Resident Evil: Degeneration
Encyclopedia
Resident Evil: Degeneration, known in Japan
as , is the first full-length
CG animation
feature based upon Capcom
's Resident Evil video game series. The film was made by Capcom Studios in cooperation with Sony Pictures Animation
and Sony Pictures Entertainment
. Degeneration made its premiere in Japan on October 11, 2008 at the Tokyo Game Show
, and was released nationwide one week later on October 18.
Unlike the Resident Evil
live-action film series, Degeneration is set within the same universe as the original video game series. The main characters are Leon S. Kennedy
and Claire Redfield
, who appear together for the first time since the 1998 game Resident Evil 2
.
is now a member of TerraSave, an organization which handles search and rescue at chemical and biological attacks. Claire was on-site to meet a family she is aiding, and coincidentally runs into U.S. Senator Ron Davis, who was trying to avoid protesters. Meanwhile, a passenger aircraft approaching the airport crashs due to a man infected with the T-virus, who caused an infestation on-board. Unable to escape from the airport terminal, Claire, Rani and Davis, along with an airline stewardess, shut themselves in the VIP lounge and call for help.
By nightfall, the airport has been locked down by the local Special Response Team and the United States Marine Corps
, aiding evacuated survivors. Two officers Angela Miller and Greg Glenn, are joined by Leon S. Kennedy
. The group enter the building where Claire's group is hiding through the roof and manage to find them. Traveling back to the main terminal, Glenn is bitten by an infected and stays behind, determined to save the rest by holding off the undead. The survivors shoot their way out, with the U.S. Marines (who had been vaccinated prior to the lock-down) clearing out the terminal.
Claire sees a convoy of trucks from the WilPharma Corporation, who she was campaigning against. Upon being told that WilPharma had created a T-virus vaccine, Claire realizes that the vaccine could have saved those who died. Suddenly, the WilPharma trucks containing the vaccine are destroyed. Claire accompanies WilPharma chief researcher Frederic Downing to the WilPharma research facility for more vaccines. After a tour of the facility, Claire is shown a molecular-scale image of the G-virus. Downing, surprised by her anger, excuses himself and she is left alone in his office.
Claire calls Leon to inform him about WilPharma's possession of the G-virus, and learns that he and Angela Miller have found the house of Curtis Miller, Angela's brother, destroyed by fire. Downing phones Claire to warn her that a man has just left the facility and that a time bomb has been activated. Claire catches a brief glimpse of Curtis Miller through a window, only for the bomb to detonate.
Leon and Angela arrive at WilPharma and Leon goes upstairs to Claire while Angela, monitoring the ground level, encounters Curtis. Curtis tells Angela that the government covered up some of the events in Raccoon City which kept his family from being saved. A squad of Marines storm the room. Curtis, having injected the G-virus, mutates and attacks the Marines. Leon saves Angela as the atrium garden begins to fall apart, with the wreckage crushing Curtis. Believing him to be dead, the surviving Marines head up the elevator to safety, Curtis however gets out of the wreckage and mutates further, climbing up the building and destroying the elevator.
The WilPharma computer system then sets the building on fire in an attempt to avoid the T- and G-Virus' spreading. Angela and Leon jump into a pool of water to avoid being incinerated. After having shot a glass partition to avoid drowning, the two find themselves in an underground area. Meanwhile, Claire makes it to the command center on the topmost floor, doing whatever she can to halt a biohazard
alarm and open the building. However, The detection of Curtis in the underground center causes another alarm, in which sections of the building are ejected to fall deep underground.
As Leon and Angela search for an escape route, Curtis attacks them, seeing Leon as a threat and Angela as a mate. Curtis manages to briefly regain control, telling Angela to run before losing himself again. As the sections are being ejected, Leon and Angela climb up wreckage, only to hang from a broken catwalk. About to fall, Curtis grabs hold of Angela's leg but is shot by Leon in the head and falls to his death. The impact of Curtis with the bottom of the pit causes an eruption of fire, from which Leon and Angela are saved when a bulkhead closes just below them.
