Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) User Reviews (494)

No plot, No story but lots of action. Simply a mindless action movie.

[RoboRabbit89 · 6/10 · 20 March 2018]

Let me put this simply as I can, this is a mindless action movie. I think Paul W.S. Anderson the director and writer was starting to run out of ideas and it shows, but I personally liked it because we had some of the same characters we already knew and I think it sort of works manly for the action.

The action scenes were great, the film makes no sense at all mind you, but mostly works because it's action scenes. Put simply, it's inconsistent in story for whatever reasons, I think some people that are fans of these films said there was more story from what I remember, but it was scrapped because "Sony" the studio I guess didn't like it, and they wanted it as a mindless action movie? I think?

Anyway, Milla is good as always for this series and I like her sexy costume that fits well on her sexy shape and makes her look like an S&M dominatrix which is awesome. Also it's just fun seeing her kick zombie ass in slow motion, from what I remember she is in some kind of facility of Umbrella's and she has to get out for whatever reasons, that's basically the plot.

Most may not like it but I did, for me, I'm an action fan and a fan of this series, it really hit the spot, this one delivers action unlike the others.

I give it a 6/10. Not great in story but satisfying in action. If your a fan of these films give it a look. It's the last decent one.

Should be titled Resident Evil: Boss Battles

[m-a-elsewhere · 6/10 · 3 February 2013]

PREMISE: Alice. Kills stuff. PLOT: Alice. Kills stuff.

Viewers hoping for a coherent narrative are advised to try Capcom's Resident Evil cartoons; viewers completely new to the series really have no choice but to let the images simply break over them like tsunamis. Despite 2 or 3 pages of exposition, series writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson clearly assumes that anyone rejoining him at this point is so familiar with both the movies and the various R.E./BIOHAZARD VGs that new characters (Ada Wong; Leon Kennedy) can be ported over from the games, and old characters (Rain; Carlos) resurrected without explanation (Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker and Luther West are back; Claire and Chris Redfield make cameos). Happily, I AM that geekish, so enjoyed the merry-go-round.

The CGI FX, which are virtually non-stop, are more varied, energetic, and original than in previous sequels. No more mutant dead dogs, thank goodness, although Anderson remains overly-fond of his tentacles- bursting-out-of-the-mouth shots.

The movie is less a script than a series of levels, as Alice, Project Alice, Leon, Ada and their ad hoc teams are dragged through artificial environments adapted from previous installments, from games (notably the new Manhattan and Moscow sets), from any spin-off that isn't bolted to the ground, even from absolutely unconnected franchises (e.g. DAWN OF THE DEAD). Each setting—all controlled by The Red Queen--has its own horde of character clones infected with different strains of the T-Virus and/or Plaga Parasite and its own boss monster adapted from one or another of the games.

If...and only if...that paragraph made the least bit of sense, then this movie's recommended.

A 2 hour video game cut scene

[nwsts · 5/10 · 13 September 2012]

Not sure if this movie is only for videogamers, but I can't see anyone else caring to sit through it. The movie made it quite clear, early on, that there would be no complicated plot lines or character development. And the dialogue was equally simplistic. The lines sounded something like this - go to the 3rd mountain and collect 20 coins and 3 golden power boosters. One quickly sensed this was not a movie at all, rather a simple video game cut scene. Also problematical were the incredibly goofy scenes with thousands of bullets aimed point blank at the heroes and all of them missing. It just takes all of the fun out of a movie when there is absolutely no sense of danger to the heroes.

On the plus side, the action sequences were very well shot and the cgi was first class. That said, it just wasn't enough to make this reviewer glad to be sitting in the audience

Here's what went wrong!

[lorenzon · 1/10 · 26 December 2012]

This is what happened when the crew decided to make this movie. Paul S. Anderson met his crew and asked them:

"OK people let's get some ideas about what this movie will have."

Staff#1 "-hey, how about we make it like the new games and make it a shoot fest?"

Paul S. Anderson- "Sounds good, Done!"

Staff#2 "Wouldn't it be cool if the zombies could drive cars and motorcycles and carry weapons and chainsaws?"

Paul S. Anderson- "Sounds good to me, Done!"

Staff#3- "you remember when Claire and Alice fought that giant axe guy in the fourth film? How about this time we let Alice fight two of them?"

Paul S. Anderson- "Good idea, Done!"

Staff #1-"You know the fans want to see other characters so why not introduce a few more like Leon, Ada and Barry?"

Paul S. Anderson- "Sounds good, Done!"

Staff#2-"Aren't we going to have too many characters running around? How about we kill off one or two?"

Staff#3-"We'll kill off Barry. Anyway he's an expendable character in the game."

Staff #1-" Yeah but make it a heroic death. Let's have him go out in a blaze of glory brandishing his famous magnum. Fans like that sort of thing"

Paul S. Anderson- "Sounds good, Done!"

