The latest Resident Evil Animated movie is here and it’s time to review it. We will see what the movie offers us in our Resident Evil Death Island review.
Resident Evil Death Island Review: What is the story?
The story takes place in 2015. After the events of Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil Vendetta but before Resident Evil 7.
The movie starts with a backstory related scene. At the start of the Raccoon City Incident, members of a private military firm are hired by Umbrella Corporation to help with the evacuation of high-ranking Umbrella executives and government officials.
Unit 6 is deployed with 10 members which consists of Carl, JJ, Dylan Blake and seven others into the city to extract remaining officials that are still trapped within, they arrived outside the border where USS soldiers are preventing civilians from escaping and allowing officials to leave freely.
The unit advances in their operation but suffer bites by Zombies, with JJ and Dylan being the exception. The pair dials HQ to request extraction for immediate medical attention but are told to quarantine the rest of the unit and await further orders, something which shocks JJ and enrages Dylan.
As the two await, HQ orders the surviving pair to kill their comrades and only then will extraction come; Dylan argues with JJ about euthanising their own comrades, which the latter justifies as a necessity. As the two argue the infected soldiers smash through a window. JJ successfully fights against the horde but is bitten; a disheartened and mentally broken Dylan kills him.
After that scene, the movie returns to present, which is 2015. In San Francisco, California, DSO agent Leon Scott Kennedy and FOS agent Ingrid Hunnigan are tasked with rescuing and taking Dr. Antonio Taylor into custody after the lead robotics engineer sells classified information to foreign entities outside of USA.
Learning of his last location, San Francisco Police Department deploys S.W.A.T. to retrieve him only to encounter fire power from an unknown group who kidnaps Taylor and transports him in a van, Leon is sent to intercept the kidnapping and retrieve the DARPA researcher.
Amidst the briefing, Leon catches sight of the van and pursues down the freeway, unfortunately his bike crashes in a scuffle with a female motorcyclist, which is revealed to be Maria. Following this, Chris visits BSAA advisor Rebecca Chambers who updates him about the twelve cases of mysterious infection plaguing upon the city.
She deduces that the corpse of an infected person contains an advanced strain of t-Virus which cannot be transmitted through airborne or saliva with every victim bitten by them, all succumbed to their injuries and died afterwards.
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Additionally, all of them had needle marks on their body, indicating a direct means of infection. Chris visits Jill in the shooting range and express his desire of recusing her from further participation in the operation due to his growing concerns but Jill firmly declines the notion. Jill grimly recalls her years under Wesker’s control (Resident Evil 5 events) and wanting her friends dead.
In the BSAA laboratory, Chris and Jill meets up with Claire and Rebecca to discuss their findings. Claire discovers that the chipped Orca had been swimming around Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, the same as several other whales which have disappeared recently.
Similarly, the Orca is infected with the same strain of t-Virus found in the human corpses, confirming a link. Luckily for the BSAA, this strain of t-Virus is similar enough to others the BSAA has encountered, and existing vaccines should be adequate. Chris and the others meanwhile head out to Alcatraz Island, posing as tourists.
Jill continues exploring the sewers, where she meets Leon, they both fight Lickers that devoured zombies. As Leon and Jill investigate the armory, they discover blueprints for the Mosquito Drones which have been infecting people.
Knowing they are nearby, Dylan beckons them to the prison cells where they find their colleagues and Davis, who Leon identifies as Antonio Taylor himself. With the Drones, Dylan infects Chris, Claire and Leon. Introducing Maria, he confirms what is now clear to Leon and Chris – Dylan has taken over Arias’ crime syndicate for his own ends; Maria seeks vengeance for her father’s death.
Dylan bitterly insults the heroes actions, while they’ve nobly stopped bioterroism in the past, he berates them for working with bad organizations. Jill meanwhile heads after Dylan in the armory. Rebecca cures Leon first, then the others; Leon is then attacked by Maria in the facility. After a long brawl, Leon gets the upperhand knocking Maria into a bent rod impaling her.
