Seeing Netflix mostly killing it in their video game adaptations and being a Resident Evil fan, the news of an anime Resident Evil series coming to the platform in the form of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness seemed like a slam dunk that could’ve been fun for fans.
Outside of Paul W. S. Anderson’s inconsistent “adaptations” of the series, Resident Evil has attempted to take its world and characters outside of the games through some CG-animated films. While most of them have faded into straight to DVD obscurity (although Degeneration holds a special place in this writer’s heart), there was solid potential for Infinite Darkness to maybe offer something fresh through a more fleshed out series – especially with it evoking vibes of Degeneration by putting fan-favorites Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield together again. However, this is NOT a series.
After watching it and seeing it only be four roughly half-hour episodes, it’s clear what Capcom has done. Instead of just releasing Infinite Darkness as another CG-animated film as likely intended, they just chopped it up into four chapters and re-branded it as a new series. Given Netflix’s clear desire to focus on movies this year with new weekly releases, this decision seems like a miscalculation, given the extra marketing that Infinite Darkness could’ve received as a film instead of series. Not to mention they could’ve avoided lying about what this “series” really was. Regardless, the bigger question at hand is: is Infinite Darkness worth the watch?
For first-timers jumping into the franchise, it’s tough to say yes. Given that the film takes place between the events of Resident Evil 4 and 5 and features characters and references from the games and other films, someone new could easily get lost or just not connect with the material like die-hard fans would. As for those die-hards, there’s enough to Infinite Darkness to make it a reasonably worthy watch with how it brings Leon back into a leading role and how it provides enough story and animated gory goods to be satisfactory.
Frankly, it’s hard to understand why Resident Evil animated movies have always gone the CG animated route since it’s always been hit or miss. Character models can look a little off at times because of how realistic it’s trying to look, and the movement can look a little choppy or weird in more action-packed sequences. Also, it was passable back in 2008 because that was one of the most common styles of animation, but now it just looks outdated and kind of bad. The games honestly have better-looking animation. Also, with Netflix’s past video game anime adaptations, it begs the question of how this really qualifies as an “anime.” It would be a million times more amazing to see Resident Evil get an artistic anime treatment akin to what they’ve done with Castlevania and are going to do with Splinter Cell.
However, there are some aspects of the CG animation that work in Infinite Darkness’ benefit. The gore is top-notch and pretty freaking creepy with the level of detail given to it. The entire submarine sequence in the second episode is the epitome of Resident Evil horror as it delivers gory goods aplenty and some zombified rats. The looks for the zombies, zombified enemies, and the big, hulking B.O.W that of course comes in the final episode are actually really rad, and the character designs for the series’ leads aren’t too shabby either.
As for the story, it’s a pretty standard, fair mix of political corruption and viral outbreak. Hot off saving the president’s daughter, Leon (voiced by Nick Apostolides) is now tasked with working with a small team to uncover a conspiracy connected to a viral outbreak during a civil war, after another viral outbreak attack occurs within the White House. There are some good moments, with a survivor from the civil war outbreak, now hailed as a hero, named Jason (voiced by Ray Chase) and with a mysterious woman named Shen May (voiced by Jona Xiao), that have interesting story beats and connections. Their stories unfolding and being fleshed out is one of the ways this “series” actually feels like a series. It also helps the series’ exploration of diverging views of how to expose political corruption. However, their story is cheaply told with there being a lot of repeated scenes and the story falling back on typical Resident Evil story beats. The entire last episode is truly a re-run of this series’ usual hits.
Frankly, without Leon leading the charge, Infinite Darkness likely wouldn’t be as enjoyable as it is. Any fan knows that when Leon’s the lead character, you’re, at the very least, in store for a solid time. His charismatic charm, delivery of fun one-liners, and action prowess make him a character we can watch do just about anything – especially when it comes to killing zombies. His appearance here is just another reminder of why fans love him so much and why he really needs to return to the present-day games. The same unfortunately can’t be said for other returning fan-favorite Claire (voiced Stephanie Panisello), as there’s literally no reason for her being here. There are very few interactions between her and Leon, and she doesn’t really do anything in the story other than finding information that we already know about.
Although it’s perfectly fine by Resident Evil animated movie standards, Infinite Darkness is just proof that Resident Evil fans deserve better. It feels like an underhanded sleight from Capcom that provides enough to be satisfactory but ultimately is a big disappointment – especially in comparison to other Netflix animated video game adaptations.