Staff#2-" Hey I was watching Aliens the other day,wouldn't it be cool if Alice became a mother figure to some unknown little girl who gets kidnapped by a lichor and Alice has to save her like Ripley did?"

Paul S. Anderson- "Sounds good but we'll have to rework the lichors somehow. Done!"

Staff#3- "People liked the characters from the first film. It would be cool if we could bring them back somehow. It's a shame they got blown off with raccoon city."

Staff#2-"Hey if they can clone Alice why not her friends?"

Staff#3-" You're so right man. But where did hey get the DNA?"

Staff#2-" Does it matter?"

Staff#3-" It's just another Umbrella mystery. What do you think Paul?"

Paul S.Anderson- "Sounds good, OK people let's make this movie."

In the bathroom next to the meeting hall you hear a toilet flush. The fourth staff person comes out.

Staff#4- "Hey guys, sorry I'm late but I have a great idea for the story. If ties up all the loose ends. Umbrella finally falls. The cure for the plague is found and the world is saved. I also worked on a great script and intelligent dialogue. I even have a great idea for coaching some of the mediocre actors into believable ones."

Paul S. Anderson- "What are you talking about? We just worked out some great ideas. Lots of action, explosions, new characters. We have everything the fans want. As for acting? Did you see the first game? The lame voice acting did not deter its fans. These actors will do plenty fine for the fans. C'mon let's make this movie!"

And this is why this movie turned out the way it did.

A surprising fun ride

[JamesMitchell451 · 7/10 · 13 August 2013]

I came into this movie prepared to hate on this movie, I was prepared to DESTROY it. Yet, in the end I actually dug this film. Is it a good movie? Oh hell no, but I had a blast with this installment, and it is one of (If not the) the best video game movies yet. The plot of Retribution has Alice captured by Umbrella Corporation and basically trapped in their underground facility which (Spoiler alert, for those who actually pay attention to the plot of these movies) is run by the Red Queen A.I from the first film, who has since then gone even more homicidal since then, now Alice must stop her from exterminating humanity. The story is dumb, yet it helps propel the film forward and the pacing is always moving forward, it never stops and that is a good thing here. The script has taken several huge leaps since the last installments, while its not "Good" it is more humane, funny, quirky, and entertaining. I also really like how they brought in almost everyone from the games, such as the swagged out Leon Kennedy and Barry Burton, along with some returning faces from earlier installments like "One" and "Rain". I found their interactions with each other interesting and they truly felt like characters from the game (Which is good or bad, depending on your point of view). The best part of this film (Which came as a surprise to me) was the action scenes. The battles are EPIC, and so much fun to watch, they had me by the balls and kept me engaged throughout. The special effects have also taken a major leap forward, and the constantly changing scenery helps keep things fresh. While I don't consider Retribution a good film, matter of fact: its stupid. Yet I had a massive amount of fun with it. It's the clear-cut place of a guilty pleasure for me, and now I'm curious to see how the next installment is. And as for those gamers mad that the movies aren't like the games I say this: Have you seen or played Resident Evil 5, or better yet Resident Evil 6? Those games are quite stupid, especially in their plot and dialogue, and if you disagree then I actually feel sorry for you.

The extreme worst of all Resident Evil series

[jsoetandi · 1/10 · 13 September 2012]

I love Resident Evil series. Despite the mediocre reviews it gets in the past, I still go to the cinema on its release and always looking forward for the next sequel.

But RE5 fails beyond believe. The storyline is utterly crap. The action are cheesy, the actors are cheesy, the whole movie is a joke to the RE series. I am completely disappointed at how the whole movie turns out to be.

*spoiler alert* The whole movie is set on one giant Umbrella underwater laboratory and Alice and friends is trying to break out of it. Along the way they encounter some zombies and finally got out. And that's literally about the summary of the whole story!

They try to use music to intensify everything.. but it becomes very cheesy. Especially towards the end before the final fight when Jill walks out of the submarine.

The Red Queen is total crap. Cheesy, stupid..

The fighting scene itself is very cheesy and unrealistic. They hardly get hit by a bullet even when they were standing in open view. But it seems like their bullet always managed to hit the enemy. Even the one bullet that hit Alice, didn't even do her much harm. What a load of crap.

At the final fight, it was obvious some of them had had their bones cracked. But they were still standing and fighting as if their bone is not really a necessary part of their body. They look pretty healthy for someone with broken bone!

When Alice beats Jill.. it was so obvious from the beginning that that's what needs to be done. But the scriptwriter must've made Alice so dumb that she did not realize that from the beginning. Sadly, the viewers are not as dumb as the scriptwriter.

And on the final scene when Leon touches Ada's thigh.. THATS AS CHEESIEST AS IT COULD GET! I could almost cry looking at that scene. What the f... *sigh*

I apologize for using a lot of "cheesy" word in my review. But it is exactly how I feel when I see it. It's like a bunch of amateurs movie makers trying to make action movie.

