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Angela Miller is having a really rotten day. First things first, she and her Special Response Teammate get hand-picked by this mysterious leather-clad guy in finger-gloves and an emo 'do to have a go at an airport full of flesh-n-brain hungry undead on a search-n-pluck for some fat slob senator trapped inside. Then she watches as her S.R.T. pal has his neck ripped open and bled dry, only to get his dead-gangsta swerve on a scene or two later as just another walking corpse. To top it all off, the fatso rescued senator is by no means thankful that his jowl-wobbly neck has been yanked from the guillotine and insists on playing out his bit in a plot that involves Angela's estranged brother Curtis; who now, just so happens to be a wanted bio-terrorist.

Talk about a rotten day.

The Japanese video game company Capcom has given us installment after installment of the ultra-violent survival horror video game series "Resident Evil" (in Japan: "Biohazard"). Among the six numbered installments are a failed pair of online titles, a light gun attempt, and several lack-luster handheld offerings. In 2002 Paul W S Anderson and Sony Pictures brought us the first in a trilogy of live action films starring sci-fi action uber-starlet Milla Jovovich, which, despite the trio's respectable box office takes and niche/cultie following, strayed from the series source material. Not too far mind you, but far enough to disappoint fans of the video games.

This year Capcom looked to remedy that by releasing "Resident Evil: Degeneration", a big budget CG film that bridges the gap between the "Resident Evil 4" and "Resident Evil 5" games. In the same way that the live action RE films alienated hardcore fans of the games, "Resident Evil: Degeneration" alienates fans of the films by centering on two fan favorite game characters; Leon S Kennedy (RE2 & RE4) and Claire Redfield (RE2, RE: Code Veronica [X]). Director Makoto Kamiya (SFX on "Gojira Vs Biorante", "Gamera 2") does not disappoint with this stylish and gory romp through RE's mythos. After the huge success in Japan and the solid US DVD/Bluray sales, expect to see Makoto Kamiya debut a live action film.

Pixar this isn't, but the action scenes here rival most US action film fodder. In particular there is a scene involving Leon where a large chamber, divided into quadrants, is being released into a seemingly bottomless pit during a self-destruct sequence. The way Leon navigates the room; sliding, jumping, rolling, its one of the most top notch things I've seen in a CG film since the Shin-Bahamut Vs. Cast of FFVII in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It's pretty.

But the CG suit up here doesn’t involve either Leon or Claire. Instead, it's enacted by a soon to be fan-favorite (and apparent shit-magnet) Angela Miller. After a brief altercation with antagonist Senator Ron Davis, Angela sets out to prove herself and to the entire Special Response Team that she can track down her brother Curtis and stop the imminent spread of the highly volatile G-virus; a synthetic mutagen that turns flesh into a amalgam of Japanese and American horror clichés.

It all begins in mobile quarters; we see a submachine gun resting atop a steel table, an open box of bullets litters the surface with scattered brass. Angela slaps a clip into a handgun; the camera close up lets you see the bullet in the chamber as the slide rolls back. She holsters the piece. Miller throws on a tactical vest, the back emblazoned with the SRT logo. A magazine slips into a submachine gun, the slide pulled; ready.

There is a cut to her face in profile, and the CG here, the 3-D modeling and emotion engine, they have perfectly captured 'resolute'. Cut to a top-half profile shot, Angela hoists on the shoulder strap of the submachine gun and shuts her armament locker. Leon Kennedy is standing the doorway.

Leon, he says: "You're sure packing a lot of hardware just to go see your brother."
Without a word, Angela closes up shop. She's had a rotten day. Dead friends. Zombies. Sibling bio-terrorism threats. Politicians.

And it's not over. Not by a long shot. There's plenty of blood and slime and hints of incestuous (albeit instinctive) inbreeding to come.

See, Leon, what he doesn’t know is that in just a little while they'll be facing down super bio-menace Curtis Miller, but not in his human form. No, Curtis, he'll be the twenty foot tall mutated freak with the distended torso, elongated limbs, claws, and five foot eyeball growing out of his right shoulder. He'll be the one with goop dripping out his ass.

But, Leon, he wouldn't know anything about that now, would he?