Sunday, January 2, 2022

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness


Creator - Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Biohazard the Experience, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)
Starring - Nick Apostolides (Murder University, Evil Things), Stephanie Panisello (What If...?, Hart of Dixie), and Bill Rogers (Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You, Comic Party)
Release Date - 2021
Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):


     The Resident Evil film franchise is one of the most popular series in modern film history.  There is millions of fans worldwide and enough momentum to spawn numerous sequels.  However, many horror fans often look over the three animated films that were surprisingly fun, if not more entertaining, than the live action adaptation.  When I heard that Netflix was releasing an animated series based on the hit video game series titled Infinite Darkness I was all about it.  Sadly, I wasn't able to check it out when it was released on Netflix but when my friends over at RLJE announced that the series was released on blu I was quick to request a copy.  When it arrived it just happened to be the day I was going to watch Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City so it turned into a fun double feature.  I want to thank RLJE for hooking me up with it.  
      The film follows the POTUS who is under a cyber-attack that they suspect is backed by China.  However, once they release their data has been breached they are then attacked in the White House by the undead.  Leon S. Kennedy responds where he protects the president.  Soon Claire Redfield arrives to speak with him about a possible zombie outbreak in another country. Leon finds himself torn between his country and a possible conspiracy.
     I really dig the Resident Evil film franchise along with the animated trilogy so I was really looking forward to Infinite Darkness, especially after watching Welcome to Raccoon City.  Sadly, Infinite Darkness was a big disappointment.  It was dull, boring, and didn't really deliver a memorable story that gave the viewer something to hold onto.  The voice acting in this one does feel reminiscent of the CG films but still missed their mark with me.  The voice acting had no energy and the dialogue just felt lazy.  I don't know if this was done on a time crunch or the voice recording was rushed but the film feels as if the cast was disassociated with the project.  The story for this one doesn't feel like it's enough to actually cover four episodes, or a feature length film like the physical release is pieced together.  The content could be compiled together to make a solid episode of around 30 or 40 minutes but having it stretched to the extent this one does results in a dull mini-series that could be a lot more than a political action drama with little resemblance of the game that inspired it.  Finally, the animation looks great and flows perfectly when compared with the CG films.  We get some fun bloody and lightly gory moments but if you are looking for some serious carnage you will be disappointed.  Overall, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness could have been a fun addition to the Resident Evil universe but it felt bloated at times and at others the story is stretched way too thin without giving the viewer anything to hold on to.  I liked the idea behind it but the execution was not it.  

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