RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION – 2012 – RESILIENT AS EVER!

“While Resident Evil: Retribution won’t go up as my favorite Resident Evil film, it certainly isn’t the worst film in the series either.”

Science-Fiction, Horror and Action

Starring - Milla Jovovich/Alice, Sienna Guillory/Jill Valentine, Michelle Rodriguez/Rain Ocampo, Aryana Engineer/Becky, Johann Urb/Leon S. Kennedy, Kevin Durand/Barry Burton, Li Bingbing/Ada Wong, Oded Fehr/Carlos Olivera, Boris Kodjoe/Luther West, Colin Salmon/James "One" Shade and Shawn Roberts/Albert Wesker

Director - Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer - Paul W.S. Anderson

Rated R for sequences of strong violence throughout.

Runtime - 95 min.

My immediate and initial visceral reaction to Resident Evil: Retribution was one of exhaustive contentment and marginal confusion. While I was still blown away by Paul W.S. Anderson’s ability to create innovative and exhilarating action sequences, I was puzzled by his creative choice to take the plot from Resident Evil: Afterlife and throw it away in favor of a completely different one in Resident Evil: Retribution.

Resident Evil: Retribution opens with the Umbrella Corporation’s attack on the freighter Acadia by a fleet of airships. The Arcadia is being destroyed by the airships, when Alice fires on one of them, causing it to crash into the Arcadia and throwing Alice overboard unconscious into the water.

Alice awakens in an idyllic suburban setting; complete with a husband Todd (who inexplicably looks like Carlos Olivera) and daughter Becky. Zombies suddenly burst into their home, kill her husband chase Alice and Becky out of the house, where they are rescued in a car driven by Rain Ocampo. Their car is hit by a truck and Alice is knocked unconscious once again.

Alice awakens this time alone in an enormous Umbrella base cell. Alice is interrogated and tortured by former ally Jill Valentine, who is being controlled by Umbrella through a red scarab device attached to her chest. Alice awakens again and there is a sudden power failure, which enables her to escape her cell.

Alice exits the Umbrella facility and is a city that looks exactly like Raccoon City. While battling a horde of zombies, she meets Ada Wong, who tells her that she is in a huge facility built by the Umbrella Corporation to recreate the great cities of the world. Umbrella used these to stage zombie attacks, in hope of selling their anti-virus-toxin to the highest bidder, but it was instead taken over by none other than the Red Queen – the Artificial Intelligence Computer that ran the original Umbrella Corporation facility that created the zombie virus in the first place. Alice teams with old and new allies, in an attempt to stop the Red Queen and the zombie plague from wiping out what is left of the human race.

Resident Evil: Retribution feels very much like it is treading water and merely setting  itself up for a sixth and perhaps final film in the Resident Evil series. However, there is actually quite a lot of plot squeezed into all the multiple chase sequences and fight scenes in the movie. I think the reason that the film feels so bereft of plot development is because of its sudden shift in direction and its unresolved nature. The story is also confusing because of the many characters from the previous Resident Evil films that are brought back are not only clones of those characters, but sometimes they are multiples of those clones with both “good” and “bad” personalities. The film’s plot advancement relies so heavily on Alice’s character, that too many times it is unclear to both her and us, what the motivations of the other characters are.

Plot aside, the reason that Resident Evil: Retribution and all the other films in the series have been so entertaining are the multiple fight sequences between Alice and the zombies. While Resident Evil: Retribution certainly has its fair share of these, much of the film is taken up with Alice being chased and fighting with more human opponents. While these are done with Anderson’s usual panache and style, there is a certain lack of accomplishment to them. Every time Alice beats someone, it seems that that opponent is either replaced or made to be an ally. Still, the action scenes are for the most part top notch and definitely worth seeing on the big screen. I did not see it in 3D this time, but it was more from the fact that it wasn’t playing in that format at my local theater than the lack of desire to see it in 3D.

While Resident Evil: Retribution won’t go up as my favorite Resident Evil film, it certainly isn’t the worst film in the series either (that honor still goes to Resident Evil: Apocalypse -2004). Even that film is more entertaining than many bigger budgeted Hollywood films and I will definitely be going to see the next film in the Resident Evil film franchise to see how Alice helps to save humanity from the zombie hordes. 

TECHNICAL: Acting – 8 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 9 Script – 8 Special Effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 7 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 9

TOTAL - 88

TRAILER TUESDAY! RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION – 2012 – REDUNDANT OR REQUISITE?

