Be advised of some minor SPOILERS ahead. Milla Jovovich’s zombie slayer Alice is back, along with several familiar faces, in Resident Evil: Retribution 3D, the fifth installment in the most successful video game movie franchise ever. This sequel, once again directed by Jovovich’s husband Paul W.S. Anderson, picks up at the end of the previous film, Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Alice is a captive inside a massive, subterranean Umbrella Corporation compound. Umbrella mind-controls Alice’s friend Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), turning this former ally into her archenemy here. Umbrella itself is now fully controlled by the Red Queen program, which is determined to bring Alice back into the fold and destroy what’s left of humanity. The story follows Alice’s attempt to escape from the Umbrella compound with assistance from fresh faces Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), and Barry Burton (a cigar-chomping, underutilized Kevin Durand), who are also joined by Afterlife’s Luther West (Boris Kodjoe).
Their escape from sees the team move through different levels used for training purposes that recreate New York, Tokyo and Moscow. Along the way, Alice encounters a deaf orphan named Becky (Aryana Engineer), and also learns more about her own past before the T-virus outbreak. She also sees the return of colleagues she’d thought long dead -- Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), and James “One” Shade (Colin Salmon) – all of whom are sent after her by Umbrella.
While it’s pretty much business as usual in this latest Resident Evil film, Retribution at least feels more like a video game than the last few sequels have. There are different levels the characters have to fight their way through, with different boss battles along the way. Fans who have long wanted to see characters such as Ada Wong or Leon S. Kennedy finally appear in the film series will be momentarily happy to see them; momentarily, because Barry and Leon don’t have much to do except shoot at things. Even Ada is a cipher, but haven’t we come to expect thin characterizations from this franchise by now?
Alice is the only character given anything close to resembling an emotional journey. Jovovich plays the character far more human and vulnerable than we’re used to seeing; being stripped of her powers and meeting a young girl awakens not only Alice’s emotional side, but her maternal one as well. Alice’s “origin” allows Jovovich to play a version of Alice who is ordinary, fearful and unaccustomed to violence. Everyone else is just along for the ride, although the Red Queen makes for a much better baddie this time than Wesker (whose agenda here contradicts much of what he did in the past).
Of the resurrected characters, only Rain really has much to do (Carlos’ best stuff is as Alice’s husband in the “origin” sequence, while One just glares and shoots). Rodriguez seems to be having fun playing against type as one version of Rain who hates guns, drives a hybrid and is a girly girl in high heels. Newcomer Aryana Engineer (who, like her character, is partially deaf) acquits herself fine in a small, but important role as the orphan Alice looks after, but, alas, they’re no Ripley and Newt.
You don’t actually need to see the first four films in order to watch and understand Resident Evil: Retribution. There’s a lengthy recap of the events of the past films in the prologue that allows newbies to just dive in. The opening is a bit tiresome in its replay of the ending of the previous film, but all you really need to know to follow this story is summed up in the prologue.
Resident Evil: Retribution, of course, has its fair share of action, from some rather pedestrian shootouts to some brutal hand-to-hand combat between Alice and Jill Valentine (including some blows that really should have left one of them crippled, or at the very least with broken bones). The highlight set-piece is a car chase in Moscow’s Red Square (Russian military zombies look pretty cool on motorcycles and tanks). While there are still some silly “crap coming at you” shots, overall the 3D in this film is used more for environmental effect than it was in Afterlife.
Even with all of its dopey dialogue, wooden characters and “been there, done that” elements, Resident Evil: Retribution is pretty decent as far as entries in this series go. It’s certainly feels more like a video game and has a bit more emotion to it than some of the past Resident Evil sequels, but if you don’t like this series then there’s not much here to make you suddenly warm up to it. And if you do like the Resident Evil films, then you’ll likely leave the cinema content with how you’ve spent your time.
Source : ign[dot]com
