Movie Review: Resident Evil: Retribution

This week's Movie Review covers the .....1..2...3...4...5th installment of the Resident Evil Franchise.

LOWDOWN:
The Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race's last and only hope, Alice, awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex.

REVIEW:
"Resident Evil: Retribution" is strictly for fans of the series and for those who love mindless, long action sequences filled with blood. Period. Anyone expecting a storyline or strong performances should stay away with this film.

The "Resident Evil" series has reached its fifth installment and this latest one delivers the same thing it's good at: mindless action scenes. There is hardly a storyline here. The opening sequence of the film runs way too long. That takes roughly fifteen minutes off the ninety-minute run. It directly takes place where the last film left off and Alice is captured by the Umbrella Corporation once again. Then, with unlikely help from Albert Wesker, she plans to escape the facility (now controlled by the Red Queen, that AI girl) by going through replicas of cities which are used as testing ground for experiments by the Umbrella Corporation. That's it.

The replicas explain the numerous environments portrayed in the trailer. Actually, it's only one place. The trailer also displayed the return of some characters that appeared in the previous installments. We see the return of Michelle Rodriguez as Rain Ocampo, Oded Fehr as Carlos Olivera, and some others who died in the previous films. They're actually just clones, made to serve the Umbrella Corporation. However, there are also good clones of them, which are used to be part of the simulations.

"Retribution" is full of mindless action sequences that never seem to stop. You won't have time to take a breath before the next action sequence begins. The fight choreography is outstanding and the 3D enlivens the scenes. That's probably the shining spot of the whole film.

Other than that, the film is decent at best. I wonder if there will be a sequel to this film. Director Paul W. S. Anderson stated that the sixth installment will conclude the series. If that is so, then the last shot of this film sets up a good atmosphere for the next film.

OVERALL:
††
2 templar crosses out of 5

The Resident Evil series is getting a little tiresome and "Retribution" certainly doesn't add or take anything away from the series (it's just there). Boring, by all cinematic standards, horribly acted, and the script lacks meaning. For me, it was an over-abundance of unnecessary characters either creating or killing them in predictable ways.

TRAILER:

CREDITS:
Milla Jovovich - Alice
Michelle Rodriguez - Rain
Sienna Guillory - Jill Valentine
Aryana Engineer - Becky
Johann Urb - Leon S. Kennedy
Kevin Durand - Barry Burton
Shawn Roberts - Albert Wesker
Oded Fehr  - Carlos
Boris Kodjoe - Luther West
Li Bingbing - Ada Wong

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Produced by Paul W. S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Don Carmody, Samuel Hadida, Robert Kulzer

Written by Paul W. S. Anderson

-Brian Lansangan
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