The Resident Evil franchise includes three animated movies and a miniseries, but not all of these installments are created equal. Even though the Resident Evil series includes some of the most successful horror video games ever, screen adaptations of the franchise have been a mixed bag. Director Paul WS Anderson’s 2002 movie Resident Evil didn’t impress critics upon release, but the movie did scare up some serious returns at the box office. However, while that first Resident Evil managed to spawn a string of sequels, the live-action movies in the series were frequently criticized for their lack of fidelity to the source material.
While Anderson didn’t direct Resident Evil 2 or 3, he did remain a major creative force throughout the series. As such, the Resident Evil movie adaptations gradually gained a reputation as fun guilty pleasure action-horror movies that bore little relation to their supposed inspiration. Thus, it was down to the Resident Evil franchise’s subsequent animated movies to bring the story of the games to life on-screen. The 2008 release Resident Evil: Degeneration was the first animated addition to the franchise, followed by 2012’s Resident Evil: Damnation. Viewers had to wait five years for 2017’s Resident Evil: Vendetta, while 2021 brought the animated miniseries Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.
4 Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
Resident Evil: Degeneration has one thing going for it and that is the movie’s decision to bring Claire and Leon back together for another adventure after Resident Evil 2. However, since the later installment Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness gave Leon and Claire more to do with their shared story, this early effort ended up looking worse in retrospect. The animation of Resident Evil: Degeneration lets the movie down badly, as facial expressions fail to convince in close-up and the action sequences often look muddy and unclear. That said, it is cool that Tricell’s role in the plot subtly sets up Resident Evil 5’s storyline.
Still, that is not enough to salvage Resident Evil: Degeneration. Released at a time when a spate of zombie movies plagued cinemas, Resident Evil: Degeneration’s tale of Claire and Leon attempting to contain a zombie outbreak in an airport feels like nothing new. There are bits of 28 Days Later and Rec here and there, but the action is uninspired. Meanwhile, the cheap animation doesn’t help. The live-action Resident Evil movies were light on gore too, but it is hard not to feel like Resident Evil: Degeneration could have benefited from a darker, harsher edge and a less predictable plot.
3 Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)
Even though the movie drops Claire unceremoniously and replaced her with Ada, Resident Evil: Damnation remains a major improvement on Resident Evil: Degeneration. The sequel’s animation holds up a lot better thanks to the technological advancements between 2008 and 2012, with the characters looking much more lifelike and the ambitious action feeling more impactful. Resident Evil: Damnation still has its flaws, including some ill-judged comic relief characters. However, its story is much more dynamic, with Leon sneaking into a war-torn eastern European country to uncover the existence of bioweapons. This being a Resident Evil movie, what the franchise’s hero finds is far worse than he could have imagined.
That said, the movie’s monsters are not worse than fans of the series might have envisioned, and this ultimately proves to be a problem for Resident Evil: Damnation. While it earned the best Rotten Tomatoes score in the Resident Evil franchise, the installment is lacking when it comes to truly compelling villains. Both the human and inhuman enemies of this outing are tired foes, and the cynical ending feels less earned than similarly brutal denouements in the franchise’s video games. There is still a lot to like in Resident Evil: Damnation, though, and the movie represents a major upgrade from Resident Evil: Degeneration’s rocky start.
2 Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021)
It feels a little unfair to rank Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness as the second-strongest animated addition to the franchise since this Netflix miniseries has a far longer runtime to play with than its predecessors. However, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness more than deserves its spot in this ranking. Telling the story of Leon’s work for a shadowy government agency between Resident Evil 4 and 5, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is the first animated installment that feels like it fits seamlessly into the world of the games. While the live-action Resident Evil movie timeline diverged wildly from the original games, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is an extension of the existing story.
The miniseries earns even more praise for its focus on Claire and Leon. While its story ends with the pair on opposite sides of a feud, this is ultimately for the best. Leon’s decision to hide the bioweapon conspiracy fits his tragic character arc, and while bleak, this twist feels earned in a way that the ending of Resident Evil: Damnation felt too tidy. Claire’s disgusts at Leon’s decision is understandable but, again, the end of their relationship feels fitting instead of coming as an unwelcome surprise. It is unfortunate that Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness fractured Claire and Leon’s connection, but this added weight and humanity to its story.
1 Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)
Resident Evil: Vendetta does not have a lot in common with Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness in of tone. The latter lives up to its title with its bleak ending and grim twists, while Resident Evil: Vendetta is much more shamelessly silly and fun. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Resident Evil games are full of horrifying monsters and brutal endings, but they also feature a lot of high-octane action and thrilling gunplay. This is where Resident Evil: Vendetta excels, eschewing the horror of the other animated adaptations in favor of focusing on action set-pieces. The story is ludicrous, but that's part of the fun.
Resident Evil: Vendetta’s trigger-happy plot unites Leon with Rebecca Chambers and Chris for a goofy, lighter take on the franchise. While the opening scene’s gothic touches might leave viewers expecting a more somber, horror-centric affair, Resident Evil: Vendetta soon proves to be the most fast-paced and purely fun-focused of the animated movies. While it has also been ranked as the worst of all the Resident Evil movies, for viewers who prefer to see the Resident Evil franchise explore its cartoony action theatrics, Resident Evil: Vendetta is an underrated gem.