All in all, I wouldn't even rate it 5 for effort. Its a total lazy movie writing. I still want to see RE6, but I seriously hope they do not FAIL as big as this one.

What a load of crap this movie is.

Another Movie in the Series - Worth by the Action Scenes Only

[BornKnight · 6/10 · 12 December 2012]

"Resident Evil: Retribution" is the 5th movie of the Resident Evil movies franchise - this time, the story is about Alice being captured by the Umbrella Corporation and held in a submarine installation in the Arctic, where they test bioweapons in various environments, and goes around her struggle to escape, aided by Wesker and a special team that goes to her rescue, while opposed by the Red Queen and Umbrella Soldiers.

Basically this the story and that's it, and with some minor things it doesn't evolve much. The film more or less follows the same sequence of action of a video game, and follows the saga of heroin, leaving a (another) clear hook for another sequence.

Visually, as always, the movie has a particular visual, and it's very well done, with very nice CG effects / creatures and makeup, and lots of action, which borders the impossible. The film uses contrast in a very dark tone this time.

The music follows the action and fits perfectly, and the acting is good, within the general context.

Overall I liked this version, for the general action and the effects - other than that, it's empty, especially the story and character development that is superficial.

But generally, the action is what we expect from Resident Evil movie in the end, not something epic worthy of the best action film together (like every other RE movie was after all). Get it if you like the other RE movies, and like action video-games in general.

It was different

[imdb020-643-129772 · 2/10 · 16 September 2012]

Well… this movie is like a game. Watching this movie is like watching a kid playing one level of video game. But you're watching this during 1.5 hours.

During first 15 minutes of the movie I had only one thought in my mind: "what a hell is this?"

There is no plot, no catchy story like in previous parts. Here you have several blocks and a lot of stupid shooting and fighting without a hint to be a bit realistic. The final fight is like a raping of your mind - too much FX's, too less reality and common sense, it's against everything good in the world.

Actors are great. After a deadly injury a character doesn't show any sight of the pain except in his words.

Dialogs in the movie are fantastic… If you'll write down all the lines of all characters, you'll hardly fill 1.5 pages A4 size.

Watching this movie a felt like I'm fooled - creators didn't want to work to make it interesting, they used CGI+FX+fighting+shooting without everything else that makes movie worthwhile, and sold it to me using a bright wrap.

People were leaving the movie theatre in the middle of this picture.

Hope next movie will be much better.

Fifth sequel with nonstop action , violent combats and spectacular images by computer generator

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 20 July 2013]

The Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race's last and only hope, Alice (Milla Jovovich is the only actor to appear in all five films) , awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex . Again Alice fights alongside a resistance movement (Boris Kodjoe, Johann Urb , Kevin Durand , Robin Kasyanov) in the continuing battle against the Umbrella Corporation and the undead . Meanwhile , Alice rescues her daughter Becky (Aryana Engineer , this role was not originally to be hearing-impaired, but after an outstanding audition, the role was given to Engineer) from starving zombies . Alice along with the valiant group rush to The Hive, where The Red Queen plots total destruction over the human race .

Fifth spectacular , action-packed and thrilling installment of the ¨Resident Evil series¨ , adapted from the video games characters produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi . Yet another noisy film rendered from a video game which never gets as eerie as a Zombie picture should . Unstopped-action gore-feast that provides for high-octane escapist entertainment with some eye-catching visuals and pulsing soundtrack by Tomandandy . This exciting picture contains thrills , chills , action-filled with fierce combats and lots of gore and guts . The horror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized , being the first movie of the series not to feature undead dogs . This sequel takes more , more approach , more fights , more blood and gore . The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely fantastic to the bizarre along with scary and amazing frames . It's predictable but we have seen the previous chapters , as there are 3 scenes from ¨Resident Evil : Afterlife¨ that were reused in this movie , but also its predictability is redeemed in part by the charismatic acting from the action-women , as Milla Jovovich , Michelle Rodriguez , Sienna Guillory and Bingbing Li . The flesh-eating mutants appearance deliver the goods , plenty of screams , shocks and tension . The make-up assistants create a truly horrible zombie cannibals and state-of-art FX won the Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Visual Effects . Horrifying and astonishing images about apocalyptic events with destroyed cities, such as the fantastic scenarios in Washington totally inhabited by flesh-munchies creatures and White House surrounded by millions of zombies . Cool , luminous cinematography using Steadicam by Glen MacPherson and haunting , pulsing Techno-musical score by Tomandandy ; during the car chase with the Zombie Russian army the music playing is called 'Phantom Chase' , this references music from the original Bio Hazard video game. The motion picture was professionally directed with startling visual style , though with no originality , by Paul W Anderson.

