Resident Evil has its own category of bad

Resident Evil: Retribution is a special kind of bad movie.

As The Beacon’s film critic, I see a lot of movies, some of which are not very good. That being said, not all bad movies are created equal. Some films that fail as a whole still have enough enjoyable parts to make them worth watching, while other productions will leave you feeling cheated and wishing you hadn’t wasted two hours of your life.

In the continuum of bad movies, Resident Evil: Retribution occupies an awkward middle ground. There’s enough going on in it that it’s never really boring, and it doesn’t really insult its audience. At the same time, there isn’t really anything good about Resident Evil: Retribution either, and its technical problems are numerous.

The result is a movie you won’t walk out of but would never recommend to your friends.

Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth film in the Resident Evil series of movies (loosely based off the popular video game series of the same name), picks up where Resident Evil: Afterlife left off.

Alice (Mila Jovovich), the series’ main character, has been captured by the evil Umbrella Corporation. The Umbrella Corporation are the makers of the T Virus, which can bring corpses back to life and mutates the living and the dead into hideous monsters. Over the course of the series, the T Virus has spread across the world, forcing humanity to fight for its very survival.

Imprisoned in Umbrella’s massive testing facility, Alice receives help from some unlikely allies and makes a bid for freedom. Umbrella, meanwhile, is determined to keep her captive and mobilizes all its resources to stop her.

I’ve only seen parts of two other Resident Evil movies, so I came into Resident Evil: Retribution with very little background. That being said, I was still able to follow along with the story, although the film contains a lot of exposition, and I consider myself pretty good at keeping track of plot threads.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much payoff for doing so, as Resident Evil Retribution has very little in the emotional stakes or dramatic tension departments.

Of course, this isn’t helped by the acting, which is painfully wooden almost across the board, although Michelle Rodriguez and Oded Fehr provide some welcome exceptions in small roles.

The action scenes are similarly lackluster. Most of the gun battles feel like a carnival shooting gallery with gore, while the hand-to-hand combat is stiff and uninspired. The special effects, especially the sets, often have a fake and artificial look to them, and none of the monsters or adversaries are really memorable.

I’m certain that a fair number of critics will chock up Resident Evil: Retribution’s numerous failings to it being based off a video game. Such voices, however, are both ignorant and behind the times.

The problem with Resident Evil: Retribution isn’t that it draws inspiration from video games, it’s that it draws inspiration from bad ones, and I’m not referring to the Resident Evil series, which has had some stellar installments. Instead, Resident Evil: Retribution seems to have derived its muse from quarter-eating arcade titles like Time Crisis and Die Hard, bad dialogue, railroaded plot and all.

Video games are an art form, and some great stories have been told in games such as Planescape Torment, Mass Effect, Psychonauts and Half Life 2. Disparaging an entire medium because a movie director chooses to emulate it poorly simply makes you sound foolish.

The most frustrating thing about Resident Evil: Retribution is the lost potential that it’s creation represents.

Paul W.S. Anderson has written and produced all five Resident Evil movies and directed three of them, including Resident Evil: Retribution. I can think of few people who have had such an opportunity to flesh out and develop a fictional world on film.

Given the sheer creative freedom he has enjoyed, Mr. Anderson could have made something really special. Instead, Mr. Anderson has squandered this opportunity and created something disposable and cheap.

If you’ve already seen half the movies in theaters and want to watch an action film, you might consider buying a ticket for Resident Evil: Retribution. That being said, you’re probably better off staying at home and waiting for something better to come out.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on September 20, 2012. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry