Movie Reviews: Dead Space: Downfall

Title: Dead Space: Downfall

Cast:

Nika Futterman as Alissa Vincent
Jim Cummings as Captain Benjamin Matthias
Keith Szarabajka as Dr. Terrence Kyne
Hal Sparks as Ramirez
Kelly Hu as Shen
Phil Morris as Hanson  
Kevin Michael Richardson as Samuel Irons and Pendleton
Jeff Bennett as Dobbs and Leggio
Grey DeLisle as Donna and Heather Fawkes
Bruce Boxleitner as Colin Borrow
Lia Sargent as Jen Borrow
Maurice LaMarche as White and Bavaro
Bob Neill as Cartusian
Jim Piddock as Chic

Directed by: Chuck Patton

Country: USA and South Korea

Distributed by: Electronic Arts, Manga Entertainment, and Anchor Bay Entertainment

Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Animation

Year of Release: 2008

Synopsis: Based on EA's popular video game franchise, this low-budget animated feature film is a prequel that takes place before the events in the first Dead Space game. Set in the 26th century, the USG Ishimura, a giant starship owned by an intergalactic mining operation and space explorers discover an alien artifact on an uncharted planet called Aegis VII. By the orders of Captain Matthias, the artifact is brought onboard the ship. But while this is being carried out, a series of violent incidents occur during the operation. The madness begins with reports of personnel going homicidally insane and turning against their teams, resulting in mass carnage and bloodshed. Later, things take a turn for the worse when an alien plague mysteriously appears onboard the Ishimura, and starts infecting the bodies of the dead crewmembers, transforming them into necromorphs; mutated reanimated corpses that seek out live prey and attack on sight. Dr. Kyne, a scientist onboard the Ishimura, says that the Marker is responsible for the madness. But Matthias is in denial because he would have to put the Marker back and face a court martial if the government knew they were in the restricted system. And while arguments and disputes ensue, the chaos gradually worsens as the plague continues to ravage the Ishimura.

Personal Comments: As everybody knows by now, Dead Space is a series of survival horror games created by Electronic Arts. In the game, the player takes the role of Isaac Clarke, an engineer who was sent in with a rescue team onboard the USG Kellion to investigate the USG Ishimura, which is now desolate and infested with the necromorph infection. However, since this movie is a prequel to the first game, Isaac Clarke does not appear anywhere in the film. Instead, the main character is a woman named Alissa Vincent, who in this movie is the head of a security team onboard the ship. The movie opens with what appears to be a video log recorded by Vincent, sometime after the Ishimura was overrun with the outbreak. In her recording, she details the events and states that the artifact is responsible for the chaos that ravaged the ship. She ends her log by saying that if anybody discovers her recording, that the Ishimura and the artifact "must be destroyed". For those of you who don't know, "Ishimura" is a Japanese family name that translates to "Stone Village". Named after astropologist Hideki Ishimura, the starship was the flagship of the Concordance Extraction Corporation and the first Planet Cracker-Class ship. The Ishimura was also the first vessel of its size to utilize the ShockPoint Drive for large-scale commercial and deep space expeditions. It is also been said that the Ishimura had been in use for 62 years, but was still in good shape and was constantly upgraded with the latest in technology in the long years of its active service.

The Dead Space franchise has a pretty big fanbase, and has several spin-off products. One of them being this particular film. Interestingly, much like "Heavy Metal 2000", "Dead Space Downfall" was never released theatrically. Instead, it was a straight to DVD release. Quite frankly, I find it odd that a lot of animated films nowadays are merely direct-to-video releases rather than theatrical releases. Most of the times when it comes to theatrical animation, it's usually CGI animated movies that are released in theaters. But nowadays, when it comes to animated films that touch upon the now rare 2D hand drawn animation, they are usually just domestic releases. And the reason I find this to be odd is because back in the day, the entertainment industry used to be very open minded and would broadcast movies regardless of their genre or style. Back in the 80s and the 90s for instance, live and animated films were broadcast in all three formats; theatrical, domestic, and on television. But it's different today. The industry is not as open as they were before, and usually only have live films being shown in theaters. Even with 3D computer graphics taking over the market, animation in theaters is rare nowadays. Now, the animation in this film is alright, but uninspired. The backgrounds look nice, but the characters don't look particularly well drawn. And the movement tends to lag in some parts. But all in all, it's rather decent.

Oh yeah, it's worth mentioning that some of the actors who participated in this movie may ring some bells. In fact, when I first saw this movie, I instantly recognized some of the voices. First, we have Jeff Bennett, who most audiences know as the voices of Johnny Bravo, Brooklyn from Gargoyles, Blitz from Road Rovers, and Prowl and Ultra Magnus from Transformers Animated. And then there's Kevin Michael Richardson who did the voices of Exile from Road Rovers, Captain Gantu from Lilo and Stitch, P-Biggie from Hoodwinked, Mammoth from Teen Titans, and lots of other different roles. He also did the voice of Thadius from the Animatrix episode "Final Flight of the Osiris". And finally, there's Jim Cummings, who everybody knows as the voices of Dr. Robotnic from Sonic SatAM, General Parvo from Road Rovers, Steele from Balto, and Razoul from Aladdin. I actually found it quite surprising that these actors were in this movie, seeing as they normally play in cartoons that are clean and kid-friendly. And frankly, I found it to be quite a shocker to know that these actors took part in the production of this particular film seeing how gruesome and violent it is.

