Resident Evil: Damnation
Resident Evil: Damnation, known as Biohazard: Damnation (バイオハザード ダムネーション, Baiohazādo: Damunēshon) in Japan, is a 2012 Japanese adult animated biopunk horror action film by Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, directed by Makoto Kamiya and produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi. It is a sequel to Resident Evil: Degeneration and a prequel to the video game Resident Evil 6.[2] The film was released on October 27, 2012 in Japan, premiering in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Resident Evil: Damnation | |
---|---|
Japanese release poster | |
Directed by | Makoto Kamiya |
Produced by | Hiroyuki Kobayashi |
Written by | Shotaro Suga |
Based on | Resident Evil by Capcom |
Starring | Matthew Mercer Dave Wittenberg Wendee Lee Courtenay Taylor |
Music by | Rei Kondoh Shusaku Uchiyama |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | Japan |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.3 million (Japan)[1] |
The story of Resident Evil: Damnation revolves around biological weapons used in a European war zone,[3] and sees the return of Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonist.[4] The film was released digitally on September 15, 2012, before the DVD and Blu-ray editions on September 25.
The end credits of the film display clips from Resident Evil 6, which was released a few weeks before this film on October 2.
Plot
Leon S. Kennedy sneaks into the Eastern Slav Republic to verify rumors that Bio-Organic Weapons (BOWs) are being used in the country's civil war, which the U.S. and Russia are preparing to intervene in. After his arrival, Ingrid Hunnigan, Leon's mission support, informs him the government has ordered an immediate retreat of all U.S. forces. Determined to stop the BOWs, Leon ignores the order.[5] Leon comes across his contact, "Scarecrow", who has been attacked and is near death. A Licker finishes off Scarecrow as Leon is knocked out by an explosion; a shadowy figure orders the Licker not to kill Leon. Leon awakens, tied to a chair by rebel fighters J.D., Alexander Kozachenko (Buddy), and the elderly Ivan Judanovich, the group's Ataman.
Meanwhile, President Svetlana Belikova meets Ada Wong, who is posing as a BSAA agent. Ada explains a human infected with the virus's dominant strain will have brief master-slave relationship with lesser BOWs. Elsewhile, soldiers burst into the rebel hideout; Leon tries warning them of Ivan's infection, but Buddy starts a shoot-out. Ivan tells Buddy to kill him, fearing his poor health is a burden; Buddy reluctantly complies. Elsewhere, Leon meets JD, only for Plaga hosts to attack them; Leon suspects the rebels had Plaga, which have escaped confinement. JD leads Leon to the church, where they regroup with the remaining rebels. JD helps Leon escape, urging him to stop Buddy; a government bombing of a school (mistaken for a rebel hideout) killed Buddy's fiancée and her students, causing his hatred.
Leon runs into Ada; he thinks she's responsible due to her sample-retrieval mission in Resident Evil 4. Ada denies it and confesses retrieving a sample is her primary objective in Eastern Slav before then flirtatiously teasing Leon by asking when they're going to continue from 'that night'. Ada then leaves, warning the city will soon be bombed. Leon returns to the church to find Ganados have attacked it, finding JD the only survivor. Buddy arrives, with JD revealing he was infected during the attack; after JD and Buddy share some last words, Leon shoots him. Leon asks Buddy to give up the Plagas. He refuses and escapes when military jets bomb the church, bringing the ceiling down.
Svetlana exposes Ada as a fraud, engaging her in hand-to-hand combat; evenly matched, Ada attempts to escape. However, the room is sealed; it doubles as an elevator. Leon arrives shortly later, descending the empty shaft. Ada finds herself tied up, but frees herself with a knife hidden in her high heels. She and Leon meet up at the main hive control. Svetlana and her army troops surround them; Ada releases a smoke bomb and escapes while Leon gets into a shootout with the soldiers, managing to kill several. Buddy arrives, sending Lickers to attack the troops. Svetlana activates her own BOWs before escaping - two Tyrants- to wipe out all opposition, including the Lickers. Leon and Buddy team up and barely make it out of the palace basement, smashing the Tyrants with the elevator.
Outside, a third Tyrant appears; Leon and Buddy decapitate it with tank fire. With the tank overturned, Leon and Buddy are forced out into a confrontation with the first two Tyrants, which have finally reached the surface. Leon grabs Buddy to flee while the Tyrants give chase. With no ammo left, Leon brandishes his combat knife to make a last stand, when USAF A-10 attack planes appear and take out both Tyrants, proving to Leon that his superiors were keeping a watch on him throughout his time in the Eastern Slav Republic. Just as Svetlana prepares for her press conference, she is informed by her aide that they are under attack by both U.S. and Russian forces. Their bombardment and subsequent occupation eventually force her to resign.
As Leon and Buddy watch, Buddy believes there is nothing left to live for and asks Leon to kill him before the Plaga takes control. Leon doesn't comply, telling him to carry on living, even without the use of limbs, to serve as the living memory of those who died. Leon then shoots Buddy's spine, severing the Plaga's control over him. Three days later, Leon speaks to Hunnigan about the mission while watching the news about the U.S. and Russia intervening in the civil war on TV. Elsewhere, Ada speaks to her employer about a Plaga sample she retrieved, but haggles and says that she has not quite decided whether or not to give it, even as her employer manages to annul a global arrest warrant that was out on her. The film ends showing Buddy in a wheelchair, alive and with full function of his arms pushing himself towards a school, presumably having once again become a teacher. The credits display cinematic scenes from Resident Evil 6.
