Resident Evil Requiem lives up to the silly spectacle of the movies

Requiem's action goes full throttle

I did a lot of studying in the lead-up to Resident Evil Requiem. I brushed up on mounds of lore, refamiliarized myself with Resident Evil 2, and even looked back to how each game in the series was received at the time of release. But the most important work I did was watch one deeply stupid movie: Resident Evil Death Island.

Released in 2023, Death Island is just one of many animated Resident Evil films. This one, though, is special. It’s basically Resident Evil’s version of Avengers: Endgame, uniting all its major heroes together to fight a zombie outbreak in Alcatraz. It’s as ridiculous as it sounds. You certainly don’t need to watch it to deepen your understanding of the series’ story, but it is an informative viewing to pair with Requiem. It’ll help you see that the once-distant animated movies and games are now reaching action parity.

Though they aren’t discussed quite as much as Paul W. S. Anderson’s live-action Resident Evil films, the series’ animated efforts have a long history of their own. 2008’s Resident Evil: Degeneration kicked off the feature-film trend in a movie that both followed up Resident Evil 4 and introduced major plot elements that would set the stage for Resident Evil 5. It also featured some truly outrageous action sequences that took the ambitions of the original PlayStation games and supersized them with movie-grade CGI. In one scene, an airplane crashes through an airport terminal in a fiery explosion. In another, a monster basically parries a slow-motion grenade launcher shot amid a military shootout.

This wasn’t far off from some of the games’ more over-the-top sequences, but Resident Evil was only beginning to find its footing as an action-focused series in 2008. Resident Evil 5 would take a big step towards that in 2009, and Resident Evil 6 would go even bigger in 2012. But it always felt like the animated films were one step ahead in their ridiculous staging. 2017’s Resident Evil: Vendetta, for instance, includes an unforgettable gun-fu fight scene that’s the most confidently absurd action moment the series — game or film — has ever put out.

Now in 2026, it feels like that gap has just about closed. Resident Evil Requiem continues pushing the series’ cinematic ambitions as Capcom’s RE Engine only feels more capable than ever on modern platforms. There’s one sequence in particular that stands out. During the game’s return to Raccoon City, Leon hops on a motorcycle and barrels down a ruined highway. Dr. Victor Gideon, the game’s villain, gives chase on a bike of his own. Oh, and a pack of mutated wolves join in for fun too. A joyfully preposterous set piece unfolds from there, culminating in a motorcycle gun joust. Hell yeah.

Funny enough, Resident Evil Death Island has its own Leon-centric motorcycle chase. Early in the film, he barrels down a highway while fending off one of that film’s villains. It’s a Jason Bourne sequence turned up to 11, as he dodges cars flying off a carrier trailer, and the villain uses that same vehicle as a ramp to launch in the air and land right on Leon’s bike. Also hell yeah.

Don’t interpret that as hard evidence that Capcom is now working more closely with the creatives behind the Resident Evil animated films to bridge the gap between the mediums. It’s more proof that Resident Evil has had a consistent vision for decades. Even when Capcom didn’t have the most cutting-edge tech available, it always made the most of the consoles it was working on to push its cinematic moments to their limits. The first game famously elevated a creaky door loading screen to the height of dramatic tension, after all. The animated films have always felt like they were picking up on that wavelength and staging action in a way that the games would if they could. It’s a testament to where gaming tech is today that Requiem and Death Island can deliver wild stunts that feel like they’re directly referencing one another, even if it’s by sheer coincidence.

All of that is to say: If you’re enjoying Resident Evil Requiem’s moments of silly spectacle, maybe you should watch Death Island after all. It may not blow your mind, but you’re sure to get a kick out of seeing Jill Valentine toss a zombie onto a glass table and shoot through both of them, posing as the glass shatters below her. Hell. Yeah.