"Retribution" Serves Up Action and More Action

I am a hardcore fan of the "Resident Evil" film series, so I must admit that I went into the latest installment--"Resident Evil: Retribution"--a little biased.

However, I needed to see "Retribution" twice before I could fully wrap my head around it enough to write a review. I enjoyed the film the first time I saw it, but it wasn't until my second viewing that I fully realized its full awesomeness. (For anyone who hasn't seen the film, I'm going to be including some mild spoilers in this review.)

As a huge "Resident Evil" fan, I went into the film with expectations based on trailers and commercials. (I actually made that same mistake with the previous movie, "Resident Evil: Afterlife.") But once I knew what was going to happen, I could just focus on what really matters--the action, fight scenes and zombie shooting.

"Resident Evil: Retribution," directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, picks up where "Afterlife" left off, with a horde of soldiers from the evil Umbrella Corporation descending on heroine Alice (Milla Jovovich) and a ship full of survivors. After being captured by Umbrella, Alice must fight her way out of Umbrella's base of operations. 

Alice is pursued by former ally Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), who is being controlled by Umbrella. But a team that includes a few well known faces from the video game series--Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb) and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand)--show up to help Alice. Unfortunately, with the exception of Ada, the movie did not give any background information of these new characters.

"Resident Evil" films are not heavy on plot or character development, and usually tend to focus more on action and scares. "Retribution" focuses even more heavily on action than any of the other movies in the series since the 2002 original. The movie does not have many slow moments when the characters are not running from or shooting at something or someone.

The main thing that impressed me about "Retribution" is how, out of all the films in the series, it most resembles an actual video. The Umbrella facility is made up of numerous large bunkers designed to simulate real cities. The characters have to go through these simulations to make their way out of the base, similar to how players in a video game have to go through levels or explore different areas.

"Retribution" actually has numerous references to the original "Resident Evil" movie. Like in the first film, Alice and her crew are trapped in an underground Umbrella facility with only a few hours to escape before the base is sealed off for good. Michelle Rodriguez--Jovovich's co-star from the original "Resident Evil film--returns as good and bad clones of her character Rain. Also, "Retribution" brings back the Red Queen, the homicidal computer that orchestrated the events of the first movie. I'm not sure I like the Red Queen's return since it feels a bit like a stretch and like it was done just to tie "Retribution" to the first movie or because they ran out of villains.

The special effects and cinematography were another impressive aspect of the film. I especially liked the slow motion opening sequence. Unfortunately the 3D effect is not nearly as good as it is in the previous movie. The 3D in "Afterlife" is the best I've seen in any live action movie and really added to the movie going experience, but in "Retribution" the 3D is only a distraction.  

One of the taglines for the film is "The Ultimate Battle Begins" and that is true, but "Retribution" feels like the first half of a two-part finale to the series, which I heard would probably be concluded in a sixth film even before this one was released.