The complete saga is formed by the following films : ¨Resident evil¨ by Paul W Anderson with Milla , Eric Mabius , Michelle Rodriguez , James Purefoy , Colin Salmon ; this is the best , dealing with a group of containment specialists are sent in and have to fight employees who have been contaminated , while A.I. computer instigates a series of defensive measures to contain the virus . It's followed by ¨Resident evil II : Apocalypse¨ by Alexander Witt with Jared Harris , Iain Glen , Oded Fehr , Sienna Guillory . Furthermore , ¨Resident evil III¨ by Russell Mulcahy with Ali Larter, Ashanti , Mike Epps , Oded Fehr and of course Milla Jovovich and ¨Resident Evil : Afterlife¨ by Paul W Anderson with usual actors along with Kim Coates , Sergio Peris Mencheta , Boris Kodjoe and Wentworth Miller .

Resident Evil: No One Has to Reload EVER

[jessica-timpone · 2/10 · 24 September 2012]

All I can say is, "Stop." Just please stop. No more. Alice, shut up. We know your name is Alice. Enough. We're 5 movies in now and it hasn't gone anywhere and it's not going anywhere. It's not even enough eye candy for fans of the games. I blame myself for being a glutton for punishment I guess; I've seen all the Resident Evil movies so far so I guess I'm in for the long haul. An overlong-haul. The fact that I'm a huge fan of the games unfortunately doesn't help when passing judgment on the movies. Retribution is, in my opinion, the worst one to date. The story is just, for lack of a more sophisticated word, DUMB. *Spoilers to follow*An underground facility that uses clones to recreate outbreaks? Sounds like a huge waste of time and resources to me. And the reasoning behind having said facility? To show China what the outbreak would look like in the United States. To show Japan what the outbreak would look like in Russia. Really? You mean you couldn't just put a zombie in a room with 4 people and show them what happens? Or at least a computer simulation? Much more cost effective. Having a big dumb facility just makes for having a lot of big dumb plot holes and questions. With all of those clones running around down there, you mean to tell me you can't just repopulate the human race? How do you keep having enough clothes to clothe them all? Who cleans up the bloody messes after each simulation? Why does Wesker have a change of heart all of a sudden for the human race and wants Alice to help save it? Wasn't he hell-bent on trying to kill everyone in the last movie Resident Evil: I'm Lost? Why does Umbrella have a supply of leather costumes for Alice? Why doesn't anyone have to reload ever? Leon's not using the Chicago Typewriter and I don't see anyone shooting any BSAA emblems, so according to all reasoning ever, guns need to be reloaded occasionally. Why didn't Alice just F'n recognize the ridiculously OBVIOUS glowing "bad-guy" looking scarab on Jill's chest? HEY! That must be her source of evil! WHERE IS CHRIS AND CLAIRE REDFIELD? Whose bright idea was it to have a deaf clone?! THE LIST GOES ON AND ON!!!!!! Call this movie Resident Evil: Plot Holes. Although we love seeing our favorite characters and subtle nods towards the games, we don't appreciate them being utterly stupid. Please do it right otherwise you're doing us a disservice. Throwing in new characters doesn't do them justice. I'm really glad you included Leon so he could have such a stimulating conversation with Alice. "I'm not letting you pass," "Let me pass," "Ok." And THAT WAS BARRY?! Seriously? Oh good, you gave him a Colt Python, so he's automatically Barry. Ada was at least legit; everything about her was right, if nothing else in the movie. Here they mentioned Las Plagas. According to this movie, Las Plagas are steroids you can inject into your Michelle Rodriguez to make her do X-Ray punches to people's hearts a-la the new Mortal Kombat. I'd much rather see her turn into a "head sprouter" than seeing her juiced up on 'roids. We've seen Girl Fight already. You know what, I'd rather just not see her at all, because she is in no way important. Oh, and hi Luther, I'm glad you survived the last movie and mysteriously teamed up with Leon. It's so important that you survived because you're such an integral part in this one...oh no… now you're dead. Great job. Everything about this movie is just stupid. I didn't see it in 3D thank God, but I'm sure that sucked too. It's time to just scrap the franchise. Matter of fact, it was time to scrap it 3 movies ago. Just make a REAL Resident Evil movie for the love of everything holy. Going in, you know the movie is bad, so I got what I deserved, but my God, I didn't think the franchise could actually get any worse. The bright side? This movie hit rock bottom so the next one couldn't possibly any worse…or could it?

good movie for res fans

[trscg11 · 8/10 · 7 December 2012]

is it a movie for film snobs? nope. is it for people who watch a film a week?. nope. what is this film? it's a cgi filled video game on wheels.

what gets me is all the negative reviews of this movie. what did you expect? an award winner? a picture that leaves a deep feeling of "wow what a thought provoking piece of art"? this is a video game put to the really big screen.

this is a movie to watch for big 'splosions and huge action.the best part of this movie is that people won't like it. are you a res fan? check. do you like movies that just entertain without pretense? check. like a movie that just kills a couple hours and makes you happy? check.

lets let the nature of this movie stand. it is what it is it's not high art, but f*** it 'splosions are awesome!

