RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness Review

RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness Review – The harrowing conspiracy of the Mad Dogs is revealed in this gorgeous horror epic

July is a big month for Netflix, especially for anime and animation. Transformers War for Cybertron: Kingdom on July 29, Masters of the Universe: Revelation July 23,  and of course RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness next week on July 8. RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness is an original anime series based on the RESIDENT EVIL franchise by Capcom produced by TMS Entertainment and animated by Quebico. The series is set in between the events of RE4 & RE5 and stars Leon S. Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) and Claire Redfield (Stephanie Panisello) and follows the events found from the opening scene into the journeys of Leon and Claire in discovering the events of the Mad Dogs’ mission that lead to their current situation. The mission takes place 6 years prior to the main timeline of the series, but its presence drives the conflict and poses “impactful” ramifications for the future to say the least. Without giving much away in this RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness review, the series does a great job of building the mystery and wrapping it up in only four episodes.

RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness is an epic horror drama that is a must-see for fans of the RE franchise and definitely appeals to fans of zombie-related content. The story is laden with mystery and intrigue, leaving viewers constantly questioning every character. Combined with the zombie threat, viewers are constantly on edge in anticipation of either a new zombie attack or a jaw-dropping plot detail. It’s a delightfully anxious combination of thrill, fear, and intrigue that will likely get most to watch all four episodes in one sitting.

The most impressive part of the series is its visuals. The CGI animation beautifully captures that RE look fans have come to love. It gives the show a sense of realism that wonderfully captures the action and frantic movements made by anyone and anything dealing with zombies. But most noticeably, it makes zombies of all types terrifying. Zombies are not limited to just human hosts, and some of the most terrifying creatures are definitely smaller than humans. The series geniusly brings in zombies in the worst situations you would want zombies to show up in and with horrifyingly visceral first appearances. Truly horrific masterworks. Imagine being in a small and enclosed vessel in an inescapable and environment with a normally scary disease-spreading creature that is now a zombie. Or just watch the series.

Outside of the visuals and overarching story, I feel the individual components don’t register. Not to say that anything is bad, but the series is great as a whole and more than the sum of it’s parts. While to the overall story of the series is a thrilling mystery/conspiracy, the build-up and execution are a bit uneven and the individual stories don’t leave much of an impact. Each character has a piece to the story, but their personal stories really don’t have much weight on their own. In the same vein, the voice performances are all good and what you’d expect, but nothing quite hits that “woah” level where it solidifies the performer and the character. While I hope for more RE series and hope that the performers would get to return to their roles if their characters return, it would not really any anticipation if other performers took over the roles. This is not a critique of any of their performances, the story just doesn’t give them much personal attention and everyone serves the story as a whole.

RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness delivers a wonderfully thrilling horror epic that fans of the franchise, and fans of zombie horror, will surely enjoy. The series boasts some of the most advanced and well-designed CGI animation that wonderfully captures the signature RE style and renders some viscerally terrifying zombie creatures and choreographed action sequences.  The series is thoroughly enjoyable in its entirety and is a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. If only the smaller aspects of the show are focused, it probably would not be considered impressive, but in combination and focus into the story, it makes for an awesome horror conspiracy that fans have come to love about the RE franchise. My RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness review gets a 3.5/5.

RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness releases on Netflix July 8, 2021.