Film Review: Resident Evil Retribution

The most current film in the Resident Evil film series, lets get to it! SPOILERS

Retribution takes place after an uncertain amount of time from the events of Afterlife and Alice (Milla Jovovich) has been captured by the Umbrella Corporation. She finds herself in a special Umbrella facility deep under the ice in Russia that is under the control of the revived Red Queen and has simulations of major world cities. However a strike unit has been sent to free Alice under orders from Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) and consisting of Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), Leon Kennedy(Johann Urb), Barry Burton (Kevin Durand)  and Lurther West (Boris Kodjoe). However the Red Queen is prepared for intruders as she has hundreds of monsters at her disposal while her human clone forces are led by Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory).

Place your bets on who to win

Once again this is directed by Paul Anderson and even though it is obvious at this point the film is again an entirely original plot not based on any of the games however it draws inspiration from 5 and 4.

Your still as great as ever Milla!

I want to talk about the story first before getting in to the characters because I really want to say that it story might actually be one of the weakest in the series. Overall I did enjoy watching this film however it just nagged me with how many similarities it had with the first one. For example the Red Queen A.I. is back again and running Umbrella but there is no explanation as to why she is back when she was fried at the end of the first film, we already had her as a villain I just don't get why she had to come back. Also even though it is set in a massive underground testing facility it again felt too similar to the setting in the first film because once again the characters have to escape from it because of a time limit. Lastly I do not get why Wesker is suddenly helping Alice and humanity because he just seemed to want to destroy both in Afterlife, I know he might have a secret plan to be revealed in the sequel but still I just don't get it. However I did find the whole cloning aspect in this interesting and all of the simulated environments that they have.

"Who wants to experience ultimate pain first?"

Once again we have Alice back and she is just as great as ever with a cool new costume and kicking some zombie ass. For other returning characters we also have Lurther and Wesker; Lurther, like in Afterlife, is a great character but he doesn't feel as significant in this one but I'm still glad he is in it but I really wished that Wesker had a larger role because he is only in it for a few scenes. We also have Jill Valentine and I am so glad she has returned because I really liked her from Apocalypse and she is more like her 5 version here. Whatever problems I have with 5 I liked Jill in it because she was like some unstoppable killer; pulling off some great moves and in a skin tight purple outfit I might add and its all been adapted perfectly here.

"Who shall I get to push me?"

For other returning characters we have Rain (Michelle Rodriguez), One (Colin Salmon) and Carlos (Oded Fehr) and it was a surprise because they are all dead but that is where the cloning comes in. Seems they where cloned after death to be Umbrella soldiers and characters in a simulation so we have good and bad versions of Rain and Carlos. I really liked that they did this because Rain and One at least got to have a larger role in the film series now overall and its always great to see Carlos back. Also Rain fighting along side Jill at the end is one of the best moments in the film and is just as good (actually probably better) than the Wesker fight in Afterlife.

"Who wants to mess with this badass team?!"

Now for the new characters and I have to say that we have got some great choices and casting. I'll start off first with Johann Urb as Leon and he is a great character and its good they are using one of Resident Evil's most known protagonist but I kind of felt that he didn't have that much of a presence in this. As for Ada, Li Bingbing really nailed it as her because she looked exactly like her and I liked all of the scenes she was in. However my favourite was Kevin Durand as Barry because firstly I feel like I am seeing Kevin Durand in a lot of films lately (he is on The Strain right now) and he is such a great actor but I am also just really glad that Barry is in the films. Barry is a great character in the games but so, so underused (like Billy and Rebecca) since he has never been a playable character and hasn't had a large role since 1 (unless you count the cameo in 3). But in this film Barry was awesome, he was great in all of the action scenes and his death scene was so badass the way he shot One. Sure he died in this but I think he has had a better role in this than the games have been giving him!

I thought this in the games and I am thinking this now: That red dress isn't practical field gear!

Now on to the monster which is the biggest weakness of the Resident Evil films and that is because we barely get any. First we have the zombies but they are actually the best monsters in this film because they where awesome. They are like the military ones from 4, 5 and 6 in which they use guns and vehicles and I thought I wouldn't enjoy it much because in the games I prefer proper zombies. However in the scene where they are all attacking Barry, Leon and Lurther in the Russia simulation was so cool and they even had a chainsaw wielding one that looked damn creepy. This film failed though in bringing back the Executioner and the Licker from the previous films and I just wonder why? We have already seen them couldn't they have given us something else? I don't care if there where two Executioners and a giant Licker I wanted Hunters or Bandersnatches or one of the bosses.

Best character in the film

Overall this might be the weakest entry in the film series however I still enjoyed watching it because it had some great action scenes, some new characters from the game and the ending implies a pretty badass finale to the series.

SCORE: 6/10

Highlights: Great action sequences (Alice fighting the zombies, Russia attack, final fight)
                   More characters from the game (especially Barry!)

Let - Downs: The plot felt too much like the first film
                      Not enough variety of monsters (again)

You can find all of the great screenshots I used right here;

http://ladymanson.com/ShadowofReflection/home.php

                     

Film Review: Resident Evil Afterlife

Finally got round to reviewing this one!

