"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.

"Resident Evil: Retribution" Trailer is Finally Here!

The long awaited full length trailer for "Resident Evil: Retribution" debuted on the Web today, giving fans of Screen Gems' highly successful action horror franchise a first real look at the film's plot.

Screen Gems released a brief teaser in January that gave a peek at some of the movie's action, but did not give much in the way of story details. "Retribution" is the fifth installment in the saga of heroine Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, and her battle against the powerful and villainous Umbrella Corporation, which is responsible for decimating much of the world with its T-Virus.

Both the teaser and full trailer gave a glimpse at the return of Michelle Rodriguez, who appeared in the first "Resident Evil" film as Rain Ocampo, a member of an Umbrella Corporation special forces commando unit. The full trailer also includes scenes of Oded Fehr and Colin Salmon, two other stars from earlier in the series who are returning for the fifth installment. Fehr appeared in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Resident Evil: Extinction" (the second and third films) as Carlos Olivera, a character from the Capcom video game series the films are based on, while Salmon appeared in the first movie as James "One" Shade. Rain, Carlos and One were all killed off, but are somehow back for this new movie.

The trailer doesn't actually explain the return of these characters so I had to go to Wikipedia to learn that the actors are playing clones created by Umbrella. That's no surprise as there aren't many other ways to bring back characters who were shot in the head, diced up or blown up. Also, this is a sci-fi horror film I'm talking about. However, they are not just playing clones, they are actually playing two clones--one a "good" version and one a "bad" version. (Only in a "Resident Evil" movie!)

The trailer does explain that Umbrella captured Alice and placed her in a dream world where she and Carlos are living happily in the suburbs with a young daughter--that is, until she is given a rude awakening by a zombie attack. Also, Umbrella has grown larger than ever and appears to have achieved world domination. Alice has to once again go up against Albert Wesker, the sunglasses loving villain who was supposedly killed when his plane exploded in the previous film, "Resident Evil: Afterlife." (Wesker could actually be seen parachuting from the explosion if you look closely). Alice also has to face her old ally Jill Valentine, played by Sienna Guillory, who appeared in "Apocalypse." A scene during the credits of "Afterlife" showed that Valentine is under the control of Umbrella thanks to one of their mind control devices. Also glimpsed in the full trailer are Ada Wong and Leon Kennedy, two characters from the video games who are making their way onto the big screen.

Despite never having played through an entire "Resident Evil" game, I am a huge fan of the movies (as I mentioned in my post about my love for all things zombie). This latest film looks like it will not disappoint in giving us a good dose of shooting, ass kicking and Umbrella Corporation craziness. The previews for "Afterlife" showed Alice storming Umbrella's facility that resulted in a huge battle, but that part of the film ended up only taking up the first 10 or 15 minutes. I actually thought it was a really clever twist. The movie's actual plot turned out to be much narrower in focus than I originally expected, dealing more with Alice getting trapped in a prison with a group of survivors and not having her facing off against Umbrella again until the end. "Retribution" looks like it will be the global scale war that I was expecting in "Afterlife," which is necessary to keep the franchise fresh and draw it to an explosive close. I just wish Chris and Claire Redfield were included in this film, but unfortunately they seem to be missing since their appearance in "Afterlife." Hopefully they will be in the sixth, and reportedly final, film.

"Resident Evil: Retribution" will be released in theaters on September 14, 2012. Watch the trailer below:

 

Update: Screen Gem's released two additional international trailers that can be found on the Web site Bloody Disgusting.