Cast
Voice actors and motion capture actors for the characters are listed below:[6]
Character | English voice actor | Japanese voice actor | Motion capture actor |
---|---|---|---|
Leon S. Kennedy | Matthew Mercer | Toshiyuki Morikawa | Kevin Dorman |
Buddy / Alexander "Sasha" Kozachenko | Dave Wittenberg | Nobuyuki Hiyama | David Earnest |
Svetlana Belikova | Wendee Lee | Eriko Kawasaki | Melinda Lee |
JD | Val Tasso | Shintaro Ohata | Val Tasso |
Ataman/Ivan Judanovich | Robin Sachs | Shōzō Iizuka | Kirk Thornton |
Ada Wong | Courtenay Taylor | Junko Minagawa | Jolene Andersen |
Ingrid Hunnigan | Salli Saffioti | Yū Sugimoto | Jolene Andersen |
Production
At the end of 2008, when Resident Evil: Degeneration was released, the producers talked about a possible sequel.[7] As a result of Degeneration's commercial success, Capcom and SPEJ decided to co-operate again to produce the sequel. Production for the sequel officially began in September 2010.[8][9] For the film, screenwriter Shatora Suga went to Eastern Europe and created East Slavic Republic, a fictional post-Soviet country formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[7] The film was produced with motion capture and 3D.[10] The theme song by Anna Tsuchiya, titled "CARRY ON", is played during the credits.[11]
Release
The first trailer and the first seven minutes of the film debuted in the panel discussion at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 13, 2012.[12]
Box office
The film was released theatrically in Shinjuku, Aichi, and Osaka on October 27, 2012.[13][10] It grossed $2,325,035 at the Japanese box office.[1]
Home media
Capcom and Sony Pictures released Damnation as a digital download on Xbox Live, Zune and PlayStation Network on September 15, 2012,[14] and on DVD and Blu-ray on September 25, 2012.[15] The Damnation bonus contents include an art gallery of conceptual sketches, a 7-minute short film about the Plaga creatures seen in the film, a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film, a 6-minute gag reel, and video game and film trailers (such as Resident Evil 6, DmC: Devil May Cry and Dragon's Dogma).[16][17][18] In the United States, Resident Evil: Damnation has earned $3.3 million in home video sales.[19]
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 100% rating, and an average of 7.95/10 based on 5 critics.[20] IGN gave the film a score of 7.8 out of 10, named it "the best Resident Evil film to-date".[18] Starburst rated it 7/10.[21]
Accolades
It was awarded the 2013 International 3D Society Japan Award for animation.[22]
Sequel
The film was followed by Resident Evil: Vendetta, which was released in 2017.[23]
References
- "Resident Evil: Damnation". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20130507141802/http://www.biohazardcg2.com/about
- "バイオハザード ダムネーション". Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- "Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan Announce the Coproduction of "Resident Evil: Damnation" in 3D". Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. September 14, 2010. Archived from the original on December 30, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- "New Trailer and DVD / Blu-ray Specs: Resident Evil: Damnation | Horror Movie, DVD, & Book Reviews, News, Interviews at Dread Central". Dreadcentral.com. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
- キャスト|バイオハザード ダムネーション (in Japanese). Biohazardcg2.com. 2013-01-30. Archived from the original on 2013-05-04. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20130326071300/http://www.biohazardcg2.com/about/interview.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20101230043341/http://www.sonypictures.jp/corp/pr/20100914.html
- "Resident Evil: Damnation is Coming". IGN.com. IGN Entertainment, Inc. September 14, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20130616182901/http://www.sonypictures.jp/corp/press/2012/0420.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20121013083945/http://biohazardcg2.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2012-07-19
- https://web.archive.org/web/20121013102824/http://biohazardcg2.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2012-07-19-00
- https://web.archive.org/web/20130412064132/http://biohazardcg2.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2012-10-25
- Bocanegra, Jorge. "Oh, damn: Resident Evil: Damnation is now digitally available". Rely on Horror. Retrieved 2012-09-18.
- Sliwinski, Alexander. "Resident Evil: Damnation infects DVD, Blu-ray this September". Joystiq. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012.
- https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/57122/resident-evil-damnation/
- https://www.gamesradar.com/resident-evil-damnation-competition/
- https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/02/resident-evil-damnation-blu-ray-review
- "Resident Evil: Damnation The Numbers Listing". The Numbers. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
- https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil_damnation
- https://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/dvd-review-resident-evil-damnation
- "デジタル•フロンティア-Digital Frontier | Digital Frontier | Resident Evil: Damnation". Digital Frontier. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
- https://thewrap.com/resident-evil-vendetta-cgi-movie-2017-release-leon-s-kennedy/
External links
- Official website
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Film blog (in Japanese)
- Resident Evil: Damnation on IMDb
- Resident Evil: Damnation at Rotten Tomatoes