Afterlife takes place a year after Extinction and Alice (Milla Jovovich) has destroyed the Umbrella Tokyo base and seemingly killed Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) but at the cost of all her clones and her powers. She then spends six months trying to find any more survivors but only succeeds in finding Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) who has lost her memory. The two must battle new types of zombies and monsters within a prison in L.A. along with Claire's brother Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) and other survivors led by former pro - basketball player Luther West (Boris Kodjoe). They try to get to escape and reach the haven called Arcadia but it might not be the salvation they are looking for...

"Few more lessons and I'll be able to fly"

This film marks the return of Paul Anderson as the director not just the writer and producer and while I like that it is a shame not to have Russell Mulcahy who I praised in my Extinction review but I will touch on that later. Just like Extinction, Afterlife is a completely original plot that is only loosely based on the game however unlike Extinction this one brings in a lot more references to a certain game which I will explain during the review.

"Okay who wants to go first?"

The only two characters to return from the previous films are Alice and Claire and while I really like those two I would really liked to have seen L.J. or Carlos again (mostly L.J. because of Retribution) even though I know they are dead. However they bring in two of Resident Evil most known characters Chris Redfield and a re - casted Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). I really like these two casting choices because where brilliant throughout the whole film and they really looked like the characters they where playing. As for side characters there really isn't as much in here as I really would have liked and that is my first complaint about the film because in Extinction and Apocalypse there where lots of great characters and a big draw for the film for me. Two worth mentioning however is Luther West, he is really cool liked his no nonsense attitude and Bennett Sinclair (Kim Coates) as a film producer who only cares about himself. There are some other characters with them but I never really liked them as much as the members of Claire's convoy.

Three Milla Jovovich......yeah I've had that dream loads of times!

Also something I really have to mention and that I didn't like too much was that the majority of the film takes place in a prison in the middle of L.A. One of the reasons Extinction is my fav Resident Evil film is because I really liked the bright and big locations in the desert, thanks to Russell Mulcahy. I guess after Apocalypse and Extinction I wanted the films to always be out doors but no its confide indoors; Tokyo Base, Prison, Ship. However I do really like the set designs especially the hi - tech whiteness of the Arcadia ship or the extensive underground Tokyo Base.

Just as badass from the game

As for the monsters they have once again brought back zombies (of course) but this time they are a lot more dangerous because they are more like the ones from Resident Evil 5; this means they run and have a parasite in their mouths that latch on to enemies. Normally I would not have liked this because I don't like the zombies in 4, 5, and 6 however they are done really well in the film here and their parasite look gross. Other then that we have The Executioner from 5 making an appearance and once again even though I disliked 5 because of its enemies I have to praise it here because it was a perfect adaptation of it from the game and its involved in one of my favourite scenes in the film. That's about it unfortunately (apart from two dogs five minutes at the end) and that is my biggest criticism about this film and the others; they need more monsters! I can't believe they only chose three, well two if you don't count zombies because they really have to be in it every time!

"Bring it on!"

Some of my favourite moments that I just want to quickly mention is the beginning of the film where Alice and her clones storm the Tokyo Base. That was just so epic with all of her clones killing the Umbrella soldiers and using guns, swords and explosives. Next is when the zombies break into the prison and Alice has to jump off it holding a cable while detonating the roof. Shortly after that we have the show room fight between Alice, Claire and The Executioner and that was choreographed really well with the massive swinging axe and the use of slow - mo. Finally is the final fight between Chris, Claire and Wesker because it too is such a perfect adaptation of the fight from 5, I think shot for shot.

Surprise cameo

Overall this isn't as good as Extinction because of a location for the film that I didn't like as much, the severe and I mean severe lack of monsters and I guess it wasn't as fun as the third. However it is influenced a lot from 5 (chest pieces as well I forgot to mention) and even though it is my least fav Resident Evil game they have done it so well that I really enjoyed watching this.

SCORE: 7/10

Highlight: Heavy influences from 5 which are adapted perfectly in this
                 Shawn Robert as Albert Wesker and Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield
                 Awesome action sequences throughout the film

Let - Downs: Not much monsters
                      Don't care for much of the side characters
                      After such great locations in the Nevada Desert  I don't like that its set mainly in a prison and them just trying to escape from it

You can find all of the great screenshots I used right here;

http://ladymanson.com/ShadowofReflection/home.php

Film Review: Resident Evil Extinction

On to the third now and like before MAJOR SPOILERS.

Extinction takes place an uncertain amount of time after the Raccoon City Incident and despite their best efforts Umbrella could not stop the halt of the the T - Virus. It has now spread throughout the entire world infecting humans, animals and plants and because of the latter the environment on Earth has mostly turned in to desert wastelands. Umbrella however have not given up on their experiments and Dr. Sam Isaacs (Iain Glen), head of Umbrella's North American underground facility, is determined to recapture Alice for his research. Alice herself has been in hiding since acquiring her new powers and just wanders the wasteland while evading Umbrella. Meanwhile a small convoy of humans are making their why across America just trying to survive (inspired by Mad Max 2) led by Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and accompanied by new and familiar faces such as Carlos Oliveria (Oded Feher) and L.J. (Mike Epps).

