Thankfully there's always the games.
After Alice and her surviving group members defeat Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) aboard the Arcadia freighter, the ship is attacked by a small Umbrella military force lead by a mind-controlled Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). Alice is knocked unconscious and later she comes around in an underground Umbrella facility. She breaks loose and continues on with her dismantling of Umbrella with the assistance of an unlikely ally. -summary
For those whom may not know, Resident Evil: Retribution is an action movie based on the survival horror video game series. It's the fifth installment to the movie franchise which was released back in 2012 nearly a month before Resident Evil 6 hit video game consoles. This sequel once again pits a group of people against the undead and other monsters. Paul Anderson returns to direct this sequel delivering more of the same; stylish action scenes with amazing special effects flanked by a bland story and even worse characters. If you already had a disdain for this franchise, then I highly recommend skipping this installment because it sure as hell isn't going to win you over. In fact, I consider it among the weaker sequels of the franchise despite the amazing effects.
The special effects and action sequences are the film's bread and butter and this movie did look amazing in 3D. There were moments where it felt like the Crimson Head zombies can just reach right out with those tentacles sprouting from their mouths, grab you by the face and just eat your head up whole. Everything is just so in your face, from shattering glass to slow-mo bullet travel. The action sequences have a good amount of fisticuffs with some of the best choreography in the series, as well as amazing stunts along with wire work and a minimum amount of gore.
Milla Jovovich carries the action very well with pretty good form, even though she does look kind of stiff during some moves. Michelle Rodriguez reprises her role as Rain, and she looks pretty good here as well. There are several homages to the video game for fans with pretty good monster designs, in this case, the giant Licker which makes another appearance. Plus Jill making an appearance in her Resident Evil 5 costume. Surprisingly though, despite the action intentionally being the films strong suit, it's also among the weaknesses. The shoot out portions felt like they dragged for way too long becoming mind numbingly dull. There were many cuts from the action to some other story element, to the point where it felt like Anderson became bored with his own action scenes. The action scenes had many moments of being too long and this actually created plot holes.
Another area which is usually done well for this franchise is the soundtrack. While on some occasions it worked pretty well; I thought the orchestra and electronica blending was pretty distracting especially during the final act. There was an obvious lack of cohesion between action and music in this segment. When looking at the length of the fight, in combination with the supposed drama the BGM was trying to set, I couldn't keep myself from laughing out loud at the unintentional comedic effect achieved here. In terms of style, the film doesn't work completely. For the most part, I can't really knock the acting, because those who actually weren't robotic like clones, turned in some decent enough performances with Jovovich being the best. It was nice seeing Rodriguez as something other than a tom boy once in awhile.
The plot follows Alice and her new ally by the name of Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), as they try to rendezvous with Leon Kennedy (Johann Urb) and his team, as they seek to destroy Umbrella's underground installation for a certain benefactor, whom has decided to betray the organization due to mankind being nearly extinct. They fight their way through real-life test sequences taking place in replicas of different cities, and this is where all the shootouts occur. The characters are indeed plot devices, and some of them are even worthless at that. There's a pointless scene with one overly dramatic death for a character who was barely even developed. I doubt even fans of the game would care about this particular character predictably biting it. And as if the plot wasn't weak enough, characters bland enough, Anderson not only decides to rehash a story element from the first movie, but also has a powerless Alice taking massive physical punishment from super-like beings. I understand this is the type of brain rot you're not suppose to put so much thought into. But how can anyone ignore such an obvious plot-hole?
The ending to the film makes it very clear that there will no doubt be a sequel which I believe is in the works, but I'm really not too thrilled over that. Resident Evil: Retribution is another video game adaptation that I will consider to be a failure. I enjoyed Afterlife, Extinction, and Apocalypse a little bit more. This has too many issues as far as I'm concerned. If you're a fan of the previous films then run out and see it. If not, you'll will more than likely be wasting your time and money.
Pros:3D effects can look awesome
Cons:Overly long action segments, bland moments and characters, plot holes