IHOGeek @ the Movies: Resident Evil Retribution

I’m a huge Resident Evil buff and when news broke of another film in the franchise, I was ecstatic. Did it live up to the hype? Were there fight scenes galore, that were beautifully choreographed and death scenes that rained blood in all that 3D has to offer?

The opening scenes served to refresh your memory on all that’s happened, told by Alice after a masterfully crafted reverse narrative of the first few minutes of the film. This installment has Alice waking up in a suburban dream with the house, white picket fence, husband in the form of Carlos Olivera, and a deaf daughter. Unfortunately this happy scenario dissolves into catastrophe as zombies ransack the neighborhood and Carlos is bitten by a zombie in an attempt to distract them long enough for his family to escape. They narrowly escape with the help of a sweet natured version of Rain Ocampo, but ultimately Alice perishes in her last ditch try at saving her daughter….until she wakes up in a stark white room, because Alice has been captured by the Umbrella Corporation (yes, again).

A mysterious hacker allows her to escape and supplies her with a dominatrix/Underworld inspired ensemble, complete with wedged boots that were probably a bitch to run in. As she makes her way through Tokyo, she’s almost overwhelmed by a sudden zombie outbreak, and is ushered into a building where it’s all revealed to have been a simulation, first suburbia and then Tokyo by Ada fucking Wong, whose actress works the hell out of that little red dress.

She’s working with Albert Wesker (in all his sexy, skintight jumpsuit glory) as is their extraction team, which includes Leon fucking Kennedy and Barry fucking Burton.

They are all in an underground Umbrella facility that used simulated environments to test biologically engineered weapons and scenarios before selling them to different countries. Oh, this base is also deep under the Antarctic ice and extraction must occur before the bombs they’ve planted go off in two hours. There are fights galore, the two main ones happening with a pair of huge, bulking Axemen, and a ginormously gooey Licker, before culminating in a fight between Alice and the brainwashed Jill Valentine. Alice tears off Jill’s glowing red beetle mind control parasite and passes out from exhaustion, extensive injuries, or from wearing those damn boots. Of course we’re all treated to a cliff hanger ending in a heavily barricaded White House for one last stand.

Soundtrack was a bit of a mess, a blur of not so stellar dubstep and industrial music that didn’t seem to fit most moments in the flick. It was particularly rough when it switched between two fights that were happening at the same time, but both were set to different music, so it was very much an ear fucking, but not in a great way.

The 3D effects were nothing to marvel at, so I’d skip the extra charge if you plan on checking it out. Should you go see it? It’s worth a watch if you’re a die-hard fan, but otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.

Resident Evil: Retribution gets a 6/10.