As huge of a fan as I am of the Resident Evil franchise, I have no qualms about missing any entries or media that looks a little less than stellar. Sometimes my curiosity does get the better of me though. The most recent example of that was when a chance browsing through Netflix reminded me of the existence of the animated Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness series on Netflix.

Following in the footsteps of previous animated CGI entries, Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil: Damnation, and Resident Evil: Vendetta, this work is meant to be canon to the series and takes place in-between games. It features Resident Evil 2 veterans Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, so it had the potential to win fans over purely with fan service. Yet, the show wasn’t received well by critics or fans. I hadn’t watched it yet and with Resident Evil on the brain and my curiosity unfortunately piqued, I figured it would at least be enjoyable.

The four-episode series follows Leon and Claire as the two leads, with Leon investigating a hacking and zombie outbreak at the White House, while Claire investigates a potentially related outbreak that took place six years earlier. If you’re at all curious about the timeline of when the series mainly takes place, it’s set between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, but after Degeneration.

If this sounds a little confusing to you, the good news is that when it comes to the plot specifically, the timeline and previous events don’t really matter too much. There are throwaway lines and references to prior events that have taken place, but the events of these CGI works are pretty self-contained.

I will admit that treating it as a self-contained series is a smart way to go about it. Video game fanbases are rarely excited about needing to go into a different medium to fully understand a story or a character arc. A self-contained story on the other hand is a perfect narrative vehicle to enjoy more of your favorite characters.

Therein lies the biggest problem with Infinite Darkness; the story quite simply isn’t notable. Many would argue that this doesn’t sound out of place for the franchise at all. I don’t particularly agree with that take, however, I do understand where it comes from.

Don’t get me wrong, stories in the Resident Evil franchise aren’t iconic narratives by any means and that certainly includes the previous CGI films. All of them had some boring side characters along with angry villains trying to use bio-organic weapons (BOWs) for profit or revenge.

What has saved the CGI films from being long forgotten is that it’s an excuse to see beloved characters interact with each other again or even for the first time. An occasionally fun side character and exciting action scenes have also managed to go a long way in keeping people invested with a soft spot for these CGI movies.

Infinite Darkness doesn’t have a fun story or fun characters. Leon and Claire barely interact in it. Besides some decent action scenes in the first two episodes, the last two feel pretty by the numbers with heavy exposition. It would still be fine if it felt a bit more unique, but certain character motives, the final action scene, and an unnecessary loose thread to tie it into a particular organization from the games felt like a retread of Degeneration.

Reeling back to talk about the main characters, Claire’s presentation is especially an issue. While she’s developed into more of a peaceful character in contrast to how gung-ho everyone else is, three games as a main character have shown that she’s still more than capable of taking care of herself and dealing with nasty and strong monsters on her own. Disappointingly, she has what feels like a few minutes of screentime and her role is essentially a damsel-in-distress. It’s the exact opposite of what any fan would expect.

If I had to think of something I thoroughly enjoyed about the show, it would be the visuals. It’s undoubtedly the best looking of the CGI titles, as its predecessors occasionally had the problem where the focused characters on-screen look much more detailed than some background elements.

In Infinite Darkness, the set pieces and the characters themselves look fantastic. I also especially have to mention the wonderful use of lighting with a particular scene in the second episode. I can’t mention it without going into spoilers, but it’s unquestionably the best scene in the entire series.

Beyond that, I suppose the voice acting is okay. There isn’t enough character development to really care about most of them though, so no moments really stick out as great or badly voice acted. Also, it’s a CGI Resident Evil work so unless this series gets a second season, there would be no characters to get attached to anyway.

The only other positive I can think of is that it is short. Each episode is around 25 minutes, which puts it perfectly on par for a similar length as the CGI movies. If that seems a little too perfect, then I can tell you that, in my opinion, the pacing of this series makes it feel like it was potentially meant to be a movie at first. Either way, if you don’t mind sinking in a little under two hours watching it, then you may be able to watch it without feeling like you wasted your time.

I would advise those who aren’t familiar with Resident Evil to avoid Infinite Darkness. The story and action scenes aren’t bad, they’re just not that strong. There’s a chance with something being bad that it can lend itself to being comedic or enjoyable. That doesn’t happen with mediocrity.

As a fan, I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to other fans. It doesn’t have the over-the-top action scenes that Damnation and Vendetta had, nor the more interesting characters in those movies. It reminds me more of Degeneration, albeit doing better in some aspects and doing worse in others. If you really have a hankering for the Resident Evil universe or just want to see Leon look cool once again, watching this can be fun. Otherwise, there are plenty of better-animated shows to watch on Netflix.

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Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Undoubtedly Resident Evil
• Gorgeous Visuals
• Short Runtime

Cons

• Boring Story
• Claire Is A Damsel-in-Distress Plot Device
• Action Scenes Are Just Okay