I’m going to be honest with you all: I saw this movie for free. I feel this is important, because I think my review would sound more annoyed had I actually paid to see this.
Also, spoilers.
With those disclaimers out of the way, here’s the deal with Resident Evil: Retribution… it’s exactly what you’d expect from a Resident Evil movie. If this idea intrigues you, go get a ticket and enjoy. If reading that sentence made you roll your eyes, steer clear of this one. Personally, I enjoyed the first two of the series, thought the third one was totally forgettable, and the fourth just plain stupid.
This one honestly felt like I was watching someone else play a video game, and I don’t just mean in the way the plot was laid out. Yes, The Umbrella Corporation’s testing facility is structured as levels, with each section a simulation of a major city with its own unique threats, but there is more to it than that. Every character, with the possible exception of Becky, looks like they stepped out of a video game. This probably will make more sense when you actually see the movie, but everything from the way people speak to the way they dress is very video game-y. Hell, there were points where even hair looked like it was in the wrong medium.
Nitpicking the plot almost seems too easy, and while I do question why anything in this series happens anymore—seriously Umbrella, you literally ended the world; I think you can hang up your lab coats and call it a day—there is one thing that really bothers me:
What was the point of taking away Alice’s powers?
I realize this is something that goes back to the last Resident Evil movie, but my question still stands… why? What did that accomplish? For two movies now, Alice has been a normal human woman, without the faster healing ability or enhanced strength caused by bonding with the T-Virus, and yet there were no serious ramifications from this. Oh sure, she gets injured and will grimace and clutch her side every now and then, but beyond that, nothing. A normal person is not still plotting her next tactic in a fight when her heart temporarily stops… they’re focused on the fact that their heart has freaking stopped!
The fight scenes were pretty standard, and the few scares present were of the jump variety. I feel like I spent a lot of time wishing the zombie would just pop out and roar, because I was already five minutes ahead of the characters plot-wise, and we all know that Alice will somehow make it out unscathed anyways.
This is from the “Suburbia” level. That’s not even a joke, though it probably should be.
Alice gets re-infected with the T-Virus at the end of this movie, which sets up for what is apparently the final Resident Evil film. She will be saving the human race from extinction, as the Red Queen has now declared war on what’s left of it, and the movie concludes with thousands of monsters descending on the White House, the location of the human stronghold. Sure, it’s corny as hell, but it did look kind of cool. It will probably be more of the same, but like I already said, if you’re into it that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