Leon, Angela and Claire exit the building. There Claire accuses Senator Davis of the cover up and the Harvardville Airport incident. Leon reveals that Davis did not know anything, and Claire realizes that Downing engineered the outbreaks in the airport and the airliner, as well as the destruction of the vaccine, the bombing of the research building and the bio-terrorism incidents by selling T-virus samples. Meanwhile, Downing talks to General Grandé, a client eager to buy the T-virus, now that news reports have revealed its potential. Waiting for a contact to sell WilPharma information to, Downing mistakes a car containing Leon and Claire for his contact. He is arrested by Angela.
The next day Leon and Claire meet with a despondent Angela. Leon reveals that Downing confessed to everything, which was designed as a sales pitch for the virus to General Grandé. He reveals that he was an Umbrella researcher and stole samples of both viruses and escaped immediately prior to the Raccoon City incident before erasing his history and creating a new identity with which to apply to WilPharma. Once there, he was able to sell the virus to a list of potential customers while researching the vaccine. Angela then realizes that Curtis was being manipulated by Downing, but Claire notes that even though this does not clear Curtis's name, he had the same motives to prevent another disaster like Raccoon City as she, Leon, and Angela do.
Leon, Claire, and Angela go their separate ways. Meanwhile, news gets out that Davis has resigned from office over allegations of insider stock trading with WilPharma stocks. A newspaper draped over Davis' face reads "Tricell Offers to Purchase WilPharma". Davis' hand falls from the desk revealing him to be dead, and on his computer WilPharma files are being deleted, which when completed reveal a Tricell, Inc. insignia on his screen.
The film ends with Tricell employees in hazmat suits searching the underground ruins of the WilPharma research building, where they discover a fragment of Curtis's body infected with the G-virus, which they seal in a biohazard container.
The Japanese singer and lyricist Anna Tsuchiya
sang the ending theme for the film, titled GUILTY.
and November 18 in Los Angeles
. A sneak-peek trailer of the first eight minutes of the film was also shown in the North American Home Theater of PlayStation Home
.
Resident Evil: Degeneration was released on UMD
, DVD
, and Blu-ray formats December 24, 2008 (on December 26 in Japan and December 27 in North America). It was later released in the European Union
in January–February 2009. More than 1.6 million home video copies were shipped as of September 2010.
The special features include: the "Generation of Degeneration" featurette, character profiles, voice bloopers, a mock-up Leon interview, five trailers, two Resident Evil 5 trailers and previews. In the "Generation of Degeneration" special feature, the filmmakers explain that this movie is in effect "Resident Evil 4.5", i.e. showing what happens after Resident Evil 4.
and Capcom created a game loosely based on the film for the N-Gage
mobile gaming
service. This game was released on December 18, 2008, while the iPhone
version was released on May 10, 2009. Despite being a main character in the film, Claire is not playable, with Leon being the sole protagonist and playable character in the game. The game takes place in the airport from the early scenes of the film and also contains enemies not seen in the actual film but seen in prior games, such as Cerberuses and the 3 Tyrants from Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2
, and Resident Evil Code: Veronica
.
blog GameLife gave the film 3/10 and the website UGO.com gave the film an overall score of a B. It also held the score of 60% from user ratings at Rotten Tomatoes
(16,844 votes).
, scheduled to be released in 2012. The film will star Leon, with another mystery character and will be theatrically released in 3D
in Japan.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as , is the first full-length
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
CG animation
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
feature based upon Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
's Resident Evil video game series. The film was made by Capcom Studios in cooperation with Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation is an American computer-animated film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, founded in May 2002. It is working closely with Sony Pictures Imageworks, which takes care of the digital production...
and Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
. Degeneration made its premiere in Japan on October 11, 2008 at the Tokyo Game Show
Tokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
, and was released nationwide one week later on October 18.
