Resident Evil: Damnation (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Editorial Review

The feature-length CGI Resident Evil: Damnation extends the popular survival horror franchise's efforts to create a secondary series of action-horror features that hew closer to the original video game series than the live-action theatrical releases. Agent Leon S. Kennedy (voiced by Matthew Mercer) is again front and center, this time in the fictional East Slavic Republic to investigate allegations of Bio-Organic Weapons being used in the country's civil war. The rumors prove true, as Kennedy discovers that rebel forces have gained possession of the Las Plagas parasite as part of their offensive against the region's president. What follows is a terrific rendition of the game's first-person perspective, with Kennedy fighting his way through hordes of hideous monsters in an attempt to find the source of the outbreak. However, story and dialogue continue to lag behind the action and CGI rendering, which at times is genuinely stunning. The recurring characters never quite eclipse the functional aspects of their video game versions, while new ones are forgettable or, in the case of youthful rebel JD, cartoonish clichés. Fans of the game and film series should be able to look past these issues, though, and will most likely appreciate the supplemental features, which take pains to explain Las Plagas and the histories of the main characters. –Paul Gaita