Anyway, back to my review on "Dead Space: Downfall". Originally released, October 28th, 2008, this film's animation is credited to Film Roman, the same studio behind the Simpsons, King of the Hill, the Hell Boy animated movies, and the Marvel Superhero Squad. Dead Space: Downfall is basically your generic horror film that circles around a group of people who are trapped within a specific area, and must fight their way through hordes of monsters to survive and live through the disaster and the chaos. But as far as I know, "Dead Space: Downfall" is probably the only animated horror film in existence that touches upon this particular genre. But rather than taking place in a haunted mansion or a desolate town, the setting is in outer space within the USG Ishimura, which is also the main setting in the game. The film seems to borrow influences from Alien, The Thing, and Resident Evil. And its only fair to warn you in advance that this is a very, VERY gory film. In fact, this movie jam packed with over the top violence and gore, complete with blood splattering everywhere, characters being brutally maimed, eviscerated, dismembered, etc. We even get some gruesome transformations that some characters undergo after being mutated into their grotesque necromorph forms. There are many different kinds of necromorphs in the games. But some of the most common kinds are the slashers, which grow an extra set of arms from the stomach, sharp teeth, pupiless white eyes, rotting flesh, and even sprout long bonelike blades from the palms of their hands. Some of them even lose their lower jaws after undergoing their complete transformation. Some of the goriest parts in the film include the scene where a large man gets his arm sliced off, followed by a necromorph knocking off his lower jaw before the man is brutally dismembered off screen by a horde. Another gruesome scene is the part where one of the crew members goes nuts and mercilessly slices a fellow team member in half with a plasma saw in graphic detail. Hell, that is arguably one of the goriest deaths I've ever seen in a horror movie. And if you enjoy horror films for their violence rate, then there's no doubt that you'll probably love this film. As far as I know, this movie is far more gruesome than any other American cartoon out there today.

Based on what I've seen from both the games and this movie, Dead Space draws a lot of influences from various sci-fi and horror films. In my point of view, Dead Space is like "Resident Evil" meets "Aliens" and "John Carpenter's the Thing". Unlike the typical everyday zombie film however, the necromorphs are not exactly zombies. They are a form of mutated creatures that are created by an alien plague which is somehow connected to the artifact. It is said that the artifact has the ability to cause hallucinations and dementia in living human beings, and also has some sort of genetic code that unleashes the plague that transforms human beings into the hideous savage mutated necromorph monstrosities. Like zombies, necromorphs are reanimated corpses that were brought back to life. They can travel either alone or in large masses, and they act on a simple instinct which is to seek out only live victims to kill or infect, and do not attack each other. Unlike zombies however, necromorphs are very tough and hard to kill. As shown in this movie, bullets have little to no effect on them, and even shooting them in the head does little to stop them. The most effective way to kill them is to completely dismember them with a melee weapon. One such weapon that is featured in this movie is the "plasma saw" which acts similarly to a lightsaber, but is handled the same way a person would handle a chainsaw. From what I've seen in this film, the plasma saw seemed to have been one of the most effective weapons used against necromorphs. But oddly, such a weapon is not featured in the game. But there are other kinds of weapons that are just as helpful and useful against the monsters. Still though, one would think that having a plasma saw in the game would make killing monsters all the much more fun.

Most of the characters featured in this movie are pretty simple. In fact, there's not a whole lot of character development here since all the characters featured in this film die horrible gory deaths during the outbreak of the necromorph infection. But some of the characters who appear in this movie are directly from the game. For instance, Dr. Terrence Kyne, who is most likely the only survivor of this film, is featured in this movie as well as in the first Dead Space game. And Keith Szarabajka provides his voice for both the game and the movie. In the game, the player eventually meets him along the way. And then there's Captain Benjamin Matthias, who is mentioned many times and is even referenced in various video logs in the games. In this movie, he appears serious and sensible, but gradually loses his rationality and common sense, remaining in firm belief that he must take the artifact back to Earth by all means. But his crew, seeing that he has lost his mind; turn against him, further triggering his insanity. And as Dr. Kyne attempts to tranquilize him and relieve him of his duty due to his mentally unstable condition, the enraged Matthias tries to kill the doctor, only to have the needle penetrate through his eye and into his brain, killing him instantly. In the game however, it is stated that Dr. Kyne killed Captain Matthias on purpose. Contrary to in Dead Space: Downfall in which his death was clearly accidental.