All guns blazing.

[richithekiller · 7/10 · 14 September 2012]

OK we don't go to see RE movies for their insight into the human condition, we go to check our brains in at the door and be entertained for just shy of 90 mins. On this level Retribution is a good fun night out with great 3D and plenty of action. It's fun to see almost all the characters from the franchise back, thanks to the Umbrella cloning programme and Ada, Leon and Barry from the games should please hardcore fans.

Retribution really doesn't offer anything new, Milla is Alice and if she remembers anything at all she probably will have a feeling of deja-vu from the previous instalments but the movie barrels along from one gory, action set-piece to another without giving the audience too long to worry about how ridiculous it all is. Dressed almost identically to Selene from Underworld Milla looks great back-flip kicking zombies, rescuing the surrogate daughter and wearing two small towels again.

The action comes thick and fast with our various heroes running from the little girl Red Queen through various virtual reality zones including Moscow, Tokyo, American Suburbia and finally up top to the frozen Russian Sub dock.

All in all the movie delivers a undeniably fun but generic experience to the other films so if you're a fan, you probably will enjoy it and on the big screen in 3D is the only way to go.

Absolute crap

[dtander-1 · 1/10 · 14 September 2012]

I really liked the first ResEvil movie, and I've been going along with them ever since, but this is the end of the line for me. This movie was a total waste of time and money. There's no plot, just a situation that Alice has to fight her way out of. There are some good stunts but nothing we haven't seen before. Most of the action is just ridiculous...bad guys that don't die, guns that don't run out of ammo, characters that can be interchangeably good or evil at the whim of the scriptwriter. It's like a five-year-old playing with toy soldiers. The actors are so wooden, and look so plastic that I honestly couldn't tell if they were CGI creations or actual human beings.

Milla and her husband should be ashamed of themselves.

?

[rivertam26 · 5/10 · 13 September 2012]

I've been a long time fan of the Resident Evil series even when people criticized them left and right. I thought they were really entertaining, stylish and inventive. Until now. There is no way I can stick up for this movie or any reason I'd even want to. I can't really give you a synopsis cause I'm not even sure what I just watched. All I can say is that it was huge disappointment in every facet possible. Despite the silliness of the previous films they always grounded themselves in some type of realism within the reigns of its premise. This entry doesn't even feel like it's a part of the same franchise. Gone is the fun and it's been replaced with ritzy production values and no discernible storyline. It's a movie based on a video game in which they are actually part of a video game and nothing is really happening. Despite a somewhat promising start with a cool reverse battle sequence, a best of franchise film reel and an inventive and even a little scary trip into suburbia we than move on to the supposed purpose of the film which just doesn't make sense at all. I mean the choices are just astoundingly bad why make the little girl deaf and the film filled with sign language, why set it in this underground facility, why is all of this happening, with this type of technology how does the remaining human population even have a chance, how is Wesker alive and why is he good now? he's not human??? None of these questions will be answered and lets not even discuss the frustratingly awkward scenes like one in which one of the good guys has a double unnecessary death, an uninspired nod towards the Alien franchise and repetitive scenarios that get less effective the more you see them (really the squid face things). Also, the acting has never been good in the Resident Evil series but Milla Jovovich had evoked a cool sense of fierce heroine, this time around she just seems plain bored as do the other actors. Filled with insipid dialogue, questionable plotting,overlong pacing, a weird bad movie from the 90's score, mediocre fight choreography (except for the scene with the chain) and a crapload of wasted potential this movie just feels like a bad dream. Sometimes, when I'm really looking forward to a movie I'll dream about it the night before and it will be horrible well this is what this feels like. Because in no possible way, what I just watched is a resident evil movie. Despite all of my complaining the movie does have some decent scenes the suburbia one I brought up before was kinda neat, another featuring Ada and Alice against 2 ax men and the chain fight in Tokyo. Besides that it's all just a big plodding waste of existential cinematic trash. A brainless, soulless unintentionally funny horror/action/sci fi hybrid that despite a larger budget,returning cast members and more impressive production values feels like an overlong filler episode that leaves me with a big question mark. Why has this happened to my beloved franchise???

Weakest of the series but still very fun...... Resident Evil Retribution

[dormesher-21565 · 7/10 · 15 November 2018]

Resident Evil Retribution the fifth entry in the Resident Evil movie franchise and the weakest in my opinion. However it's still a very fun and enjoyable entry in to the series with some awesome action and an interesting plot with Alice trying to get out of the Umbrella Prime facility which creates VR world's very interesting and pretty well handled.

There some some things that bother about this one which is the reason it's the weakest of the films in my opinion and why I like the other movies better. This entry just feels like filler to get to The Final Chapter non of the other movies did that and followed on very nicely but could stand alone this one just feels like it's setting up things to come and that's pretty annoying in my opinion.

