DISCLAIMER: I never played any of the Resident Evil video games. This review comes from a simple-minded movie goer who watch movies for funResident Evil's achievement is truly fascinating. 5 movies, very loosely based on the video game series, all poorly received and yet still making over a billion dollars. With the sixth and the supposedly the final entry in the most successful video game-based movie franchise being released, will director Paul W.S. Anderson can recover from the disaster that is "Retribution" and bring a worthy end to the series?The answer: Yes he can."The <more> Final Chapter" managed to fix some of the series issues, and as the result, it may be the best entry in the entire series despite I haven't seen "Apocalypse" and a half of "Extinction" . The story revolves on Alice as she has 48 hours to return to The Hive, in order to retrieve a airborne anti-virus, which will kill any organisms infected by the T-virus, before the human race is all lost. Milla Jovovich, as always brings a fine performance as the main heroine. Ali Larter is also back as Claire Redfield, along with some new faces, including Ruby Rose, William Levy, Lee Joon-gi My mom's favorite , and many others, all delivers a well-done performance. The action sequences are probably the most intense in the series, and thank god there little to none of the scenes involving slow-mo's Seriously, "Retribution" is ruined because of slow-mo's . The set pieces are amazing, and the deaths of several characters might be the most brutal of all. They also didn't forget about adding some easter eggs RE players will definitely notice.What's surprising, is that despite being the last entry, the writers still manage to deliver one last plot twist. I'm not going to spoiler it tho but it involves with Alice's past. In the end, the climax is well structured and truly means that this is indeed the last one despite the last scene may indicate otherwise Despite all the improvement, not all the things in the movie were good. I'm disappointed that the previous characters: Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Leon S. Kennedy, and others were not invited. Although the movie explains why they gone, it's just a cheap excuse. Some of the jump scares don't work anymore, mostly because it has been spoiler-ed in the trailers. The story was also rushed a lot, leaving no room for character development and a proper introduction to the new characters. The CGI is mostly noticeable, *SPOILER ALERT* And my god, Albert Wesker, what happened to you? You used to be so powerful and now you're so weak? Being said that you're fired and you've lost your legs and died miserably? I'm disappointed of you. *SPOILER ENDS HERE*Overall, the last chapter in the franchise is still a mess, but way more superior to it's predecessors. It's a shame that finally a decent RE movie came after 4, average-to-awful installment I'm looking at you "Retribution" , but at least it's good that the series will end in a good note, or so it seems. If you ask me about a new Resident Evil movie, I prefer the series being rebooted and make a movie faithful to the original, rather than making another RE inspired story, or even another sequel to a franchise whose story is pretty much done. <less> |