If you find yourself buying a ticket for this movie, you have certainly bought into the premise of this 10-year-old franchise. Considered to be a part of the league of Harry Potter, Saw and other large franchises based on the sheer number of films that they are made of, Resident Evil is downright pathetic.
Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth in the series of films that are loosely based on Capcom's survival-driven horror video games, is no upgrade from its previous editions. Paul WS Anderson continues his over-the-top treatment of the premise with his protagonist, Alice (Milla Jovovich), in this film too with a predictable plot and, quite frankly, predictable horror visuals. With in-your-face 3D effects and animations that fail to scare you, the storyline is so thin, if you have a back seat in the hall, you probably won't even see it.
The film begins at a point where Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus has caused an apocalypse and taken over almost the entire world. Alice, trapped in an enclosed operational facility under a glacier in Northern Russia is being sought by a team of armed men who will help her escape. But it's not so simple. The team has to fight the army of the undead who are affected by the virus and also a group of clones who have been summoned by the Red Queen (the super computer who controls Umbrella). This leads to a series of violent and gore sequences which are either driven by Matrix-like armed combat or simple stock footage from first-person-shooter video games.
The Alice in Wonderland metaphor which was quite thick in the previous film is now merely a shadow of its ingenuity. The characters are shallow and most of the secondary leads don't even get enough screen space for the audience to get acclimatized to their face. Add to that, terrible acting by a cast that could easily be the prototype for any action video game - a hot girl (Milla Jovovich), the bad girl (Sienna Guillory), a couple of strong men with perfect jawlines and trimmed beards (Johann Urb and Boris Kodjoe) and that other chick from Avatar (Michelle Rodriguez); and you have for yourself the perfect recipe of a mediocre film.
And that is just what Resident Evil: Retribution is - a ninety minute stroll down mediocrity. Unless you are a fan of this series, and a pretty die hard fan at that (which you probably are if you have watched all four), let this go. Because unless loud noises, creepy creatures and undead zombies give you a kick, there is nothing to look out for. For the fans however, this film ends the same way all the previous films did - with a promise to return with a plot more obtuse than before.
Rating - 1.5 out of 5
Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on September 28, 2012
Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth in the series of films that are loosely based on Capcom's survival-driven horror video games, is no upgrade from its previous editions. Paul WS Anderson continues his over-the-top treatment of the premise with his protagonist, Alice (Milla Jovovich), in this film too with a predictable plot and, quite frankly, predictable horror visuals. With in-your-face 3D effects and animations that fail to scare you, the storyline is so thin, if you have a back seat in the hall, you probably won't even see it.
The film begins at a point where Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus has caused an apocalypse and taken over almost the entire world. Alice, trapped in an enclosed operational facility under a glacier in Northern Russia is being sought by a team of armed men who will help her escape. But it's not so simple. The team has to fight the army of the undead who are affected by the virus and also a group of clones who have been summoned by the Red Queen (the super computer who controls Umbrella). This leads to a series of violent and gore sequences which are either driven by Matrix-like armed combat or simple stock footage from first-person-shooter video games.
The Alice in Wonderland metaphor which was quite thick in the previous film is now merely a shadow of its ingenuity. The characters are shallow and most of the secondary leads don't even get enough screen space for the audience to get acclimatized to their face. Add to that, terrible acting by a cast that could easily be the prototype for any action video game - a hot girl (Milla Jovovich), the bad girl (Sienna Guillory), a couple of strong men with perfect jawlines and trimmed beards (Johann Urb and Boris Kodjoe) and that other chick from Avatar (Michelle Rodriguez); and you have for yourself the perfect recipe of a mediocre film.
And that is just what Resident Evil: Retribution is - a ninety minute stroll down mediocrity. Unless you are a fan of this series, and a pretty die hard fan at that (which you probably are if you have watched all four), let this go. Because unless loud noises, creepy creatures and undead zombies give you a kick, there is nothing to look out for. For the fans however, this film ends the same way all the previous films did - with a promise to return with a plot more obtuse than before.
Rating - 1.5 out of 5
Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on September 28, 2012
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