Biohazard: Vendetta

[This review will contain spoilers for the film, as well as a few aspects of the previous games the characters appeared in.]

Right off the bat, I think I should establish that your overall enjoyment of this film will vary based on what type of Resident Evil fan you, as I cannot imagine you’d be watching this movie if you weren’t.

If you’re a fan of the classic PS1 era of the series, where survival is key and you never know just what might pop out of the darkness, you’re going to absolutely loathe this movie.

If you’re a fan of the goofier titles like RE4-6, ... where the protagonists fight in active volcanos, have unlimited golden eggs in their pockets, and can punch boulders into place, you’re going to absolutely adore this movie.

I’m sure you can tell based on my score what category of fan I happen to fall into.

Resident Evil Vendetta is an absolutely no-holds bar blast from start to finish, and at an hour and a half too, it’s pretty much all killer no filler until the credits roll. It doesn’t have the extremely photorealistic animation that Infinite Darkness has, or the compelling side characters that Damnation had, but it more than makes up for it with some of the most insane-balls to wall action in the entire franchise. The main villain, Glenn Arias, is that he’s so down bad for Rebecca Chambers, that he’s literally willing to infect the entire planet with a virus just so he can smash. This is due to the fact that Rebecca is identical to his deceased wife, who somehow is identical to Chambers sans the blonde hair. None of this is explained.

Glenn’s villainous plot is also aided by his two surviving wedding guests, Diego & Maria Gomez. Except Diego has been transformed by the A-Virus, turning him into a Hulk-like monster with superhuman capabilities and transformations. Maria on the other hand, just wears latex and jiggles around. None of this is explained.

During the final battle, Chris is aided by is BSAA team and they pull up to fight a transformed Glenn in a military chopper. Nadia, one of the team members, opens the back hatch to reveal that she has the same railgun Jill Valentine once used to defeat Nemesis back in Resident Evil 3. In a moment of pure-fan service, she charges up the weapon and blows a hole through Glenn’s chest…except the beam keeps going and immediately tears through the five skyscrapers behind him, blowing up and no doubt killing thousands off-screen. None of this exp-

Do you see what I’m getting at? This entire film is packed to the brim with such pure and utter chaos that it makes Resident Evil 6 look like Barney & Friends. Characters will pull off such insane stunts to the point where it’ll feel like you just gave Michael Bay your Resident Evil action figures plus Red Bull then told him “Go Nuts!”. Leon Kennedy drives his motorcycle up an entire skyscraper elevator just to drive it at the final boss, then flip off of it, and THEN shoot the engine in mid-air to blow it up. Chris Redfield gets an entire Oldboy-esque sequence where he fights with a M4A1 Carbine bayonet combo and absolutely wastes an entire platoon of zombies without breaking a sweat. Rebecca Chambers gets to make o-faces while drinking mocha lattes and gets damsel-ed for the entire second half of the movie. Poorly written female characters? Now I know I’m watching a Michael Bay movie!

All in all, this is a movie makes it abundantly clear within the first 15 minutes that you’re not going to be watching it for the “art” of it. You’re going to be watching it because you want to see some absolutely insane zombie action staring your favorite Capcom characters, and on that front Residenr Evil Vendetta goes above and beyond to make sure the viewer’s having a good time doing it. Just leave your brain at the door, and you’re bound to have fun…just be sure that the zombies don’t much on it while it’s out.

A few preliminary items:
If you are unfamiliar with the Resident Evil franchise and its characters this film will not clarify anything for you.
If you are hoping for a horror film, this is not that film. It is a pure action thriller with mild horror elements most of which are in the first 20 minutes of the film.
If you want to see something that has mindless enjoyable action and lots of stuff blowing up, this film is for you.

Vendetta is a perfect popcorn movie. Its well paced, well acted, and there's a solid mix of action and plot setting. If you were able to see ... it in a theatre with Dolby Atmos sound all the better because the sound design was really stellar.

That said there are a few major issues with the film. The story is very weak, there is little depth and I often found myself stifling laughter during scenes which were meant to be dramatic but came off as high camp. The uncanny valley is very much at play here and while the models look good for the most part the textures are eerily off especially glass objects and wood (which shines so brightly it seems like a thousand maids had polished it for a thousand years). The level of animation is not as good as something like Gantz: O but it still (mostly) visually pleasing and well done.

An enjoyable experience if you want to sit back, relax, and turn your brain off for a couple hours.

This movie moved me to write a review for the first time, and not because it is good in any level. It just sucks. Terribly.

The story is the most outdated BS out there. Bad guys have a Bioweapon, good guys want the Antidote the bad guys have... For some reason. Bad Guy leader is crazy, and has a room full to prove how much he deserves it. He steals the Bond Girl, and wants to make a new wife with her.

The artstyle is barebones at least. It's just models from a videogame moving a little more than usual. And the animation is ridiculously outdated too. ... CGI Movies and Shows have proven you CAN move your characters more natural and fluid, and hide your extras moving all in the same manner a little more. My example is the typical "running in fear and stumbling a little then running" animation can be seen on everyone, one after the other, in the same scenes, taking you out of it as it looks choreographed instead of feeling any sort of fear for the situation.

The sound is the best quality of this movie... But isn't even that good. Just enough to get a pass. No track is memorable at all in this, and there are too many scenes in total silence to generate any sort of tension, but failing completely. The zombie sounds and gunshots are recycled and repeated a lot, no matter the setting.

Characters are not really developed, because you are supposed to know them, but I already know them and still don't know why they act like idiots half the time, very unlike themselves. Like... You have confronted this shit before, why are you sweating like is your first time at the beginning of the movie knowing you might find trouble, and then realize by the end "Oh, yeah. I can shoot stuff". Chris Redfield is supposed to be the main character... But for me the real Main Character is Professor Chambers, as I feel like I spent more time with her than anyone else. But she does everything she is supposed to do in the first half an hour, and just goes with the flow for the rest of it.

To wrap up, some of the worst scenes for me are "I will give you my blood for no reason other than I will walk out from the room, and get kidnapped... But that "Importance of my blood vial going to a safe place"-monologue goes nowhere in the movie anyway" and "Chris steals the kill after not doing anything for the entire movie, with a weapon he didn't ever use before".