Review: Resident Evil Retribution (2012)

“I'm kind of enjoying this.”

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory and Michelle Rodriguez

Writer: Paul W.S. Anderson

By now you’ll know if you want to go and see this movie so this review is a little redundant. If you are a fan of the series you’ll probably like this movie, if you never got into the series then you probably won’t like it. Finally if you never watched a Resident Evil movie but are interested, then you should really start with the first as things might be a little confusing otherwise.

So at the end of the last movie the heroes had their backs against the wall, and doom seemed inevitable. Upon hearing that this movie had been green lighted, I wondered how they would be able to write around this little problem. With the news of old cast mates rejoining the movie, maybe this was all an elaborate Umbrella Corporation hoax, maybe Anderson was about to go for the ‘it was a dream gambit.’ Without giving too much away let me say that Anderson didn’t really write around the problem but got a semi truck and smashed through the wall. Sure I was left wondering how the hell that just happened, but there was a way for them to get away.

It’s weird to say this with the fifth movie in the series; surely I would have said it sooner. But Resident Evil Retribution just seems like a tired old horse that needs to be put down. It was showing it’s age in the forth instalment but with 3D and some nice visuals I still think it managed to still be a worthy instalment. This one seems to be repeating itself, right down to reusing dead characters. It turns out a waste of time, but it was still nice seeing Rodriguez and Fehr again. It isn’t until right at the end that an exciting idea is introduced.

This may seem like I hated the movie. Far from it. I have a soft spot for the Resident Evil movies, and even if I think it may be time to stop there were things that I enjoyed. Kevin Durand plays one of my favourite characters from the RE game series. His take on Barry Burton was awesome. Shawn Roberts as Wesker continues to make me smile. Let’s not pay attention at the fact that he shouldn’t be alive, but he plays Wesker with such a slimy touch it’s wonderful. Milla is also always dependable, and the action does look pretty, sure there is an overuse of slomo, but I would rather that than not see the action.

So there it is a quick sum up for a movie that you’ve probably already made your mind about. Oh two more things. Johann Urb and Bingbing Li were terrible has Lean and Ada. Their reads were really off sometimes. Oh and the 3D was unnecessary. Okay I guess I’m now done.