Chris Redfield
Resident Evil character
| Chris Redfield | |
|---|---|
 Chris Redfield in Resident Evil Village (2021) | |
| First appearance | Resident Evil (1996) |
| Created by |
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| Designed by |
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| Portrayed by | Various
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| Voiced by | English
Japanese
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| Motion capture | Various
|
Chris Redfield is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. He was introduced as one of the two playable characters of the original Resident Evil (1996), alongside his partner Jill Valentine, as a member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) unit. Chris and Jill fight against the Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company whose bioterrorism creates zombies and other bio-organic weapons. Later, the pair became founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).
Chris is the protagonist in several Resident Evil games, novels, and films, and has also appeared in other game franchises, including Marvel vs. Capcom, Project X Zone, and Dead by Daylight. In later games, such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and Resident Evil Village (2021), his features were based on New Zealand model Geordie Dandy. Several actors have portrayed Chris, including Wentworth Miller and Robbie Amell in the Resident Evil live-action films.
Critics have been polarized in their critiques of the character, with a focus on the frequent modifications and inconsistency in his design. Several publications have referred to Chris as one of the sexiest video game characters. Some critics have referred to a scene of his punching a boulder in Resident Evil 5 (2009), which became an internet meme, as one of the most memorable within the Resident Evil series.
Concept and design
Chris was introduced as one of the two playable protagonists, alongside his partner Jill Valentine, in Capcom's 1996 survival horror video game Resident Evil. He was created by director Shinji Mikami and designer Isao Ohishi. Designer Hideki Kamiya described Chris as a "blunt, tough-guy type", admitting that he was a fan of this archetype. Of white American descent, Chris served in the United States Air Force and later joined the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), a special operations unit of the Raccoon Police Department. Although their storylines progress similarly, the gameplay differs for Jill and Chris; Chris cannot carry as many items in his inventory, but he can run quicker and withstand more damage.
Chris continued to be redesigned over the course of the series. In Resident Evil 5 (2009), modeler Yosuke Yamagata said that they "made a new design that retained their signature color—green for Chris, blue for Jill—to carry over the same look from the past". The character's facial features are mainly based on the visuals in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil, with various details added to arrive at a "realistic structure". The game features Chris as a protagonist; designers opted to focus on how the character had aged since the original game. His increased muscle mass was to show that he had trained intensely to fight the series' powerful villain, Albert Wesker, bare-handed. Resident Evil 5's producer Jun Takeuchi said that the series' fans want a video game featuring both Leon S. Kennedy and Chris as the protagonists at the same time, due to their popularity. Takeuchi opined that it would be "pretty dramatic" if the two characters never met before the series ended; the meeting happened in Resident Evil 6 (2012), where Chris has a slightly disheveled look due to his alcoholism and post-traumatic amnesia. Character designer Tsutomu Kawade noted that the team was aware of Chris' powerful arms being his most distinctive feature. Their design thus accentuated his arms, with attire in blue-tinted green that continued his concept color.
For Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), Takeuchi said Chris was being proposed as the main character at the time and had to be developed into a hero since this was the first time we had seen him in a long time. Looking back, Takeuchi realized that developing a Resident Evil game isn't the same as creating a hero character like Chris. According to producer Masachika Kawata, the main playable character would be "totally new" rather than a "macho superhero" like Chris from Resident Evil 5. Director Kōshi Nakanishi thought that Chris' appearance in Resident Evil 6 would be "not suitable for Resident Evil 7's game engine or aesthetic". Nakanishi reasoned that "[a]lthough it is a fairly realistic impression, even if it mixes with the character of 7, it seems that a sense of incongruity will come out." Producers wanted to give the character a more "photorealistic depiction" with an entirely new design. Nakanishi felt that if Chris looked the same as in previous titles, players would get a sense of "incongruity", although commentators and players held that the changes made the character unrecognizable.
Chris appears as a major supporting character in Resident Evil Village (2021); however, he is instead shown as more nefarious in the game's trailers due to killing protagonist Ethan Winters' wife Mia Winters and kidnapping his daughter Rosemary Winters, which surprised longtime fans. Chris' actions served as a major mystery to the game before its release, which director Morimasa Sato felt was an opportunity to showcase the character's progression to fans who were already familiar with him. His appearance was again redesigned, with a new outfit incorporating a coat.