Best film characters right here!

Just like the last film Paul Anderson writes and produces this one while it is directed by someone else however unlike the last one I know the director of this one; Russell Mulcahy who directed Highlander one of my most favourite films. I really like his style because it involves a lot of a lot of moving camera and crane work which is how he got those beautiful location shots in Highlander. Also while the last film was heavily influenced by the Resident 2 and 3 games this one decided to have an original plot like the first film. Not only that but they destroyed the world with the T - Virus something which the games didn't do yet. While this is a bold new direction it also means that the films after this one will have to have mostly original plots as well because they could hardly copy the games much after this.

Ass - Kicking Alice time to shine

We got a good cast of characters with Alice returning again and kicking ass like she always is however even though she is important in the story (with Umbrella trying to catch her and cloning her) I don't find her as interesting as Claire and her convoy. I find that the exciting bits of the film are when it focuses on the other characters and even though she joins them half way through, even of she didn't I wouldn't really mind. Also returning is Carlos Oliveria and L.J. and since they are two of my favourite film characters I am glad; as I said before I am grateful that Carlos has such an important role in the films and this one is no different and L.J. has a lot more serious role now which is great to see.

Bad place to be Isaacs 

For the new characters we have Claire Redfield and I was looking forward to seeing her because, like Jill, she is one of m favourite game characters. She takes more of a leadership role in this which is different from how she is in the games but it works and Ali Larter was a really great choice. We also have Sam Isaacs is a great primary antagonist in this and is obviously a replacement for William Birkin since they missed on their chance to use him however Isaacs is cold, calculating and merciless and serves as a great final boss (more on that later). Last from the video games is Jason O'Mara as Albert Wesker and he is a lot different from his video game counterpart; he is chairman of Umbrella now and only appears as holograms when Umbrella has their board meetings. It is a drastic change and even though I really wish he had a more prominent role I did quite like it, Jason O'Mara is a great actor (seen him in a few other stuff) so I have no complaints about the casting I just think he was underused. We also have a wide range of characters as part of Claire's convoy and I really like them all and they are what makes me like the parts with the convoy the best. Oh yeah really good seeing Linden Ashby in this film as a member of the convoy, I don't really see him in anything else but I remember him best as Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat, a great Paul Anderson film :)

Where your signature crossbow Claire?

Now on to the monsters and I was really pleased to see that they upped up the gore a lot in this one; finally we see blood coming out of zombies when they are shot, finally we see their body parts crushed! They also look a lot better as well because the zombies in the previous films really looked to normal for my taste but they looked more dried up and deformed now and probably because of the change in the environment. Besides zombies we also have the Crimson Heads from the games; they are not intelligent zombies but ones that are a lot more hyper, stronger and aggressive and I think they where perfect in this. The sequence where they fight the group is my favourite part in the film, it is just so brutal seeing them using their fists, running and biting all over the place. For animals we once again have the zombies dogs and I have always liked them but we also have the crows which I admit I am not that bothered about. Sure their scene was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (awesome film) and sure their attack on the convoy was really cool but honestly who really cares about the crows from the game?

What a why to go out

Now for the final boss of the film and something I was looking forward to along with Nemesis; Tyrant! Isaacs is the one who transforms into the Tyrant after overdosing on the T - Virus and it's Anti - Virus and I have to say it did not disappoint. It looked really cool with it's grey skin, long clawed arm and that fact that Isaacs was still in control. This Tyrant, in my opinion, is a cross between the Tyrant from the original game and the Tentacle Tyrant from Dead Aim and I have always liked both. The action scenes when he was fighting against Alice was just great however I did feel that it was a bit too short and it's death at the hands of the laser grid was kind of rushed and lacklustre.

This looks kind of familiar?

As I said some of the best parts in the film where the attack of the Crimson Heads, final battle with the Tyrant and Claire's convoy but I also liked scenes such as Carlos's death scene because that was really badass and the beginning where Alice runs into that family of crazies. However I did not like that they had so many references from the first film in here like modelling the underground to look like the mansion or putting in the laser grid just to finish of the Tyrant, it was just too much. I do really like the story overall but I just didn't get the point of testing all the Alice clones in that survival training ground at all and they never really explain why they did it.

Sorry Stevie

Overall Extinction is my favourite entry in the film franchise because I think they improved a lot from the previous films. I think the bright, desert locations was a great choice and was really different from the underground lab from the first and the dark city in the second. Plus the convoy parts are the best parts in the film and I think that's because its fun to watch, it has the best characters and events with them.

SCORE: 9/10

Highlights: Claire's convoy/cast of characters
                   A higher level of gore
                   Like the wide, bright locations

Let - Downs: Alice seemed more like a side character in this to me
                      Too many references to the first film
                      Once again they don't have a wide variety of monsters

You can find all of the great screenshots I used right here;

http://ladymanson.com/ShadowofReflection/home.php