The Ole T-Virus
Resident Evil Degeneration is about half zombie shoot’em up and half drama. The sum is an enjoyable film that I think is going to suit most RE fans quite well. The basic premise behind the story is that of a vengeful man named Curtis Miller, whose family was killed in Raccoon City. Curtis Miller is the brother of Angela, a combat trained woman who is sent to help battle a zombie outbreak at an airport that she eventually discovers was started by Curtis who has gotten his hands on the T and G virii. She and her comrade Greg are soon joined by a special operative sent from Washington, Leon Kennedy. Leon is no stranger to kicking T-virus ass and has himself along with Angela and Greg dropped in via helicopter to the zombie-ridden airport.
Meanwhile, Claire, who was at the airport, has taken shelter with Senator Davis, a shifty politician who Curtis is after. Leon and crew meet up with the pair and together they attempt to escape the airport. They’re successful in this, but the battle is far from over. Curtis steps up his efforts of destruction, T-virus vaccine that was trucked in gets blown away, and Curtis throws down some G-Virus to turn into a hellish monster in an attempt to crush Leon and Angela.
When not battling zombies or the mutated Curtis, the characters are developed primarily by talking to each other; you don’t really need a solid foundation of RE knowledge to enjoy this movie or understand the characters, but it definitely helps. Overall Degeneration is well worth a watch, but I don’t think it has a great deal of replay value or appeal for anyone who isn’t already an established RE fan.
RE: Degeneration On Blu-ray
The Blu-ray release of Resident Evil Degeneration looks and sounds great, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The animation reminds me of what we saw in the Final Fantasy CG film, Spirits Within, that came out several years ago. Personally, I think the animation looks great, but I can understand how many would consider it ‘stiff,’ and lacking emotion, too.
RE Degeneration includes several extra features as well, let’s take a look:
-Pop-Up Trivia Track – One of my favorite extra features for a Blu-ray release to have, this informative feature is reason enough to watch the film again.
-The Generation of Degeneration – A thirty minute, HD feature with lots of behind the scenes and interviews (translated) of the creators.
-Interactive Picture-In-Picture – This feature allows you to view different stages of the film while it’s playing. That is, when prompted onscreen, you can press different directions on your remote to view motion capture and storyboard footage.
-Character Profiles – Ten characters are profiled with a brief text description about the character provided along with a short (about one minute) action montage. There is a photo gallery as well.
-Five Voice Bloopers – A nine minute, HD feature that is actually quite funny.
-Faux Leon Interview – A four and a half minute, SD feature of the motion capture actor for Leon doing a ‘fake’ interview.
-RE5: TGS 08 Trailer – The four and a half minute trailer of RE5, in HD, that was shown at the Tokyo Game Show a few months ago, but also includes an additional minute of footage. There is little doubt that RE5 is going to be one of 2009’s biggest games.
And with that, let’s wrap up…
