cityonfire.com | Resident Evil: Degeneration

	Biohazard: Degeneration "A poor man's Kitamura, Kamiya clearly wants to get discovered by Hollywood, which is why he decided to ape Paul W.S. Anderson's gun-fu shot on a bad day." - Ningen Biohazard: Degeneration (2008) AKA: Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil CG, Biohazard CG Director: Makoto Kamiya Writers: Shotaro Suga Producers: Jun Takeuchi, Hiroyuki Kobayashi Cast: Japanese version: Jin Yamanoi, Y?ko Kaida, Mabuki Antou, Masanori Takeda, Rikiya Koyama, Akiko Yajima, Masashi Ebara, Masashi Hirose; English version: Paul Mercier, Alyson Court, Laura Bailey, Steven Blum, Roger Craig Smith, Michelle Ruff, Crispin Freeman, Michael Sorich Running Time: 97 min. Plot: An attack by the zombies brings chaos to Harvardville Airport. Special agents Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield arrive ready to combat the zombie rampage in classic high octane Resident Evil Style. Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com Reviews NINGEN'S REVIEW: Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy return to stop a new bio-engineered virus. It was created by a pharmaceutical corporation which took over a now-disbanded Umbrella Organization. Unfortunately, they also have to deal with a disgruntled activist-cum-terrorist who has a grudge over the Raccoon City "quarantine"[I.E. nuke and cover-up.] of the last virus. A CG version of the classic survival-horror series? How can you go wrong with that concept? Well, you can make it R, but actually put the camera too close during action scenes. You can also focus on a lengthy and pointless family background of a female cop who has nothing to do with the story, other than her brother being the terrorist. And you can rip off the destruction scenes from Final Fantasy: Advent Children-which is already a Naruto rip-off in its own right. The only moment which delivers is a plane crash in the beginning of the film. If the rest of the carnage was this awesome, I'd definitely be giving it a higher score. But sadly, this flick borrows from the worst elements of contemporary Hollywood action films, and adds nothing new. A poor man's Kitamura, Kamiya clearly wants to get discovered by Hollywood, which is why he decided to ape Paul W.S. Anderson's gun-fu shot on a bad day. But instead of a bunch of intense battles against the undead, we get stuck with bad martial arts and pointless conversations about the role of government in handling, or being complicit with, dangerous corporations. There are also boring romantic innuendos which might work in Final Fantasy, but which feel hammy and forced here. At first, I thought the upcoming "Resident Evil Doesn't Care about Black People" game was going to be offensive, but it lost to the stupid writing and directing of Degeneration. The only thing Reserved Emo Desperation really does well in is top the Doom movie as the "hardest idea to screw up, but they did it anyway". NINGEN'S RATING: 5/10

Biohazard: Degeneration

"A poor man's Kitamura, Kamiya clearly wants to get discovered by Hollywood, which is why he decided to ape Paul W.S. Anderson's gun-fu shot on a bad day."

- Ningen

Biohazard: Degeneration (2008)

AKA: Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil CG, Biohazard CG

Director: Makoto Kamiya

Writers: Shotaro Suga

Producers: Jun Takeuchi, Hiroyuki Kobayashi

Cast: Japanese version: Jin Yamanoi, Y?ko Kaida, Mabuki Antou, Masanori Takeda, Rikiya Koyama, Akiko Yajima, Masashi Ebara, Masashi Hirose; English version: Paul Mercier, Alyson Court, Laura Bailey, Steven Blum, Roger Craig Smith, Michelle Ruff, Crispin Freeman, Michael Sorich

Running Time: 97 min.

Plot: An attack by the zombies brings chaos to Harvardville Airport. Special agents Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield arrive ready to combat the zombie rampage in classic high octane Resident Evil Style.

Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com

Reviews

NINGEN'S REVIEW: Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy return to stop a new bio-engineered virus. It was created by a pharmaceutical corporation which took over a now-disbanded Umbrella Organization. Unfortunately, they also have to deal with a disgruntled activist-cum-terrorist who has a grudge over the Raccoon City "quarantine"[I.E. nuke and cover-up.] of the last virus.

A CG version of the classic survival-horror series? How can you go wrong with that concept? Well, you can make it R, but actually put the camera too close during action scenes. You can also focus on a lengthy and pointless family background of a female cop who has nothing to do with the story, other than her brother being the terrorist. And you can rip off the destruction scenes from Final Fantasy: Advent Children-which is already a Naruto rip-off in its own right. The only moment which delivers is a plane crash in the beginning of the film. If the rest of the carnage was this awesome, I'd definitely be giving it a higher score. But sadly, this flick borrows from the worst elements of contemporary Hollywood action films, and adds nothing new.

A poor man's Kitamura, Kamiya clearly wants to get discovered by Hollywood, which is why he decided to ape Paul W.S. Anderson's gun-fu shot on a bad day. But instead of a bunch of intense battles against the undead, we get stuck with bad martial arts and pointless conversations about the role of government in handling, or being complicit with, dangerous corporations. There are also boring romantic innuendos which might work in Final Fantasy, but which feel hammy and forced here. At first, I thought the upcoming "Resident Evil Doesn't Care about Black People" game was going to be offensive, but it lost to the stupid writing and directing of Degeneration.

The only thing Reserved Emo Desperation really does well in is top the Doom movie as the "hardest idea to screw up, but they did it anyway".

NINGEN'S RATING: 5/10