Unlike the Resident Evil
Resident Evil (film)
Resident Evil is a British-German 2002 horror film written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The film stars Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, and James Purefoy...
live-action film series, Degeneration is set within the same universe as the original video game series. The main characters are Leon S. Kennedy
Leon S. Kennedy
is a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games. Leon is a protagonist in Resident Evil 2 and the main protagonist of Resident Evil 4. During the events of RE2, Leon is a new police officer who arrives in Raccoon City late for his first day on the job,...
and Claire Redfield
Claire Redfield
is a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games.Claire is the younger sister of Chris Redfield, the protagonist of the first Resident Evil game...
, who appear together for the first time since the 1998 game Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game originally released for the PlayStation in 1998. Developed by Capcom as the second installment in the Resident Evil series, its story takes place two months after the events of the first game, Resident Evil...
.
Plot
In the year 2005, the Harvardville Airport is under attack by a zombie infestation. Claire RedfieldClaire Redfield
is a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games.Claire is the younger sister of Chris Redfield, the protagonist of the first Resident Evil game...
is now a member of TerraSave, an organization which handles search and rescue at chemical and biological attacks. Claire was on-site to meet a family she is aiding, and coincidentally runs into U.S. Senator Ron Davis, who was trying to avoid protesters. Meanwhile, a passenger aircraft approaching the airport crashs due to a man infected with the T-virus, who caused an infestation on-board. Unable to escape from the airport terminal, Claire, Rani and Davis, along with an airline stewardess, shut themselves in the VIP lounge and call for help.
By nightfall, the airport has been locked down by the local Special Response Team and the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, aiding evacuated survivors. Two officers Angela Miller and Greg Glenn, are joined by Leon S. Kennedy
Leon S. Kennedy
is a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games. Leon is a protagonist in Resident Evil 2 and the main protagonist of Resident Evil 4. During the events of RE2, Leon is a new police officer who arrives in Raccoon City late for his first day on the job,...
. The group enter the building where Claire's group is hiding through the roof and manage to find them. Traveling back to the main terminal, Glenn is bitten by an infected and stays behind, determined to save the rest by holding off the undead. The survivors shoot their way out, with the U.S. Marines (who had been vaccinated prior to the lock-down) clearing out the terminal.
Claire sees a convoy of trucks from the WilPharma Corporation, who she was campaigning against. Upon being told that WilPharma had created a T-virus vaccine, Claire realizes that the vaccine could have saved those who died. Suddenly, the WilPharma trucks containing the vaccine are destroyed. Claire accompanies WilPharma chief researcher Frederic Downing to the WilPharma research facility for more vaccines. After a tour of the facility, Claire is shown a molecular-scale image of the G-virus. Downing, surprised by her anger, excuses himself and she is left alone in his office.
Claire calls Leon to inform him about WilPharma's possession of the G-virus, and learns that he and Angela Miller have found the house of Curtis Miller, Angela's brother, destroyed by fire. Downing phones Claire to warn her that a man has just left the facility and that a time bomb has been activated. Claire catches a brief glimpse of Curtis Miller through a window, only for the bomb to detonate.
Leon and Angela arrive at WilPharma and Leon goes upstairs to Claire while Angela, monitoring the ground level, encounters Curtis. Curtis tells Angela that the government covered up some of the events in Raccoon City which kept his family from being saved. A squad of Marines storm the room. Curtis, having injected the G-virus, mutates and attacks the Marines. Leon saves Angela as the atrium garden begins to fall apart, with the wreckage crushing Curtis. Believing him to be dead, the surviving Marines head up the elevator to safety, Curtis however gets out of the wreckage and mutates further, climbing up the building and destroying the elevator.
The WilPharma computer system then sets the building on fire in an attempt to avoid the T- and G-Virus' spreading. Angela and Leon jump into a pool of water to avoid being incinerated. After having shot a glass partition to avoid drowning, the two find themselves in an underground area. Meanwhile, Claire makes it to the command center on the topmost floor, doing whatever she can to halt a biohazard
Biological hazard
Biological hazards, refer to biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living organisms, primarily that of humans. This can include medical waste or samples of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can impact human health. It can also include substances harmful to animals...
alarm and open the building. However, The detection of Curtis in the underground center causes another alarm, in which sections of the building are ejected to fall deep underground.
