resident evil - damnation

I seem to recall I did a review of the previous cgi resi movie.

I've not actually looked it up, but I think I thought it was okay, but the cgi wasn't great and it was a bit clunky.  I think I'd say the same basic thing about this one, which is also a cgi film.

It's not a sequel, though.  At least, I don't think it is - I found this aspect a bit vague, actually.  In some places it seemed to be that it was a sequel in some sense (with recurring characters having been involved in the events of the previous film, rather than events following on directly) but in others it seemed to be quite stand-alone.

I think a big part of my problem as that the background to this film wasn't properly fleshed out and explained.  I mean it was clear what the plot was, but quite why Leon was there and who he was working for was very vague indeed.  I think this was probably deliberate so that they could meld it to suit particularly markets, but it also meant it was all very vague.

I have to say it wasn't as strong a plot in this film either.  In the first the events are very reactive to particular situations, but in this they'd tried to use more in the way of deep schemes to form the plot and these just didn't hold together.  There seemed to be a lot of inconsistency and why stuff happened as it did came across as a bit more random than it should have done.

In particular both sides seemed to be using the bio-weapons, but in ways that suggested the other side wasn't using them, if that makes sense.  So one side was using them as if they were a secret weapon that the other side knew nothing about, but then it seemed like the other side was using the same thing like a secret weapon the other side knew nothing about.

Another good example is the tyrants, which are included in the movie.  It's not at all clear how they come to be there - were they developed, or bought or what, and why were they not actually using them?  They seem to get released almost by accident towards the end, but surely if the other side are using lickers you'd probably want to role your tyrants out, rather than keep them in your secret lab.

I dunno.  One of the criticisms I have of these cgi films is they feel just that bit too much like cut-scenes from games.  My problem here, I think, was that this felt like a cgi cut scene from half way through a game and I was watching over someone's shoulder, having not seen the previous half f the game.