Voice-over and live-action actors
In the original Resident Evil, which uses live-action cinematics, Chris is played by Charlie Kraslavsky. Scott McCulloch voiced Chris in the original Resident Evil; Michael Filipowich voiced him in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica; Joe Whyte in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil; Kevin Dorman in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil: Vendetta, and Resident Evil: Death Island; and Roger Craig Smith in Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. David Vaughn voiced him in Resident Evil 7, while Jeff Schine took the role in Resident Evil: Village. In Japanese, Subaru Kimura voiced Chris in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
Reuben Langdon performed Chris' motion capture in Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, while Geordie Dandy acted as Chris for motion capture in Resident Evil 7 and Village. Wentworth Miller portrayed him in Resident Evil: Afterlife, while Robbie Amell played him in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
Appearances
In the Resident Evil series
Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Subsequent games featuring Chris take place on an international scale, namely in Russia, Antarctica, China, Louisiana, Romania, Africa, and the Mediterranean Sea. The original game is set in July 1998 in a mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City, which Chris and his team enter while searching for lost colleagues. Working with fellow S.T.A.R.S. member Rebecca Chambers, Chris discovers the property is a façade for a biological warfare laboratory operated by the Umbrella Corporation, and its undead occupants are the scientists who developed the T-virus mutagen. His commander, Albert Wesker, is revealed to be a double agent for Umbrella. Chris and Jill are among the five survivors of the incident, who form a strong friendship and become passionate opponents of bioterrorism.
Chris did not appear in Resident Evil 2 (1998), as the production team used new protagonists (Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield) to preserve the original game's horror elements. Mikami believed Chris and Jill would be too experienced to be scared by the events in the sequel. Set three months after the events of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000) sees Chris return as the protagonist in the second half of the game. He attempts to rescue his younger sister, Claire, from the Umbrella Corporation's research facilities on Rockfort Island, a fictional island in the South Pacific Ocean. Upon discovering she is in Antarctica, Chris is briefly confronted by Wesker, who is revealed to have survived the events of the first game and also to have gained enhanced strength, speed, and agility. Eventually, Chris defeats antagonist Alexia Ashford and escapes with Claire before the Antarctic facility self-destructs. After that, the siblings vow to put an end to the Umbrella Corporation.
The Umbrella Chronicles occurs in 2003, when Chris and Jill join a private organization to expose Umbrella's biological warfare activities and ultimately destroy Umbrella's only remaining research facility. After the fall of the corporation, the pair become founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). In Revelations – set two years later – Jill and her new partner Parker Luciani are sent on a mission to rescue Chris, who is allegedly being held hostage on a ghost ship in the Mediterranean. Jill and Chris then unravel a political conspiracy involving an earlier mutagenic outbreak and a botched investigation by a rival agency.
Resident Evil 5 takes place in 2009 in the fictional African town of Kijuju, where terrorists are turning local residents into zombies. Chris is the protagonist and is sent to Africa by the BSAA. In the game, he investigates while looking for Jill, who is missing and declared dead. Over the course of the investigation, he finds that she has been taken hostage by Wesker, who used her as a test subject in his biological experiments. Accompanying Chris is his new partner, Sheva Alomar. Working together, the two manage to find and free Jill, and ultimately defeat and destroy Wesker, who was planning to spread the Uroboros virus across the world.
In Resident Evil 6 (2012), Chris leads a squad of BSAA soldiers to investigate a bioterrorism attack in Edonia, a fictional country in Eastern Europe. Ambushed by Carla Radames, posing as Ada Wong, they suffer severe casualties, with Chris and Piers Nivans the only survivors. They travel to China to investigate bio-terror activity and find themselves in another C-virus outbreak. While attempting to work with Jake Muller, the illegitimate son of Albert Wesker, who possesses the antibodies needed to stop the outbreak, Chris and Piers encounter Haos, a powerful bioweapon. Piers is grievously injured during the battle and injects himself with the C-virus to gain superhuman powers. He saves Chris, but sacrifices himself to ensure Haos is destroyed.
At the end of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017), a man identifying as "Redfield" arrives to rescue Ethan. While the credits refer to the character as Chris Redfield, the helicopter he arrives in is branded with the Umbrella Corporation logo. This initially caused people to question the person's identity; Capcom later confirmed him to be Chris, albeit with a noticeable change in appearance. Chris appeared in the downloadable content campaign Not a Hero. This subchapter focuses on Chris and his team attempting to apprehend antagonist Lucas Baker, and although he fails to save his squad, he confronts and kills Lucas.
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