Summary
- Jill Valentine's appearance in the Resident Evil: Death Island movie is a big issue, as she looks exactly the same as in the Resident Evil 3 Remake, despite the passage of 17 years.
- While other characters like Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield have been suitably aged up in Death Island, Jill's unchanged appearance seems like an odd choice, especially considering her character's age.
- The explanation given by the creators, that Jill's aging process was slowed due to the T-Virus, feels irrelevant to the wider Resident Evil universe and gives the impression that the female characters are being kept young and attractive. Jill's next appearance should focus on her character rather than her appearance.
The Resident Evil franchise has a plethora of iconic main characters at its disposal, and each new entry only continues to add more to the roster. But while Ethan Winters is generally liked by fans, he admittedly doesn't hold the same sort of reverence as Resident Evil's legacy heroes, who have appeared throughout Resident Evil history, being a highlight of the experience every time. Though Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy have had the most screen time in recent years, Jill Valentine is still an integral piece of the puzzle.
First introduced in the very first Resident Evil game in 1996, Jill Valentine has popped up time and time again across the entire Resident Evil franchise, appearing as a playable protagonist in three big entries. With the Resident Evil 3 Remake, Jill Valentine has seen a resurgence in recent years, and that resurgence has led to her prominent appearance in the new animated Resident Evil: Death Island movie. But while it's great to see Jill Valentine get such a large role in the movie, Death Island does have one big issue that needs to be fixed with Jill's next video game appearance.
Jill's Next Resident Evil Design Needs to be More Realistic Than Death Island
Releasing on VOD on July 25, Resident Evil: Death Island looks like a silly, but extremely fun romp that takes Avengers: Infinity Wars' "bringing the band back together" premise, and applies it to the Resident Evil franchise, seeing all the classic protagonists meeting up to slay some infected. But while Death Island looks like a good time, there's one big, noticeable issue that's already obvious, and that's how Jill Valentine looks.
Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield both appear in Resident Evil: Death Island, and both have been suitably aged up for the movie's time setting. Taking place 17 years after the first game, it's only natural that the series' original characters would be starting to age quite visibly now, with some characters hitting their early 40s by this point. In the movie, both Leon and Chris' character models have received some clear tweaks to show their older age, including more wrinkles on Leon's face, and a character model for Chris that looks like a blend of his Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil Village models. But these changes don't carry over to Jill Valentine at all.
In Resident Evil: Death Island, Jill Valentine looks exactly how she does in the Resident Evil 3 Remake, with practically the same character model being used. In some moments of the movie, Jill is even wearing the same outfit as the one in the game, along with the exact same hairstyle. According to the canon, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are both 23 years old during Resident Evil 1, making them 40 years old by the time of Resident Evil: Death Island. While Chris looks it, Jill certainly does not, and it's an extremely odd choice.
According to Death Island's creators, Jill Valentine has been made to look deliberately younger because when she was infected with the T-Virus, her aging process was slowed. While this is a fine explanation on paper, it doesn't really seem all that relevant to the wider Resident Evil universe, and introducing this concept makes it seem more as though Capcom just wants to keep its women characters looking young and attractive. That's especially obvious when fans look at Claire and Rebecca's models in the movie, both of whom are also strangely young, despite canonically being in their 30s.
When Jill makes her inevitable next appearance in the Resident Evil franchise, she needs to show at least some signs of aging. Fans like Jill for her character, and the next Resident Evil game needs to shine the spotlight back on that.