Resident Evil: Damnation

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Resident Evil: Damnation
Japanese release poster
Directed by	Makoto Kamiya
Written by	Shotaro Suga
Based on	Resident Evil  by Capcom
Produced by	Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Starring	Matthew Mercer Dave Wittenberg Wendee Lee Courtenay Taylor
Music by	Rei Kondoh Shusaku Uchiyama
Production company	Digital Frontier
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan
Release dates	October 27, 2012 (2012-10-27)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	English
Box office	$2.3 million (Japan)

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. The film was released on October 27, 2012 in Japan, premiering in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

The story of Resident Evil: Damnation revolves around biological weapons used in a European war zone, and sees the return of Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonist. 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. 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:

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. 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. 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. The film was produced with motion capture and 3D. The theme song by Anna Tsuchiya, titled "CARRY ON", is played during the credits.

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.

Box office

The film was released theatrically in Shinjuku, Aichi, and Osaka on October 27, 2012. It grossed $2,325,035 at the Japanese box office.

Home media

Capcom and Sony Pictures released Damnation as a digital download on Xbox Live, Zune and PlayStation Network on September 15, 2012, and on DVD and Blu-ray on September 25, 2012. 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). In the United States, Resident Evil: Damnation has earned $3.3 million in home video sales.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 100% rating, and an average of 7.95/10 based on 5 critics. IGN gave the film a score of 7.8 out of 10, named it "the best Resident Evil film to-date". Starburst rated it 7/10.

Accolades

It was awarded the 2013 International 3D Society Japan Award for animation.

Sequel

The film was followed by Resident Evil: Vendetta, which was released in 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Official website (in Japanese)
• Film blog (in Japanese)
• Resident Evil: Damnation at the Internet Movie Database
• Resident Evil: Damnation at Rotten Tomatoes