We do get some characters from the game's introduced which is awesome like Leon Kennedy who is handled really well. We also get Ada Wong who I wasn't a massive fan of in the games but she's pretty cool in the films. Jill Valentine is also back and her story is pretty cool her being controlled by Umbrella was pretty awesome. And her action scenes where bad ass.

They do bring back other characters back from previous movies but they are waisted in this movie Rain played by Michelle Rodriguez serves no purpose in this movie and is only in this to remind us of what's happened in previous movies and to be a complication for Alice.

However I do really enjoy this movie the story is very interesting and very cool with some great action sequences and Alice is still the interesting character that we all know. And I really like this character she is a great lead character in my opinion.

Just a fun movie that i enjoy but I enjoy the other entries in the franchise more. Very fun action and an interesting storyline in a great sequel that leaves you wanting more by the end of the film. I can't wait to see how it ends after this movie.

Verdict 7.3/10 very fun and action packed had some flaws and i enjoy the other films more but this is a great entry into this awesome franchise.

WTF Happened? Watch and judge for yourself - But don't waste too much on it

[freaktation · 1/10 · 15 September 2012]

I was doing a small Resident Evil movie marathon in preparation for seeing this movie, and I was really looking forward to see how they could save the ending of the fourth one - But I was quite hopeful that I would at least get a good action story with an acceptable plot. That have been true for all the others in the series so why not this one.

Well was I in for a rude awakening. Honestly if you enjoyed all the former movies and you consider them "part of their own story" meaning that your pretty much ignoring the video games when watching the movies then you'll find yourself even more amazed by how terrible this movie is.

I will avoid going into details about plot as others have done that and perfectly expressed the errors in it (I am of course referring to those more negative reviews you'll find as most of the very positive ones doesn't really put a lot of effort into mentioning it.. maybe because even they would have trouble claiming it to be a good movie then ;) ).

But I can easily sum-up the main problems with this movie: The plot and the acting. That is not a good thing for a movie and trust me it shows. The plot has some vague references to the former movie, but that's quickly forgotten and all your in for is a mess of action scenes and bad (and I mean bad) CGI effects. Somehow the actors manage to look not in the least interested in the gun battles they take part in, and at the same time do a damn good job to remove any sense of immersion you might have scrapped together, for instance by appearing utterly unfamiliar with handling their weapons.. There is some odd alien references.. or more likely "inspired" events that make no sense in the overall story and world.

Finally the whole absurd-storm will end with you sitting back confused as to what you just watched, shaking your head in shocked astonishment, trying to comprehend just how bad it was. Then the anger will arise due to the disappointment of what this could have been and here I am writing a review to warn others.

I personally will not count this as part of the series, I'll count it as the series failed little-brother rip-off that should never ever have been made.

I cannot in any situation recommend this movie.. by far the most disappointing, meaningless and confounded mess I ever saw.

This was a blast!

[cosmic-28 · 7/10 · 14 September 2012]

The Resident Evil series is a guilty pleasure of mine and this movie was just a blast from the beginning to the end. Milla Jovovich is so fun to watch as Alice. This the 5th installment of the franchise is visual masterpiece. With the additions of Ada,Leon and Boris add so much to this movie. If you are a fan of the games and have been a complainer about the movies may not follow the game well this one fixes all of that. If you go see this movie I fell you must see it in 3D as I did. Every cheesy gimmick of things flying at the screen is in this and well it works that is what a 3D movie is supposed to do. You pay extra to see stuff come at you so why not do some overkill. A surprise in the plot comes at you within 10 minutes from the start. This movie is so entertaining with fights,action,sound and yes even got startled a couple times. Go enjoy this movie and even if you have never seen the series. This movie explains a lot at the beginning. Get out of your house and go enjoy!!!!

It is not even close to what you will be expecting!!

[chanakya-dwivedi · 3/10 · 15 September 2012]

I was eagerly looking forward to the 5th installment of this series and I am sorry to say that I have been really let down! Apart from the once in a while visuals, the movie has not been able to get even close to expectations. The first 10 minutes of the movie and you will start feeling disconnected from the movie already not caring at all what is gonna happen in the next scene. After resident evil 3 & 4, I was expecting a lot out of this installment and from Paul W.S. Anderson but he has not been able to live up the mark at all. The action scenes rather than being nail-biting, turned out to be hilarious and funny. There isn't a single moment in the movie where you are actually glued to screen. Milla Jovovich looks pretty as always, but that won't save the movie. All others have done a horrible job with their acting, especially Sienna Guillory. I would say that the only reason you would want to watch this movie is if you are a fan of the resident evil series and you don't mind wasting your money and time for the sake of this series.

A Video-Game with Explosions and Shootings

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 1 January 2013]

Alice (Milla Jovovich) awakes at home with her daughter Becky (Aryana Engineer) and her husband. But soon she realizes that she is actually in an Umbrella Corporation's underground facility. Out of the blue, the computer security system shuts-down and Alice flees to the central control room of the facility. She meets Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), who works with Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), and she learns that a five-man team has been sent by Wesker to rescue them. However, the Red Queen sends Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) to hunt them down.