As Leon and Angela search for an escape route, Curtis attacks them, seeing Leon as a threat and Angela as a mate. Curtis manages to briefly regain control, telling Angela to run before losing himself again. As the sections are being ejected, Leon and Angela climb up wreckage, only to hang from a broken catwalk. About to fall, Curtis grabs hold of Angela's leg but is shot by Leon in the head and falls to his death. The impact of Curtis with the bottom of the pit causes an eruption of fire, from which Leon and Angela are saved when a bulkhead closes just below them.
Leon, Angela and Claire exit the building. There Claire accuses Senator Davis of the cover up and the Harvardville Airport incident. Leon reveals that Davis did not know anything, and Claire realizes that Downing engineered the outbreaks in the airport and the airliner, as well as the destruction of the vaccine, the bombing of the research building and the bio-terrorism incidents by selling T-virus samples. Meanwhile, Downing talks to General Grandé, a client eager to buy the T-virus, now that news reports have revealed its potential. Waiting for a contact to sell WilPharma information to, Downing mistakes a car containing Leon and Claire for his contact. He is arrested by Angela.
The next day Leon and Claire meet with a despondent Angela. Leon reveals that Downing confessed to everything, which was designed as a sales pitch for the virus to General Grandé. He reveals that he was an Umbrella researcher and stole samples of both viruses and escaped immediately prior to the Raccoon City incident before erasing his history and creating a new identity with which to apply to WilPharma. Once there, he was able to sell the virus to a list of potential customers while researching the vaccine. Angela then realizes that Curtis was being manipulated by Downing, but Claire notes that even though this does not clear Curtis's name, he had the same motives to prevent another disaster like Raccoon City as she, Leon, and Angela do.
Leon, Claire, and Angela go their separate ways. Meanwhile, news gets out that Davis has resigned from office over allegations of insider stock trading with WilPharma stocks. A newspaper draped over Davis' face reads "Tricell Offers to Purchase WilPharma". Davis' hand falls from the desk revealing him to be dead, and on his computer WilPharma files are being deleted, which when completed reveal a Tricell, Inc. insignia on his screen.
The film ends with Tricell employees in hazmat suits searching the underground ruins of the WilPharma research building, where they discover a fragment of Curtis's body infected with the G-virus, which they seal in a biohazard container.
Cast
- Paul Mercier as Leon S. KennedyLeon S. Kennedyis a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games. Leon is a protagonist in Resident Evil 2 and the main protagonist of Resident Evil 4. During the events of RE2, Leon is a new police officer who arrives in Raccoon City late for his first day on the job,...
- Alyson CourtAlyson CourtAlyson Stephanie Court is a Canadian actress who first appeared in the 1985 children's film Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, and played summer camper Dawn in the animated film Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation the following year...
as Claire RedfieldClaire Redfieldis a player character appearing in the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games.Claire is the younger sister of Chris Redfield, the protagonist of the first Resident Evil game... - Laura BaileyLaura Bailey (voice actress)Laura Dawn Bailey is an American actress, voice actress, Singer, Line Producer and ADR Director. She has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films, television series, as well as video games...
as Angela Miller - Roger Craig SmithRoger Craig SmithRoger Craig Smith is an American voice actor. He is also known as Roger C. Smith. He is generally known as the voice behind Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, as Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and...
as Curtis Miller - Crispin FreemanCrispin FreemanCrispin McDougal Freeman is an American voice actor, and Mythology scholar. His roles have included Alucard from Hellsing, Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Karasu from Noein, Togusa from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, as Holland Novak from Eureka Seven, Touga Kiriyu in...
as Frederic Downing - Mary Elizabeth McGlynnMary Elizabeth McGlynnMary Elizabeth McGlynn is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer, and singer best known for her extensive English-language dubbing of various anime, and her singing in multiple games from the Silent Hill series, as well as the movie adaptation and Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME. She has...
as Rani's aunt - Michelle RuffMichelle RuffMichelle Suzanne Ruff is an American voice actress known for her work in anime and video games.-Anime roles:* Angel Tales - Akane the fox* Ai Yori Aoshi - Aoi Sakuraba* Arc the Lad - Meril...
