Resident Evil:
Retribution
Resident Evil: Photoshop
When you reach the
fifth installment in anything (movies, books, video games, meals) you
already have a pretty good idea of what is going to happen. You could
never see a Friday The 13th movie, but you already know
who Jason Voorhees is and what he looks like. It's important to keep
things fresh while not straying too far from the formula that got the
movie where it is in the first place. It's a fine line to walk and
not always the easiest. Once again, look at Friday the 13th:
They ran out of ideas and eventually shot Jason in space just to give
him something else to do. The Hellraiser series is the worst
offended, eventually sending Pinface and the rest of the Cenobites
into cyberspace. The point is, it actually takes effort and love to
make a movie entertaining and relevant when it's already been done
multiple times.
Resident Evil:
Retribution is the fifth installment of the Resident Evil
horror/action series starring Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element,
Ultra Violent) as Alice. After a brief recap of the past 4 movies,
which you can read reviews of here, here, and here) the movie picks
up where Resident Evil: Afterlife left off. I strongly suggest you
read the other reviews first, because this one will be hard to follow
if you don't know what occurs in those movies). After being attacked
on the rescue ship “Arcadia”, Alice wakes up in a surburban home,
married to the supposedly dead Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr, Resident
Evil: Apocalypse, The Mummy) and mother to a hearing-impaired girl
named Becky (Aryana Engineer, Orphan). Their perfect world is quickly
shattered when zombies swarm their neighborhood, killing Carlos.
Alice and Becky flee into the street and get a ride from the
long-dead Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez, Resident Evil, Machete).
They are hit by a truck and Alice and Becky run into a house, trying
to hide from the zombies. It is revealed that all the people involved
in this scenario are just clones. The real Alice awakens inside an
Umbrella Corporation base and is interrogated by a mind-controlled
Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Eragon).
The Red Queen, the computer program created by Umbrella, is
determined to recapture Alice or kill her if necessary. During a
power failure, Alice escapes her cell and arrives in what appears to
be Tokyo. She fights off a horde of zombies and manages to escape
into a control room. There she meets Umbrella rogue agent Ada Wong
(Li Bingbing, 1911, The Knot) who has teamed with Albert Wesker
(Shawn Roberts, Resident Evil: Afterlife Diary Of The Dead) to fight
the Red Queen and her zombie hordes. Wesker reveals that the Umbrella
base is actually underwater and ice in Russia and that a team has
been dispatched to meet her. The team is made up of Leon Kennedy,
Barry Burton and Luther West (Boris Kodjoe, Resident Evil: Afterlife,
The Gospel). The base is a training ground, complete with human
clones, used to show governments the effects of Umbrella's biological
weapons in urban settings. Alice and Ada must travel through multiple
areas to meet the group and escape. After going through New York City
and fighting to Axemen, Alice and Ada arrive in the suburbs and find
Becky still alive. Becky believes that this Alice is her mother and
is unaware that she is actually a clone. They have to fight off “bad”
clones of Rain, Carlos, and James “One” Shade (Colin Salmon,
Resident Evil, Punisher: War Zone). Ada is captured with Alice and
Becky escaping with the “good” Rain into Moscow. There they meet
up with their rescue group and try to escape the compound. Will they
be able to stop the Red Queen and escape in time?
"Ugh, nothing gets zombie blood out!"
In the era of
reboots and sequels, it is actually impressive that Resident Evil has
managed to last this long with the same actors and actresses. It's
always good to see a movie, far into it's story, recognize past
events and characters and Retribution does this in spades. We get
characters and references to every movie and video games as well. As
I've sad before, I'm not much of a video game player, but I was still
able to pick up on some references, such as a chainsaw-wielding
zombie in the Moscow scene. Of course, if you don't know anything
about the video games, this comes off as completely random. Cool, but
random. Speaking of video games, Retribution is completely laid-out
like a video game, complete with different levels and even end
bosses. The previous movies all had a similar feel, but this one was
the most obvious. Of course, this did allow the movie to show zombie
outbreaks in fun and different locations. We've seen zombie Nazis in
Dead Snow and Zombie Lake and now Resident Evil: Retribution has
given us zombie Soviets. Ever wanted to see a zombie invasion in
Times Square? Well now you can. I should mention that by setting
scenes in Times Square and Tokyo, there is a lot of in-movie
advertisements. It's a little obvious and slightly annoying to see a
giant “Gamestop” sign in the middle of a video game movie. We get
it.
Must...kill...Alice...weee!!!
The fifth movie in
a zombie action movie is never going to be Citizen Kane. The writers
know this, director Paul W.S. Anderson knows this, and the audience
knows this. More attention is placed on great action sequences and
stunning visual effects than a cohesive, complex story. Survival is
the theme with lots of guns and explosions. While previous Resident
Evil movies strayed from the original zombie path, Retribution makes
up for it with one of the best zombie invasion scenes in recent
memory. It's undoubtedly similar to the opening from the Dawn Of The
Dead remake, but if you're going to be like a zombie movie, you
couldn't do much better. Certain scenes or character motivations are
questionable and require some willing suspension of disbelief. The
fight scenes are the usual high-octane, popcorn-movie fodder full of
unbelievable jumps and twists. The final fight scene, while fun to
watch, goes on for way too long, especially when you find out that
the movie doesn't end when they finish.
Well, I guess it's good she's wearing red
Milla Jovovich is
as good as ever and I believe she is one of this generation's best
action stars. I'm glad she has stuck with the Resident Evil series as
her personality and ability plays well in these over-the-top
scenarios. If they stuck someone else in her role, it just wouldn't
work. The supporting cast is just as good, fitting into their
characters well. This was Li Bingbing's first role in an American
movie, much to my surprise, since she seemed so natural in her role.
The movie is in both 2D and 3D, but I saw the 2D version. I am not
particularly interested in the 3D gimmick and have only seen 3D
movies when no other option was available. You can definitely tell in
the 2D version which scenes were meant for 3D with all sorts of
things flying at the screen in super slow-motion. Director Paul W.S.
Anderson picks up where he left off in the previous movie with tons
of fluid action and heavily computerized effects. We get all sorts of
different angles to capture the action and plenty of slow-motion so
we can see every shot and punch.
It's like a family reunion, but with way more guns (or way less, depending on your family)
If you've seen any
previous Resident Evil movie, you pretty much know what you're going
to get with Retribution. The movie is a believer in “if it ain't
broke, don't fix it.” It is full of violence, action, blood, and a
dash of intrigue and science fiction. This movie does a good job of
giving nods to previous movies thanks to the inclusion of Michelle
Rodriguez, Siena Guillory, Boris Kodjoe, Colin Salmon, and Oded Fehr.
Milla Jovovich is very good, as always, and the supporting cast helps
keep the movie going when she isn't on screen. There are also a few
scenes taken from the video game series, but I'm sure hardcore gamers
picked up more than I did. It was fun to get new characters like Ada
Wong and Leon Kennedy, though I would have liked a little more
background information on them. Retribution uses more zombies than in
previous installments and uses them well. While you may not be
enthralled by the uncomplicated story, you'll still enjoy all the
action and violence. It's a Resident Evil movie, what more can you
expect?
7/10