 

Resident Evil: Retribution is an upcoming fifth film in the Resident Evil film franchise and is set to be released September 14, 2012. I’m a fan of all the films and am looking forward to Retribution as well.

 

The Resident Evil is a film series based on the Campcon survival horror video game, which made its debut on the PlayStation in 1996. In January of 1997, Constantin Film bought rights to the first film. After failed scripts by Alan B. McElroy and George A. Romero, that film never got made. Sony acquired distribution rights to the film in 2001 and hired Paul W.S. Anderson as writer and director for Resident Evil (2002). Made on only a budget of $33 million, Resident Evil went on to make over $102 million worldwide! Anderson went on to write and produce both Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007).  Anderson then returned as director for the fourth installment, Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). After finishing directing The Three Musketeers (2011), Paul W.S. Anderson went back to both writing and directing Resident Evil: Retribution.

There were rumors that this may be the last film in the franchise, but in a recent interview on Collider.com, Anderson hinted there may be more Resident Evil films to come.

Collider.com: We have heard from some of the cast that when you were writing this one you were thinking of a 5th and 6th film and that there was almost talk of you guys filming them back to back.

Anderson: We definitely…there was an earlier discussion about that, but then we just decided to focus on this movie. But if it is that we make another one, I do know where it would go. It would obviously be great to kind of make two full trilogies and then just bring everything to an end.

Collider.com: That is the thing. Your significant other was mentioning that she can only play the character for so long. In your mind, is the 6th film the finale?

Anderson: Definitely. Unless, of course, no one goes to see this one. Then this one would be the finale, just maybe not a very satisfying one. [laughs]

To read even more about Resident Evil: Retribution and other Anderson projects go to:

http://collider.com/paul-ws-anderson-resident-evil-retribution-interview

 

The official synopsis for Resident Evil: Retribution reads thus:

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. -- (C) Sony

 

So, is Resident Evil: Retribution redundant or requisite? If Resident Evil: Retribution is as action-packed as the previous four films, then I’ll definately vote requisite and I for one can hardly wait for this one! I won’t have to wait long, because the film is set to be released September 14, 2012, which is less than two weeks away! Meanwhile, enjoy the latest trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution!

 

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE THREE MUSKETEERS - A STEAMPUNK UPDATE!

I saw this trailer for The Three Musketeers before seeing Cowboys & Aliens at the theater this weekend. Yes, I know I promised a review of the western-sci-fi hybred and I am working on it

In the meantime, check out this trailer for The Three Musketeers! It is directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, who is best known as the diretor of Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Afterlife. I love all the Redident Evil movies (Mr. Anderson wrote the screenplays for the two other Resident Evil movies that he didn't direct) and I also liked two other Anderson helmed movies: Death Race and Alien vs. Predator. Another treat for Resident Evil fans is that Three Musketters will feature Milla Jovovich as (the evil?) M'Lady DeWinter. The Three Musketeers is being realeased to theaters on October 21, 2011.

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE - 2010 - 3D AND ME!

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE
AN ADDED DIMENSION BRINGS ADDED LIFE!
or
3D AND ME!

by Fritz "Doc" Freakenstein

Way back in February of this year, when Avatar was still raking in millions of mega-bucks at the box office, I wrote a short post about 3D: http://guardiansofthegenre.blogspot.com/2010/02/to-3-d-or-not-to-3-d-that-is-question.html. The gist of the article was that I didn't understand why someone would pay almost twice as much for a ticket to see a film in 3D, which I thought was just a gimmick to make more money. My fellow blogger at Guardians of the Genre had experienced the new 3D technology first-hand and convinced me that I should try it before criticizing it. Over half-a- year later, Professor Photon and I attended a 3D screening of Resident Evil : Afterlife. I'm a wicked big fan of the Resident Evil films and have seen all three of them at the theater, so I felt seeing a film that I had every expectation of enjoying would be the best way to try the new 3D gimmick... er, sorry... technique out.

