Resident Evil Vendetta (Blu-ray) Review

Resident Evil Vendetta is the third Japanese action-adventure CG movie for the Resident Evil (RE) series. Unlike the Hollywood live action movies starring Milla Jovovich, Degeneration, Damnation and now Vendetta all are part of the main story of the RE universe. The past two CG movies had Leon S. Kennedy as the main character and Vendetta has him as one of the main characters once again along with Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers. The movie is directed by Takanori Tsujimoto (Ultraman X, The Next Generation: Patlabor), written by Psycho-Pass writer Makoto Fukami and produced by Sega CG developer Marza Animation Planet. For those wondering, Hiroyuki Kobayashi once again returns to help out with this RE film like he did for Regeneration and Damnation and Japanese horror director Takashi Shimuzu serves as executive producer.

RE Vendetta is set between the events of RE6 and RE7. Glenn Arias, a black market bioweapons salesman, is taking revenge against the US government for killing his family and friends at a wedding in which a bomb was dropped during the middle of the event. Chris Redfield is called in to rescue an undercover agent and her son and try to apprehend Arias at a mansion in Mexico. Without spoiling much more of the setup, things go wrong and Chris is hoisted into a mission to stop Arias from releasing a large-scale virus attack on New York City. Along the way, Chris recruits the help of Rebecca Chambers and Leon S. Kennedy.

RE Damnation had some very good action sequences, but Vendetta totally blows it out of the water with even better action and having action scenes more often. Vendetta has some of the most intense close quarters fights that I have seen in a movie in a very long time. If you enjoyed the cutscenes in RE6, you'll really enjoy this movie since it's basically like an extended RE6 cutscene overall. The main RE characters look much like they did in RE6 or the last game they starred in. Chris has undergone the most change with a different face ' he looks a bit older and has a similar look that resembles his new voice actor. I was bit worried over the decision to cast another actor in place of Roger Craig Smith for Chris, but Kevin Dorman does a great job serving as the voice of Chris and his voice matches quite well. The only returning voice actor for the main RE cast is Matthew Mercer as the voice of Leon. Rebecca looks very similar to her RE Zero appearance overall and Leon sports his RE6 appearance with a very slightly changed face that makes him look older.

Vendetta does have traces of horror here and there. There are a few suspenseful sequences that build up to jump scares, but those are mainly shown at the beginning before the action takes over. The movie slows down at times for dialogue and story but it constantly keep things interesting with having events suddenly happen to create chaos. The past few CG RE movies have had a quite a few parts where the movie got a bit boring, but Vendetta rarely has moments that aren't setting up some sort of chaotic moment. The RE characters each have their own unique personalities taken directly from the game. Rebecca uses her 'thumbs up' gesture here and there just as she often does in the games, Chris is your larger than life action hero that puts others' safety before himself and Leon is your dual-wielding motorcycle-riding loner just like he was in RE6. The villain, Glenn Arias is also a very good addition to the movie. He has some really great action sequences and he's constantly keeping the heroes busy.

It's honestly hard to find faults with the movie since it's basically everything that I expect from a CG RE movie. It's noticeable that the movie doesn't have a lot of horror moments and chooses action over horror, but that's the way RE has been since RE4, so it's expected. If you're a fan of RE4, RE5 and RE6 then you'll most definitely enjoy Vendetta. RE Degeneration felt overall boring in too many areas, but it was still an RE movie connected to the main plot of RE so I enjoyed it just for being that. I really enjoyed RE Damnation for its ending sequences more than anything. Resident Evil Vendetta surpasses both of its predecessors in what I expect from an CG RE movie with just an overall great actiony RE experience from beginning to end that I was hoping the past two would have.

The Good:
+ Some very intense action sequences
+ Overall fun movie for RE4-RE6 fans

The Bad:
- I wish the other CG RE movies would have been more interesting like Vendetta

Final Rating: