Resident Evil: Retribution

I've been a long time fan of the Resident Evil series even when people criticized them left and right. I thought they were really entertaining, stylish and inventive. Until now. There is no way I can stick up for this movie or any reason I'd even want to. I can't really give you a synopsis cause I'm not even sure what I just watched. All I can say is that it was huge disappointment in every facet possible. Despite the silliness of the previous films they always grounded themselves in some type of realism within the reigns of its premise. This entry doesn't even feel like it's a part of the same franchise. Gone is the fun and it's been replaced with ritzy production values and no discernible storyline. It's a movie based on a video game in which they are actually part of a video game and nothing is really happening. Despite a somewhat promising start with a cool reverse battle sequence, a best of franchise film reel and an inventive and even a little scary trip into suburbia we than move on to the supposed purpose of the film which just doesn't make sense at all. I mean the choices are just astoundingly bad why make the little girl deaf and the film filled with sign language, why set it in this underground facility, why is all of this happening, with this type of technology how does the remaining human population even have a chance, how is Wesker alive and why is he good now? he's not human??? None of these questions will be answered and lets not even discuss the frustratingly awkward scenes like one in which one of the good guys has a double unnecessary death, an uninspired nod towards the Alien franchise and repetitive scenarios that get less effective the more you see them (really the squid face things). Also, the acting has never been good in the Resident Evil series but Milla Jovovich had evoked a cool sense of fierce heroine, this time around she just seems plain bored as do the other actors. Filled with insipid dialogue, questionable plotting,overlong pacing, a weird bad movie from the 90's score, mediocre fight choreography (except for the scene with the chain) and a crapload of wasted potential this movie just feels like a bad dream. Sometimes, when I'm really looking forward to a movie I'll dream about it the night before and it will be horrible well this is what this feels like. Because in no possible way, what I just watched is a resident evil movie. Despite all of my complaining the movie does have some decent scenes the suburbia one I brought up before was kinda neat, another featuring Ada and Alice against 2 ax men and the chain fight in Tokyo. Besides that it's all just a big plodding waste of existential cinematic trash. A brainless, soulless unintentionally funny horror/action/sci fi hybrid that despite a larger budget,returning cast members and more impressive production values feels like an overlong filler episode that leaves me with a big question mark. Why has this happened to my beloved franchise???

The wastelands of Russia is where they all go, deep down underneath it's best to move with the flow, in simulated worlds where everything's pretend, excepting of course the finality of end. It's amazing the visions computers can screen, especially controlled by the psychotic Red Queen, with cascades of clones conveyed at her will, banks of fresh meat ready to rupture and spill. How long can this perpetual carnage continue, the raking of flesh from the bone and the sinew, mutations of mutations morph change with variations, to create eternal versions of the worst abominations.

PREMISE: Alice. Kills stuff. PLOT: Alice. Kills stuff.

Viewers hoping for a coherent narrative are advised to try Capcom's Resident Evil cartoons; viewers completely new to the series really have no choice but to let the images simply break over them like tsunamis. Despite 2 or 3 pages of exposition, series writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson clearly assumes that anyone rejoining him at this point is so familiar with both the movies and the various R.E./BIOHAZARD VGs that new characters (Ada Wong; Leon Kennedy) can be ported over from the games, and old characters (Rain; Carlos) resurrected without explanation (Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker and Luther West are back; Claire and Chris Redfield make cameos). Happily, I AM that geekish, so enjoyed the merry-go-round.

The CGI FX, which are virtually non-stop, are more varied, energetic, and original than in previous sequels. No more mutant dead dogs, thank goodness, although Anderson remains overly-fond of his tentacles- bursting-out-of-the-mouth shots.

The movie is less a script than a series of levels, as Alice, Project Alice, Leon, Ada and their ad hoc teams are dragged through artificial environments adapted from previous installments, from games (notably the new Manhattan and Moscow sets), from any spin-off that isn't bolted to the ground, even from absolutely unconnected franchises (e.g. DAWN OF THE DEAD). Each setting—all controlled by The Red Queen--has its own horde of character clones infected with different strains of the T-Virus and/or Plaga Parasite and its own boss monster adapted from one or another of the games.

If...and only if...that paragraph made the least bit of sense, then this movie's recommended.

Alice (Milla Jovovich) awakes at home with her daughter Becky (Aryana Engineer) and her husband. But soon she realizes that she is actually in an Umbrella Corporation's underground facility. Out of the blue, the computer security system shuts-down and Alice flees to the central control room of the facility. She meets Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), who works with Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), and she learns that a five-man team has been sent by Wesker to rescue them. However, the Red Queen sends Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) to hunt them down.

"Resident Evil 5 – Retribution" is so far the weakest movie of this franchise. Actually it is a video-game with a short story and lots of explosions and shootings. "Resident Evil 5 – Retribution" works better on Blu-Ray or DVD, since it might be unbearable for those who have gone to the movie theater to see this flick. The writer needs new ideas and not reboot the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Resident Evil – Retribuição" ("Resident Evil – Retribution")

Note: On 02 February 2017, I saw this film again.

Well… this movie is like a game. Watching this movie is like watching a kid playing one level of video game. But you're watching this during 1.5 hours.

During first 15 minutes of the movie I had only one thought in my mind: "what a hell is this?"

There is no plot, no catchy story like in previous parts. Here you have several blocks and a lot of stupid shooting and fighting without a hint to be a bit realistic. The final fight is like a raping of your mind - too much FX's, too less reality and common sense, it's against everything good in the world.

Actors are great. After a deadly injury a character doesn't show any sight of the pain except in his words.

Dialogs in the movie are fantastic… If you'll write down all the lines of all characters, you'll hardly fill 1.5 pages A4 size.

Watching this movie a felt like I'm fooled - creators didn't want to work to make it interesting, they used CGI+FX+fighting+shooting without everything else that makes movie worthwhile, and sold it to me using a bright wrap.

People were leaving the movie theatre in the middle of this picture.

Hope next movie will be much better.