently reaching for their controllers. Where the film bogs down is when it tries to get too cerebral. Subplots about love stories and surprise villains fall flat.

Unfortunately, there won't be much here to like for anyone who is not a fan of the Resident Evil series of video games. That is its biggest weakness -- it can't and won't hold the attention of anyone new to the franchise or someone looking for some honest, quality entertainment. There is no real story here; it's just prolonged video game fun. Capcom may have succeeded in making an authentic video game movie, but that doesn't necessarily lead to a good film.

The Picture

The picture quality for Resident Evil: Degeneration is a bit of a mixed bag. The 1080p/24 AVC transfer looks generally good displaying no apparent compression artifacts or post-processing issues such as edge enhancement, but the CG rendering itself is a bit of a letdown. There is noticeable aliasing throughout, which, if it were only occasional, wouldn't be so bothersome, but in the case of Resident Evil, nearly every scene suffers from it and it can become distracting. I would say the blame for that is most likely in the source, but not having access to the master it's difficult to say definitively.

The animation is also quite jarring. The motion capture techniques still look very mechanical, and the human characters are rendered the least naturally of the entire production. Take the opening scenes at Harvardville Airport, for example, the airplanes look almost real, but people scurrying about all seem out-of-place. This is certainly not one of the better-looking CG-rendered animated titles available on Blu-ray today.

The Sound

The soundmix on this release is one worthy of the Resident Evil franchise and the action-intensive story. Coming in with an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack in addition to French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai Dolby Digital5.1 audio options, the mix makes aggressive use of all six channels and I sure to put any home theater sound system through its paces. From directional panning of dialogue across the front channels to exploding airplanes, rapid-fire machine gun bullets whizzing by your head and reverberant footsteps down dark hallways to the driving rock soundtrack, there's hardly a moment when the sound lets up. Low frequencies resound, dialogue is full and clear and the ambience sent to the rears is mixed well up in the mix making everything come together cohesively, constantly placing viewers right in the center of the action.

The Extras

Fans of the Resident Evil videogame franchise have much to be grateful for with this Blu-ray release's supplemental material. There's plenty here to keep fans occupied spending more time with their favorite CG-world characters.

The extras available on this release are:

• BD-Live
• Interactive Picture-in-Picture -- Use the red, green, and yellow buttons on your remote control to access picture-in-picture content featuring motion capture sequences, animatics and storyboards during playback.
• Pop-Up Trivia Track -- This in-movie trivia feature provides text and picture-in-picture trivia on the film such as character connections, timelines, the mythology of Resident Evil and tie-ins to the video game.
• The Generation of Degeneration (1.78:1/standard definition) -- The development team at Capcom discuss working on the film and trying to keep it faithful to the video game franchise.
• Voice Bloopers
• Faux Leon Interview (4:3/standard definition) -- The actor responsible for doing the motion-capture work for Leon S. Kennedy does a very unfunny, tongue-in-cheek interview about his role in the film, in character as Leon.
• Resident Evil: Degeneration Trailers:
  • Teaser (1.78:1/high definition/Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Comic Con #1 (1.78:1/high definition/Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Comic Con #2 (1.78:1/high definition/Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Theatrical Trailer (4:3/"windowboxed"/standard definition)
• Resident Evil 5 Special Footage -- Preview Footage of the forthcoming Resident Evil 5 Video Game:
  • Tokyo Game Show 2008 (2.35:1/high definition/Dolby Digital 5.1)
  • Special Theatrical Trailer (2.35:1/high definition/Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Previews:
  • Blu-ray Disc is High-Definition!
  • Resident Evil: Extinction
  • The Fall
  • Pineapple Express
  • Zombie Strippers
  • Starship Troopers 3: Marauders
  • Dragon Wars
  • Hancock
  • Step Brothers
  • Underworld: Evolution
  • Underworld
  • Lakeview Terrace
  • Paprika

Where to Buy

• Resident Evil: Degeneration on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Final Thoughts

Resident Evil: Degeneration is sure to appeal to fans of the video game franchise. The CG animation, particularly of the non-human objects is so well done it sure to impress. That combined with the engaging TrueHD mix does indeed offer some entertainment value. Still, unless one is a diehard fan of the franchise you may want to just rent this release or skip it entirely.

Product Details

• Actors: Alyson Court, Paul Mercier, Laura Bailey, Roger Craig Smith, Crispin Freeman
• Director: Makoto Kamiya
• Writers: Shotaro Suga
• Producers: Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Hidenori Ueki, Hiroyuki Kobayashi
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: Cantonese, English, French, Korean, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Region: ABC (All Regions)
• Rating: R
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: December 27, 2008
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• List Price: $39.95
• Extras:
  • Blu-ray Exclusives:
    • Interactive Picture-in-Picture -- Access to three PiP streams at any point during the movie.
    • Pop-Up Trivia Track
    • BD-Live Enabled
  • A Look at the Resident Evil 5 Video Game
  • Voice Bloopers
  • Resident Evil Degeneration Trailers
  • "The Generation of Degeneration" Featurette
  • Faux Leon Interview
  • Character Profiles