Movie review: Resident evil - resident nonsense

Spoiler alert!

The most remarkable thing about Resident Evil: Retribution is how utterly unremarkable it is in every respect.

The 3D effects are poor, the narrative is obnoxious and the acting is painfully lifeless. So lifeless in fact, that you can’t help but wonder if the film’s heroes were inspired by all the zombies they were meant to be shooting.

The film stars Milla Jovovich as Alice (again), a once genetically enhanced zombie hunting soldier, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world that has been overrun by zombies.

In the previous films, her abilities were forcibly given to her by the evil Umbrella Corporation, who in the films are also responsible for the zombie virus, and are now currently hunting Alice.

Here, they use Alice’s former ally, Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), to interrogate her once she is captured.

Valentine, we note, has been brainwashed with a device attached to her chest, allowing her to be controlled.

During the interrogation, Alice unsuccessfully tries to convince Valentine to remember who she was.

At this point, Alice escapes and kills plenty of zombies in scenes that are loud and uninteresting and set the dull tone for the rest of the film’s brain dead action.

Soon, Alice is assisted by Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), who was once the head of the Umbrella Corporation but has now gone rogue, and is looking to redeem himself by trying to provide aid to Alice.

Albert explains to Alice that his successor is the Red Queen, the super intelligent AI. Eventually more characters join Alice, as she attempts to save mankind.

Resident Evil: Retribution is the fifth installment in the action/horror film franchise and its release, suspiciously enough, coincides with the release of the Resident Evil 5 video game.

To me, it is clear that for the studios this film is merely a cash-in on the popularity of the video game franchise. For example, certain characters in the film make nonsensical cameos, only to appease the fans of the video game who were demanding to see them on screen.

The film was written and directed by Jovovich’s husband Paul WS Anderson, a filmmaker whose career is littered with mediocre films, with arguably his greatest achievement being Mortal Kombat (1995). Yes, if that is his greatest film, then perhaps one shouldn’t expect much from Resident Evil: Retribution.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, October 28^th, 2012.

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