"Resident Evil 5 – Retribution" is so far the weakest movie of this franchise. Actually it is a video-game with a short story and lots of explosions and shootings. "Resident Evil 5 – Retribution" works better on Blu-Ray or DVD, since it might be unbearable for those who have gone to the movie theater to see this flick. The writer needs new ideas and not reboot the story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Resident Evil – Retribuição" ("Resident Evil – Retribution")

Note: On 02 February 2017, I saw this film again.

Why is this so popular?

[jjvz1989-224-63907 · 1/10 · 15 September 2012]

I have fond memories of every Resident Evil game in the main series and I am a fan still clamoring to play Biohazard 1.5. I still remember renting the directors cut of the first game way back in the 1990's. Of course back then we had the rumours of a George A Remero directed film that would be released after the commercials starring Brad Renfro started airing in Japan. For awhile we were under the mistaken belief that the father of zombie films would be bringing one of the best zombie video games to the silver screen. In 2002 we were unfortunate enough to see the first film of a truly bad what would become movie franchise. It saddens me to see that the franchise will most probably see a sixth entry.

The film starts off with a slow mo scene played in reverse, then just played, what should have been the ending of the last film is the beginning of the new film and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the ending of the previous film as we are then treated to a recap by Alice herself of every other film. What a waste of time and money. A homage to the zombie films of the 70's is the best scene in this film where Alice is now living in Suburbia with a husband and an kid. the zombies pile in and Michelle Rodriguez is reintroduced as the most worthless character, unsurprisingly it is a clone. the scene ends and we return to an truly awful storyline. It tries to imitate Operation raccoon City or the mercenaries play mode by having different scenarios in Moscow, New York and Suburbia, it is explained by the crap story point that umbrella tried to sell the virus by showing potential buyers what the T Virus is capable of. It also introduces Ada Wong at this point looking very much like the character in the game, not very well acted by the actress but that has become an trademark of the franchise) so it is an surprise when the Kevin Durand actually makes an decent Barry Burton and it is a joy even for a few remote seconds to be treated to an character that was in the video game that is actually done justice. Leon s Kennedy also appears but he is not given much screen time and unlike Kevin does not stand out and it is all to blame to the fact that Alice should be kept alive and invincible (could this be due to the fact that the director is married to Milla Jovovich). Albert Wesker, let me just stop there i don't want to talk about that butchering. Aside from the overall acting with an few exceptions, the backgrounds especially in the 3d version seems like it was done through the age old method of playing a film behind the actors and actresses, this does not do much especially in 3d, it looks crap and it does not have the charm other bad movies have or the old time horrors have. the film is bad in every aspects, the trailers is better than the film hell, the trailer for devil may cry had better story line than the entirety of this film.

the sad thing about this all Resident Evil return and so will Alice. Paul WS Anderson will get richer though he has an less than stellar career and has made mediocrity into a industry that is profitable. Stop these kind of films now and in the future we might have an industry based on quality rather than quantity. As for my love of the games, can't wait for Resident Evil 6 (once again clarification the game not the film.) but please no more spin offs.

5th Resident Evil film... not too bad

[sonicfan5715 · 8/10 · 4 January 2013]

I would like to point out that these films (based on the hit video-game series) have been made for basically showing us zombies, lickers, and a variety of bad ass undead getting their asses handed to them by a smoking-hot Milla Jovovich in tight black spandex or skimpy dresses... And that's why we love them! But the major complaint about these films are the confusing story lines and such, people go in to see a movie like this and wonder wtf is going on (unless you've actually seen the first 4 films). As for Resident Evil: Retribution... I liked it, I probably liked it almost as much as Afterlife, probably my favorite in this series. It is very confusing at first, even for a follower of the films like myself, but it eventually comes together and you understand very quickly what was going on. And (I don't want to give away any of the awesome action scenes here) after they fight through everything in the film, they eventually join an old enemy, and clearly states without a doubt that there will be one more, possibly final film, with the humans taking their last stand against the mutant undead. (I am hyped!) It's actually nostalgic watching this film because it brings in a couple of old faces from the first three films, but it's for a reason that'd you'd have to watch the movie to understand. And we finally get Leon, from the games, into the movies, and it's great to see him. I'm actually not sure who plays him as I'm typing this, but he looked fine enough as Leon, and surprisingly had the hairstyle down too. Now the action and undead/mutants... fantastic, some of the best the franchise has to offer. We get a giant, mutant licker (harkening back to the original with a licker hunting them down), soviet Russian zombies that can actually shoot guns and ride motorcycles, a showdown with not one, but TWO Axemen, and one sexy cat fight scene (you'll see what I mean at the end of the movie.) Visual effects were very impressive, I would have liked to see this in theaters in 3D, especially the genius beginning credits when everything was playing backwards. All in all, 8 out of 10, just because the action was so damn awesome, but people get thoroughly confused during the storyline, and that kind of brings down the experience, but not by much. Very fun, and awesome movie if you're just looking to see undead becoming, well, dead!

