"Degeneration" is everything I wanted out of a "Resident Evil" movie the first go around. OK, maybe not EVERYTHING, but it’s a lot closer than the live action movies get. Don’t get me wrong, I like the live action movies for what they are, but they didn’t satisfy the Resident Evil gamer geek in me. "Degeneration" mostly does.

The biggest reason "Degeneration" succeeds here is because it is in direct continuity with the game series. Leon and Claire, who first made appearances in the second game, are the principle characters and their past together is acknowledged. What’s more is that the same actors play them in the movie so even the voices are consistent. If that weren’t enough we get flashbacks to the events in game 2.

Leon is now working for the govt. (already disclosed in fourth game). Claire is working with an activist group. Umbrella’s atrocities are well known, and protestors take to dressing up like zombies to get attention. Another company has picked up the T Virus research, and people, including Claire, fear another Raccoon City incident. For good reason it seems, too, because T virus zombies besiege a major airport causing mass havoc. This was no accident, this was terrorist activity. Is WilPharma or the protest group the villain here?

The govt. brings in Leon to deal with the situation, and he quickly recruits Claire when he finds her at the scene. They are joined by Angela, a pretty and capable soldier, as they try to save survivors and hunt down the terrorist suspected to be responsible. The head of the new corporation intends to prove his is not an evil organization, but those having to battle zombie threats aren’t easily persuaded.

Angela soon discovers that the person potentially responsible for all this horror is her very own brother. She wrestles with the realization as she and Leon try to find him. Meanwhile Claire visits the WilPharma offices hoping to find help in their vaccination research only to have the entire building turned into a death trap.

Some parts of the story are pretty good such as letting Umbrella die (at least for now) and working in rivals, bringing in some new characters but not neglecting the familiar ones, and setting up TriCell who appears to be the new Umbrella in the upcoming Resident Evil 5 game. On the downside some of the plot twists seem too forced – put in for the sake of having something “unexpected” happen (which I actually found pretty cliché) without a great deal of original inspiration or natural development.

This leaves the ending less powerful than it could have been, and is the main reason I don’t sing the praises of this movie more. I did still enjoy it, I just wasn’t blown away as I thought I might be after some of the great zombie battles earlier on.

I think this movie would be accessible to those not necessarily big fans of the game series. There is enough information given that new viewers should be able to follow along (which is the importance of introducing new characters rather than relying solely on established ones). At the same time, knowing the history of Claire, Leon, and the viruses adds a great deal to the experience. More information about the T and G viruses will help fans get more of the background story straight in their heads, and the information about the transition from Umbrella to TriCell as the main evil entity (for now, somehow I doubt we’ve seen the last of Umbrella) will undoubtedly be good for getting further enjoyment out of future stories.

The zombies here are pretty typical. That’s a good thing. They are a mainstay of the Resident Evil series, at least for the most part, I mean the first big shock of game 4 is that the monsters aren't zombies though it still plays into the larger story. A new Tyrant turns up. What would a Resident Evil story be without a huge, nasty monster to beat at the end? Unfortunately no other monsters show up. No giant spiders, no Lickers, and perhaps worst of all no zombie dogs. I guess they couldn’t bring in much more in the way of monsters without sacrificing story, but it would have been nice to see more. At the same time I appreciate that this isn’t an hour and a half of mindless gun battles. There is an actual story even if it’s not necessarily top-notch.

As far as action goes there are some fun scenes and creepy battles. For the most part these keep to the Resident Evil spirit. My only complaint here, besides the lack of other monsters, is that we see little of Leon’s prowess. In game 4 he is shown to possess an incredible agility and focus. I was really hoping to see him do things like shoot a zombie in the face to stun it and then kick the ever-loving crap out of it like he does in the game. There are few stunning moments of “wow wouldn’t it be cool to be able to do that?” in the movie.

I really like the look of the movie. The animation is detailed and sharp. I mean take a look at that garden: gorgeous! The motions feel smooth, and the manipulation of frame speed adds a lot while not feeling overused. In fact, I would say it’s underused. The only real problem I noticed was the matching of speech to mouth movements.

I would say this is definitely for a small target audience. The story is not powerful enough to draw a lot of viewers that aren’t specifically looking for some horror-action. It’s enjoyment for fans and might pull in some new viewers that like anime, but I don’t foresee people who dislike animated movies or zombies making an exception for this.