as Rani Chawla - Michael SorichMichael SorichMichael John Sorich is an American voice actor who is also a screen actor, writer, director and voice director.- Biography :...
as Senator Ron Davis - Steven BlumSteven BlumSteven Jay Blum is an American voice actor known primarily for his work in anime dubs and video games, using his distinctive deep voice. Among his credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel of the anime series Cowboy Bebop and Mugen of the anime series Samurai Champloo...
as Greg Glenn - Salli SaffiotiSalli SaffiotiSalli Saffioti is a professional actress, known for playing roles in video games including Ingrid Hunnigan in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil: Degeneration, Ming in Lost Odyssey, the Sea Captain's daughter in Tales of the Black Freighter, Razia in The Prince of Persia and the Black Widow in...
as Ingrid Hunnigan
The Japanese singer and lyricist Anna Tsuchiya
Anna Tsuchiya
is a Japanese singer, lyricist, actress and semi-retired model.Tsuchiya was born to a Japanese mother and an American father of Polish-Irish descent from Buffalo, New York. In her earliest years, she spoke English and Japanese...
sang the ending theme for the film, titled GUILTY.
Release
The film received a limited (2-week / 3-screen) theatrical release in Japan on October 17, 2008. It also had a limited theatrical release in the United States, opening on November 13 in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and November 18 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. A sneak-peek trailer of the first eight minutes of the film was also shown in the North American Home Theater of PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home is a virtual 3D social gaming network developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 on the PlayStation Network . It is available directly from the PlayStation 3 XrossMediaBar under PlayStation Network. Membership is free, and only requires a PSN...
.
Resident Evil: Degeneration was released on UMD
Universal Media Disc
The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform...
, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, and Blu-ray formats December 24, 2008 (on December 26 in Japan and December 27 in North America). It was later released in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
in January–February 2009. More than 1.6 million home video copies were shipped as of September 2010.
The special features include: the "Generation of Degeneration" featurette, character profiles, voice bloopers, a mock-up Leon interview, five trailers, two Resident Evil 5 trailers and previews. In the "Generation of Degeneration" special feature, the filmmakers explain that this movie is in effect "Resident Evil 4.5", i.e. showing what happens after Resident Evil 4.
Mobile game
NokiaNokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
and Capcom created a game loosely based on the film for the N-Gage
N-Gage (service)
The N-Gage service was Nokia's mobile gaming platform that is available for several Nokia S60 smartphones. It is a follow-up to the N-Gage handheld game console. N-Gage is a part of Nokia's Ovi initiative....
mobile gaming
Mobile game
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....
service. This game was released on December 18, 2008, while the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
version was released on May 10, 2009. Despite being a main character in the film, Claire is not playable, with Leon being the sole protagonist and playable character in the game. The game takes place in the airport from the early scenes of the film and also contains enemies not seen in the actual film but seen in prior games, such as Cerberuses and the 3 Tyrants from Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2, known as in Japan, is a survival horror video game originally released for the PlayStation in 1998. Developed by Capcom as the second installment in the Resident Evil series, its story takes place two months after the events of the first game, Resident Evil...
, and Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Resident Evil Code: Veronica
Resident Evil Code: Veronica, released in Japan as , is the fourth installment in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series, originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000...
.
Reception
The film received mixed critical reception. The Wired NewsWired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
blog GameLife gave the film 3/10 and the website UGO.com gave the film an overall score of a B. It also held the score of 60% from user ratings at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
(16,844 votes).
Sequel
On September 14, 2010 Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a sequel to the movie titled Resident Evil: DamnationResident Evil: Damnation
Resident Evil: Damnation, known as in Japan, is a feature-length computer-animated 3D film by Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan. It is a sequel to Resident Evil: Degeneration, and is planned for a release in 2012. The film will be directed by Makoto Kamiya and produced by Hiroyuki...
, scheduled to be released in 2012. The film will star Leon, with another mystery character and will be theatrically released in 3D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
in Japan.