This was GOOD even if I am over Zombies

[bassrourke · 7/10 · 13 September 2012]

For me this series of films keeps getting better. I never liked the first two Resident Evil's (maybe I need to re-watch them seeing it's been a while) but I really never took much notice of them until Apocalypse. That was a game changer and they keep improving. It doesn't matter the story has drifted away from the computer game. In Retribution, the plot kind of swings back to origins with Alice back inside the Umbrella corporation through circumstances set straight after the last film when she jumped off an exploding tanker into the ocean. Milla Jovovich should be enough reason to watch the grass grow if she was lying on it and she does not let any of the fans down here. Her kick ass attitude remains as does her armory. Michele Rodriguez also returns in not one but two roles and the concept is an interesting one. There is also a subplot of a Young deaf girl who Alice protects. Escaping through artificial cities such as Moscow and American Suburbia being pursued by zombies, monsters and foot soldiers makes it different. Must see as far as I'm concerned, the 3D is quite effective too.

What A Piece Of S*** !

[mohammadilg · 1/10 · 5 January 2013]

Extremely awful no kind of script or dialogs only an immune characters that kills everyone with one unlimited ammo Gun. Extremely poor action work. The Main character was immune to 2000 bullets that was shooting her way and once she got shot and walk more powerful before she was shot :)) Extreme crap movie that you get bored , no surprises and no new characters or zombies and the best part was :)) the zombies were able to shoot and hunt you down and the crazy part was they were more accurate than a police cop. OK now i get the fact that you must create new movie once in a while but this was just loosing your fans. YOU DESTROYED OUR BELOVED MOVIE Just don't watch it you'll get disappointed

Lots a shooting, Lots a shooting, Lots a shooting

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 19 September 2013]

Following the last movie, Alice is captured and imprisoned by The Red Queen in an Umbrella Corporation's underground facility in Kamchatka. Now Wesker wants Alice to put on a last stand for humanity alongside him. With Ada Wong on the inside and a team from the outside, they try to escape from The Red Queen.

There isn't much going on storywise. They put in virtual environments in the facility so that they could play out some of the action in NY and Moscow. There are also clones in this facility so that Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, and Oded Fehr can return to the franchise. At its core, it's all about the action. The story isn't that important. It's not really a movie. It's more a video game. Enjoy!

Resident Evil: Retribution is by far the best sequel in the series

[scott_1589 · 7/10 · 14 September 2012]

I've followed the Resident Evil film series since it started in 2002. I am also a big fan of the video game series and have played and finished every main game in the series since it started way back in 1996. Trust me when I say I am a fan and take my word for it. This is the best Resident Evil film to come out since the 2002 original.

Now let me start by saying that I prefer the video games over the films. But I'm fine with the main character Alice being an exclusive character to the movies and the films being set in separate universe. In fact I've always argued against the idea that movies should be set out EXACTLY like the games. Where is the fun in that? These movies are meant to be a different version to the games universe. Comic books do it all the time.

Resident Evil: Retribution is not to be taken too seriously. The movie is meant to be fun and thrilling and it succeeds! It has the thrilling jump scares and tense moments known from the original and 'Extinction' and the campy fun factor of 'Apocalypse'. While the 4th entry Resident Evil: Afterlife's special effects, stunts and camera work were impressive, its story served as bridge between 'Extinction' and 'Retribution'. It followed up on 'Extinctions' main plot points while setting up the 5th film with a cliffhanger. Unfortunately I thought 'Afterlife' was the worst entry in the series though, even though i found it quite enjoyable.

Paul W.S Anderson takes 'Afterlife's direction and does everything right this time round with 'Retribution'. The slow-motion isn't over the top this time and the action sequences are so much better. The plot isn't AMAZING, but THERE IS A PLOT! MINOR SPOILERS: Alice is held prisoner in an Umbrella Facility until a a spy and a elite squad move in to rescue her. It sounds like a recreation of the first film, and trust me there is plenty of homage to it. But 'Retribution' is much more imaginative this time around as it uses more monsters from the video games and makes use of the quirks exclusive to the series such as 'the clones' and 'Alices Gift'. Characters dead from the previous films make a return. The whole film works so well as a sequel because it mixes elements of nostalgia along with fantastic stunt work and special effects.

This film rocks. Its the best sequel in the series! If you want to know how I rank them 1:Resident Evil 2.Retribution 3.Extinction 4:Apocalypse and 5:Afterlife. I'm a fan of great plots in films, and the trick is not to take these Resident Evil films too seriously. Give 'Retribution' a go its a lot of fun!