Let’s recap. The franchise began in 2002 when the accident inside the underground laboratory known as The Hive, released and caused the global T-virus outbreak. Most of the humans were either dead or became a flesh-eating zombie. Some did persist. In this prime time when Hollywood goes for more milking, the franchise shows you that even if you can hate it, you still get more sequels along the way - Apocalypse in 2004, Extinction in 2007 and Afterlife in 2010. This week, the fifth instalment Retribution arrives to continue the convoluted plot revolving the character known as Alice and her vendetta against the Umbrella Corporation, pretty much must be held responsible for the catastrophic. Unfortunately, we are back at the nosedive zone again.
Genre: Action/Adventure/Horror
Classification: 18
Release Date: 14 September 2012
Running Time: 95 minutes
Distributor: Sony Pictures (Screen Gems)
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Screenplay: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer, Li Bingbing, Boris Kodjoe, Johann Urb, Kevin Durant, Shawn Roberts
Plot Synopsis: 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 (Milla Jovovich), 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. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.
In Retribution, after the finale of Afterlife, Alice awakes as a prisoner in the midst of a top-secret compound belonging to the Umbrella Corporation. The compound is so large that the company is able to run experiments to model a containment action of a localized T-Virus outbreak. In an unexpected move, villain Albert Wesker decided to help the Resistance movement to free Alice, realizing that Umbrella Corporation is now in the full control of Red Queen and the only way to save the humanity is by working together. As Alice and the rest attempt to escape, they learn more about the past and intents of the company.
Retribution is not only bad; it is also a notch higher from been the worst in the franchise (Extinction is still the worst IMO). Writer-director Paul WS Anderson clips Retribution with some great ideas but his story both hinder and drive the movie at the same time. The premise has a good throwback to the origin, at least by reintroducing the vital roles of Red Queen into the series, re-enacting the characters from the past (even when most of them return as clones) and revitalizing some, not much, of the dynamic game motion into this one. If only they follow the atmosphere of the popular game and the element of survival horrors, Resident Evil could be a better franchise. I know this is a tiring complaint about wanting to make it more like the game, but those elements are what make it a successful game series.
One problem with Retribution is that the plot holes been abundantly everywhere. I could still find it difficult to try to draw a linear line that connects all the five dots. Each instalment in the series is jagged, feels localized and the characters seem as random as possible. The dense and convoluted plot does its job so well by messing it all up-and-down, delivering constant inconsistent behaviour and back-story, as well as to hide the redundancy so well while no one even cares about it anymore. The other problem is that Retribution works like a recycle machine with some of the scenes are ripped off from certain notable series. Of course, the most notable of all is by ripping off its own. Anderson must have encountered writer’s block somewhere during the production that he chose to bring Retribution back into the first movie – “Alice escapes, again, and meets her friends!” This is more than enough to point out that Retribution is a vivid redundant movie that the film makers try to bring us back to the first episode. Then and again, some Aliens’ rip-off are also evidently seen too. Even as it works like a recycle machine, it chooses to fork more garbage than it should.
While there are plenty of girl powers going on with the lads occupying the death list, not even some of the decent acting can saves this movie. Leon, Rain and Jill are relentlessly been relegated to a secondary roles while Ada Wong’s performance is also underserved in various departments. Also observed in Retribution is a weaker special effect and cinematography. The 3D is immersive but plays too much gimmicks by hurling things on you. Some of the fist-actions look cheap, not as well-choreographed as the previous one. If I have a stick on my hand, most probably I will smack the director of photography more than the director.
In the end, Resident Evil: Retribution is a redundant, unnecessary and unoriginal entry that could also spell as one of the worst entries in the mediocre and random franchise. I wish someone would have rebooted this entire franchise to make it more relevant to the game series, rather than branching into more absurdity.
Genre: Action/Adventure/Horror
Classification: 18
Release Date: 14 September 2012
Running Time: 95 minutes
Distributor: Sony Pictures (Screen Gems)
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Screenplay: Paul W.S. Anderson
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer, Li Bingbing, Boris Kodjoe, Johann Urb, Kevin Durant, Shawn Roberts
Plot Synopsis: 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 (Milla Jovovich), 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. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.
Retribution is not only bad; it is also a notch higher from been the worst in the franchise (Extinction is still the worst IMO). Writer-director Paul WS Anderson clips Retribution with some great ideas but his story both hinder and drive the movie at the same time. The premise has a good throwback to the origin, at least by reintroducing the vital roles of Red Queen into the series, re-enacting the characters from the past (even when most of them return as clones) and revitalizing some, not much, of the dynamic game motion into this one. If only they follow the atmosphere of the popular game and the element of survival horrors, Resident Evil could be a better franchise. I know this is a tiring complaint about wanting to make it more like the game, but those elements are what make it a successful game series.
One problem with Retribution is that the plot holes been abundantly everywhere. I could still find it difficult to try to draw a linear line that connects all the five dots. Each instalment in the series is jagged, feels localized and the characters seem as random as possible. The dense and convoluted plot does its job so well by messing it all up-and-down, delivering constant inconsistent behaviour and back-story, as well as to hide the redundancy so well while no one even cares about it anymore. The other problem is that Retribution works like a recycle machine with some of the scenes are ripped off from certain notable series. Of course, the most notable of all is by ripping off its own. Anderson must have encountered writer’s block somewhere during the production that he chose to bring Retribution back into the first movie – “Alice escapes, again, and meets her friends!” This is more than enough to point out that Retribution is a vivid redundant movie that the film makers try to bring us back to the first episode. Then and again, some Aliens’ rip-off are also evidently seen too. Even as it works like a recycle machine, it chooses to fork more garbage than it should.
While there are plenty of girl powers going on with the lads occupying the death list, not even some of the decent acting can saves this movie. Leon, Rain and Jill are relentlessly been relegated to a secondary roles while Ada Wong’s performance is also underserved in various departments. Also observed in Retribution is a weaker special effect and cinematography. The 3D is immersive but plays too much gimmicks by hurling things on you. Some of the fist-actions look cheap, not as well-choreographed as the previous one. If I have a stick on my hand, most probably I will smack the director of photography more than the director.
In the end, Resident Evil: Retribution is a redundant, unnecessary and unoriginal entry that could also spell as one of the worst entries in the mediocre and random franchise. I wish someone would have rebooted this entire franchise to make it more relevant to the game series, rather than branching into more absurdity.
MY RATING:
Story: 1.5
Casts: 3.0
Cinematography: 3.5
Effects: 4.0
GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 9.0/20.0