Before I assess the 3D process, I want to review the film itself. Resident Evil: Afterlife takes place almost immediately after the events of Resident Evil: Extinction. The film begins with an visual feast of a scene of Alice and her army of clones attacking the Umbrella Corporation facility in Tokyo, in an attempt to kill Albert Wesker, who was the villain behind the experiments on her clones in RE:E. The facility is destroyed - and all of Alice's clones with it - but Wesker escapes in an aircraft, which Alice prime has hidden in. This prologue to the film sets  the rest of the film up perfectly and demonstrates just how dedicated Alice is to bringing the hurt on the UC and the corporate baddie that represents it. Wesker averts death at Alice's hands by doing something to Alice which I don't want to go all spoiler here, because it changes her character significantly from the previous film. Alice wakes up alone in the wrecked craft, but eventually finds an old prop-plane which she flies in an attempt to rejoin Claire and the others who flew to Alaska in search of Arcadia. Alice finds Claire wandering a desolate beach in Alaska, but she is alone and has no memory of how she got there or where the rest of the refugees are. This is the one point in the film where you question Alice's course of action, but not enough to spoil the film. Alice flies south with Claire, seeking out more refugees. They spot a few survivors from the air, on the roof of an abandoned prison in Los Angles, but they are trapped there because it is surrounded by hundreds of hungry zombies! Another boffo scene shows Alice landing the plane on the roof of the prison, nearly crashing on impact! The rest of Resident Evil: Extinction involves Alice helping the small group of survivors escape the prison, fighting off hoards of zombies, and eventually trying to the find the elusive sanctuary of Arcadia.

I thought Resident Evil: Afterlife was the best film since the original! Like most film series, the first film is usually the best and Resident Evil (2002) I still consider to be the best of the RE trinity. Not to take anything away from RE: Extinction or RE: Apocalypse, but the first film had a visual style and a building of tension that the other two somewhat lacked. Despite the fact the Paul W. S. Anderson wrote the screenplay for all four RE films, his direction of the first and now the latest film shows that he can use the camera to pace the action and drama of his scripts better than others. I guess I'm a fan of directors who use a stylised form of story telling, which is why I like Anderson's RE helmed films the best. Anderson has directed many other genre films as well; my favorites being Deathrace and Alien vs. Predator (which shares similar claustrophobic settings to RE). Because Anderson wrote the scripts for all four Resident Evil films, this explains the careful continuity between each film, as well as the feeling of one long continuous story over the four film cycle. The Resident Evil films get a bum rap from critics and even some fans, I suspect primarily because they are based on a video game. Most video game films have been dreadful, but the Resident Evil films use the basic premise of the game (which is a good solid sf premise) and some of the characters (which are rudimentary archetypes) as a springboard for a richer world and slightly more nuanced characters. Yes, the Resident Evil films are primarily a series of violent action scenes, but there is enough care given to the characterization, so that their actions are understood, and -- more importantly -- their peril is more greatly felt. If there is any detraction at all from the series thus far, it is a lack of a certain finality to the plot. Like many long running prose fiction series, as long as the point-of-view character (in the case if RE - Alice) is alive, then his/her quest/goal/journey/purpose will continue indefinitely. If you like long running series -- which I do -- this is not a problem. However, I can see how a more casual fan of RE might appreciate more of a definite conclusion at the end of each film and Resident Evil: Afterlife specifically.

Now to get down to the nitty gritty of  this new (okay, new to me) 3D tech! The use of the new "REAL 3D" process on Resident Evil: Afterlife did, I can honestly say, add to my enjoyment of the film. How much did it add? I'd say perhaps 20% more. The action scenes were obviously the segments of the film that benefited the most from the 3D effect. When Alice leaps toward the camera, or throws objects at the camera, these things literally jump off the screen at you! The 3D also helped add depth to the long shots in the film; especially during the flying sequences over the desolate and ravaged cityscapes and landscapes. One thing the 3D process had trouble with were translucent objects. The plums of smoke rising from the ground in many of the scenes looked as though they were floating on their own plane and seemed out of sync with their surroundings. The only scene ruined by the 3D was the (thankfully) brief underwater scenes, where Alice and a few other are swimming through murky water-filled hallways beneath the prison. This scene was so blurry I briefly took off my glassed to see if it looked any better without them (it didn't). Speaking of the glasses: They had been a big concern of mine, because I do wear corrective glasses and I was worried that the 3D glasses wouldn't fit comfortably over them. Fortunately, the black plastic glasses are slightly over-sized and did fit easily over my corrective specks. Overall, the 3D experience was a good one and I would try it again in the future. But -- you knew there was a but coming -- the price for the 3D show was $11.00, which is nearly double what I pay for the matinee showing of the traditional 2D films. I think that if there was only a dollar or two difference in price, I might see even more films in 3D. However, until that time, I'll be seeing 3D only on special films that I think will benefit the most from the process.

There you have it! I give a wicked high recommendation to Resident Evil: Afterlife and a moderate, but still positive review of the new "Real 3D".