Resident Evil: Damnation

angelsreviews Jul 22, 2013

8

This reminded me of Resident Evil 4 slightly. Leon goes in alone and gets captured by the people he came there to stop. I guess the only thing real different is that they found something that controls the creatures to a point. We have all of the characters from Leon’s side of the storyline like the ‘bombshell’ Ada Wong to Leon Kennedy and Ingrid Hunnigan. And even in all of this, they have new characters that actually are loveable even if they don’t stay for very long.The problems I have with the show are actually rather minimal but the ending feels as though it was extremely predictable. We have a large fight going with a ‘new’ form of strong bio-weapon, and a facility that is about to go through genetic cleansing. Then we have the ‘boss’ fight with multiple stages to him.It’s interesting that they used images of Resident Evil 6 in the ending theme but if you haven’t played the game, your left wondering what the reasoning was for it. I know I may be reviewing these shows out of order but a good movie normally has something that helps even new watchers understand what’s going on.Wow, the animation actually looks so much better then what they had in Degeneration. It’s much more fluid and the characters look much more realistic without going over the boundaries of the game style. We even get the exploding heads of the zombie people that I bet those who have played the games hate. One of my favorite points is when they go into first person view because it looks so much like the real thing (When I mean real thing, I mean both game and real life horror shows). The points I do hate is that they actually show someone getting forced into one of the zombies. Whenever I see someone forcing those… things… into someone’s mouth, I always end up gagging a bit. I also hate the slow motion times they use although it’s used quite sparingly in this one. The textures are good except the fact that all the men seem to have lip-gloss or lip stick on their lips.The English voices are pretty good and you can most of the time tell who is American and who is from the Soviet Union. Characters actually sound close to what they were in the games and I believe its because they are the same voice actors but could be wrong. The music was also rather well done and worked to the movies advantage.

ThatAnimeSnob Sep 24, 2012

4.5

After the most passable and silly Degeneration, comes the second CGI film titled Damnation. Assuming you already read what I said about the previous movie, I will not repeat myself and will mention only the aesthetic differences in this one. PRODUCTION VALUES -The CGI quality has improved slightly in motions and lip-sync. It also feels far darker, bloodier, and grittier. -The setting is more interesting as it takes place in a war zone located in a city. No more silly fluffy areas and annoying civilians running around. - Voice acting is laughable, especially for Leon. I mean, come on, it’s like he didn’t even care to perform. SCRIPT -The story moves away from the style of the first three movies, which was basically a zombie epidemic in a civilized area with some secret laboratories. It moves to the later trilogy, where there are no innocents. The civilians are all hostile and in this case, armed and dangerous, plus the whole place is in the middle of a civil war. -There are technically no zombies in this film but rather possessed people. The result is pretty much the same but surely, it looks closer to tentacle monsters using human hosts. -This time it is not so much about evil multi-national organizations trying to take over the world with bioorganic weapons. It is a lot more about localized political intrigue, and messages around terrorism and wars for natural resources. I must say it made the set up to feel far more realistic and interesting. -Of course they hardly do anything smart with the whole thing. It’s still gust a slugfest to the most part with the resolution being weak and almost anti-climactic. But at least it gives you the impression that the villains got away and almost won. It made it feel catchier this way. -There are Tyrants as bosses. We can’t do without them. Only this time they are mass produced and felt like they were beaten easily by mooks. Lame! CAST -Leon grows a goatee and looks even more badass now. Other than that, he acts extremely uncaring and spouts lots of lame one-liners.-No more of that bimbo Claire, thank God. Now we get Ada Wong being badass, manipulative, and even taking part in a cat fight. Now that’s more like it! -Some rebels are in this movie and try to offer drama by mentioning how the stronger countries are manipulating them for resources and now that they resist decided to wipe them out. They could have made something interesting out of this but in just half an hour you stop caring about them, since the plot is basically Leon walking around and killing mutants. Very weak presence and importance. -There is a politician present again, only this time it’s not a weak fat cliché asshole. This one was smart, cunning, strong, and willing to do all it takes to have it her way. Yes, she is a woman to boot. -And then we have undead… sort of. Closer to mutated bio-weapons in the form of Crimson Heads and Lickers. And apparently this time they are controlled telepathetically by a human who acts as a bee queen or something. It was an interesting twist to the mindless hordes of monsters up to now but still complete mooks to the plot. -Overall, the second film had a smaller and more interesting cast, though clearly in terms of coolness and not depth. LEGACY -It is surely better than the first, less of a Romero rip-off, and more of an attempt at delving into politics and conspiracies. It still remains nothing but a one-timer, as it doesn’t escape the tired Hollywood brain-dead action formula it is based upon, while the short duration makes it impossible to feel anything for the war drama. Which is kind of a shame considering how it began in a very interesting way.