Chris, Claire, Jill, Rebecca and Leon fight Dylan who combines himself with a bio-weapon but they’re struggling to hold him off. Rebecca meanwhile has taken control of the Drones, instead of shutting them down she ordered them to infect Dylan with massive quantities of the t-Virus.
Dylan begins to deteriorate and weaken. Jill, Leon, and Chris manage to kill him with explosives and Rocket Launcher. The group await the rescue helicopters, Chris applaud Jill’s return. This is where the movie ends and another accomplishment by our heroes who stopped bioterrorism countless times.
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What does Resident Evil Death Island adds up to series?
After the events of Resident Evil 5, which was Jill is being controlled by Albert Wesker in order to kill Chris and many other civillian people in terms of bioterrorism, Jill was so out of the series. The first time we see Jill in the current timeline is Resident Evil Death Island.
Other character meetings such as Leon – Claire and Leon – Jill are happened in this movie as well. Leon and Claire did not see them after the events of Resident Evil 2. Thanks to this bioterrorism attack in the Alcatraz island, Leon and Claire did meet again. For after a long time ago.
Also Leon and Jill did not meet any other game and movie as well. The first time they see each other is the Resident Evil Death Island movie. Of course they did know each other but the official meeting was not happened before.
What is the negative things about Resident Evil Death Island?
Resident Evil Death Island story was interesting. Also seeing so many familiar faces together is priceless but there are many negative sides in the movie. The first one is character designs. It’s obvious that character designers did not work on character models. They were mostly copied from games.
Jill Valentine was wearing almost the same outfit they used in the Resident Evil 3 Remake. The same tank top, the same pants and even the same necklace she wear in the Resident Evil 3 Remake. They did not bother changing her outfit and she wears the same outfit that she wears in the 1998. The movie takes place in 2015. It’s been 17 years since the Raccoon City incident.
Also, Jill’s personality changed a lot during this time. Jill was caring, kind and friendly character. In the movie, she became so vulgar. We know she is been through a lot but even after she is saved in Resident Evil 5, she was still caring about Chris and other people. In the Resident Evil Death Island, she is so harsh to all characters. Jill was not like that.
The same thing goes for Claire Redfield as well. She wears the almost same outfit in the Resident Evil 2 Remake. They did not even bother change her leather jacket. Jill and Claire could have wear different outfits. Leon and Chris are not like that. Why character designers did such thing? Why did not bother changing Jill and Claire’s outfits after 17 years.
In the movie, where all three go to Alcatraz Island, Chris wears a great shirt, t-shirt and pants, very suitable to island weather. But Claire and Jill wears the same outfit, except Jill wears a long jacket this time. Their outfit looks so irrelevant in the island weather. It’s a touristy island and it’s obvious that weather is hot there, yet Claire wears a leather jacket. Character designs are disaster except Chris and Leon.
Some action scenes are too exaggerated. Some of them are very cringe. It’s like superhero movie and it’s not suitable to Resident Evil’s action. They could make that movie like a horror movie. Not something like superhero.
What is our final opinion about Resident Evil Death Island?
Resident Evil Death Island is not a great animated movie compared to other Resident Evil animated movie. Resident Evil Degeneration, Resident Evil Damnation, even Resident Evil Vendetta was better than Resident Evil Death Island. Director can make a great horror movie with this storyline, yet they choose to do something like superhero type.
If you are a Resident Evil fan and you always follow/watch Resident Evil games, movies, you can watch this movie and see these iconic characters together after a very long time.
Do we recommend Resident Evil Death Island?
We do not recommend Resident Evil Death Island if you are searching for a great movie. But if you are a Resident Evil fan and know everything about Resident Evil content, you are welcome to watch and experience the movie yourself.
Score: 4/10
If you are interested about other Resident Evil contents, you can read our article about Resident Evil Games in Order and Resident Evil Movies in Order