If there's one character who I liked in this movie was the main character, Alissa Vincent. Since Isaac Clarke is absent from this film due to the story taking place before the game, I actually found Vincent to be quite an interesting and engaging character. What I liked about her was the fact that she was brave, tough, determined, and had a strong sense of regard for others. But despite her strong beliefs and willingness to save others, she often got into disputes with her superiors even when she knew that action was to be taken. During the massacre in Aegis VII, she demanded that the Ishimura send a squad to investigate, but was repeatedly denied by Captain Matthias, whose stubbornness and insanity resulted in the chaos to worsen. But soon after Matthias is killed, she and the remaining members of her squad set out to search for any survivors onboard. Unfortunately, despite their knowledge on how to fight the monsters using the plasma saws they acquired from Irons, the entire crew of the Ishimura succumbs to the chaos, and are torn apart by the monsters, their own insanity, and just general betrayal. And although Vincent manages to save a few of the survivors, she loses the remaining members of her team. Now by herself, she wanders off to the control center where she confronts Dr. Kyne, who states that the marker is responsible for the madness and that it must not be returned to Earth. However, Vincent is not willing to sacrifice the lives of the surviving members of the crew for the greater good. The two in get into a heated fight, with Vincent able to successfully subdue Kyne and restart the engines. However, Kyne flees the scene, taking Vincent's weapon along with him before he can submit the codes needed to deactivate the drift, therefore leaving Vincent completely defenseless against the monsters onboard the ship. As far as I know, this pretty much confirms that Kyne survived the film and was most likely hiding from the necromorphs somewhere onboard the ship. In fact, the events in this movie are a clear give away as to what happens later on in the first game. Later, Vincent discovers that the monsters can't come close to the artifact. However, this provides little comfort as by this time she realizes that there's nobody left onboard the ship to save.

I don't mean to spoil the ending in this movie. But, if you have already played the first Dead Space game and have familiarized yourself with the intro sequence, then I guess you pretty much know what happens. Especially since the player discovers that there were very few survivors on board the ship during the outbreak. However, if you have not yet seen this movie, then I suggest you skip this paragraph because this does contain a spoiler. If you choose the former, then I won't stop you. But just don't say I didn't warn you. I regret to say that although I had a liking to Vincent for her courage and determination, she doesn't survive the events of this film. In other words, she dies at the end. But in fact, pretty much everybody dies in this movie. Remember when I stated that the movie opens up with what looks like a video log? Well, that scene is visited once more towards the end of the film. Feeling that all hope is lost, Vincent sees that she has no choice but to record a final message that details the events in the film. After finishing with her recording, she opens up the airlock to the hanger bay, and the vacuum of space sucks out large numbers of the necromorphs. Clinging to the top of a space shuttle, Vincent presses on a button that launches a distress beacon into orbit. But shortly afterwards, Vincent loses her grip on the shuttle, and she two, is sucked out into the vacuum of space, where she dies instantly. The last that is seen of her is her corpse floating away into the darkness of space. The story ends as the Kellion and its crew arrives and prepares to dock onto the Ishimura, marking the beginning of the first Dead Space game.

I have to admit that I was a bit depressed by Vincent's death. Seeing as she had a determined and strong-willed personality, I was actually hoping that she would survive the film and serve as an ally to Isaac Clarke after his arrival to the Ishimura. In fact, I'm sure the two of them would have made a great team had they crossed paths with each other. But I guess Vincent just HAD to die to make way for Issac Clarke. After all, Vincent did not appear anywhere in the first game, so that pretty much confirms her demise. In other words, by the time Isaac had reached the Ishimura, Vincent was already dead and gone. However, Vincent is said to be alive in the game "Dead Space: Extraction", which like this movie, also takes place before the first game. However, her appearance in Dead Space: Extraction is slightly different from her incarnation in Downfall. In 2011, another animated film based on the franchise was released called "Dead Space: Aftermath". The setting of Aftermath is aboard the ship USG O'Bannon which is sent to investigate the loss of contact with the USG Ishimura. Unknown to the crew, fragments of the Red Marker still remain behind and help to create a brand-new situation of chaos and terror. Dead Space 2 has officially been released for Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, and X-Box 360 in January of 2011.

Overall: In all honesty, "Dead Space: Downfall" is not a bad film, but its not all that great either. It's not an academy award winner by any stretch of the imagination. But to its credit, it was an interesting watch, and it sure was refreshing from the usual American animated films we get nowadays. Especially considering that there's not many of them in existence. Of course, since it's based on a dark and violent video game by Electronic Arts, you pretty much know what to expect from it; excessive swearing, suspenseful scenes, violence and gore, etc. And since it's a prequel, the fact that everybody dies in the movie (with the exception of Dr. Kyne) pretty much gives away the events that lead to the first Dead Space game, along with providing the audience with the crucial backstory. Admittedly, its not the one of the most original films I've ever seen. But it was fairly decent. But the impression its left me with has tempted me to write this review. After all, I'm a fan of horror films. Though, I felt that the storyline and the animation in this movie was a little rushed and was not particularly well done. But all in all, "Dead Space: Downfall" is an okay film, and a nice cover up to the game's backstory. Besides, it blends together the science fiction and undead genres quite nicely. If you're interested in seeing this movie, it's a fairly recent release. So you should have no trouble finding it online or in your local video store. And trust me, this movie does pretty well in providing the audience with chills. And if you miss the traditional old-school style animation and are into intense bloody violence in movies, then chances are, all expectations will be met in this movie.