Finally
So today I went to the cinema to see some nondescript movie or other, it wasn't important at all ;)
LOL, ok. Let’s start by saying that this ~review is going to be an emotional rollercoaster full of uncontrollable emotions. So, y’know, you have been warned. Also, I’m writing this review with two rats running around my bed, so: DISTRACTIONS. Any typos can be blamed on Jill and Starbuck, I’m sure.
Overall, I was impressed. It isn’t that difficult to impress me; they could’ve shown a still photo of a traffic jam for three hours, as long as it was a Raccoon City traffic jam, and I’d give it five stars. But yes, I liked the movie. If I was rating it beside the other movies, I’d put Apocalypse first, then Retribution. It was a pretty good movie, with solid positive points. I think people would enjoy it even if they aren't fans of the franchise. I'd give it 4/5.
In terms of general plot and actual straight forward narrative… lmao, when does Resident Evil do that properly? I think that people who haven’t played the games/at least read up on them would really struggle to understand this movie…. And even then, Retribution is a great big hot mess. I never really got the Las Plagas thing anyway. The whole escape-from-the-testing-facility plot was all over the place, I mean, why was the Red Queen trying to kill them in the first place? Who was Jill working for, who was the head honcho of Umbrella? So yeah, it was a mess, and it kind of bugged me, but then:
LEON
ADA
JILL
BARRY
Tears in my eyes, and yes I left the cinema crying, what of it? Perfect casting all round. I’m glad they kept the Leon/Ada romance in, because it’s really rare for big action movies like these to give romance stories to secondary characters, so that was nice, and Leon/Ada are as canon as it gets. Barry died (and the narrative didn’t exactly suffer from his loss) which kind of sucked a little but since when is Barry even relative to the plot anyway? His death was unnecessary, I don’t really see what he accomplished by staying behind while the others went on :S but, whatevs, Barry Burton has been a law unto himself since ‘96. I wish we had seen more of Carlos, it felt wrong that he died at the beginning of the film. And I wish LJ had come back :(
I also thought it was incredibly weird that this movie chose to just throw characters in the mix and then kill them off (Carlos, One, Barry). I didn’t see the point. There was all this hype about previous characters coming back, and it was supposed to be brilliant, but they were really… underused, IMO.. It was just… weird. But I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, Alice is such a driving force in the narrative that everybody else just seems… extraneous. Which is not necessarily a bad thing (Alice is awesome) but I wish the production team would make up their mind one way or the other. Out of the clones, I really liked Rain, and the contrast between her two versions, and I was pretty sad when she died. POOR RAIN :(
And let’s not talk about Leon and how he didn’t even get an introduction. But I don’t care about that because JIIIIIIIIILL. Jill is finally back in the movies, and even better is back on track in terms of canon. Everyone knows I love Jill, more than is sensible for a fictional character, and her mind-control is my favourite aspect of the game(s). I wasn’t exactly sure why or how she’d been captured (or even when) and why someone had placed the scarab on her chest (also, wtf, the scarab moved of its own accord??).
The 3D was very good, although it wasn’t as obvious as in other films. In places, it was quite easy to forget that I was watching a 3D film. In other places though, it was great, axe-throws and bullets and zombie chases, it was all high-end and very impressive. As always with RE tbh, everything was really well done and cinematic, which is great. Quite a few parts made me jump, which has never happened to me before with RE.
Anderson said he wanted to create a post-apocalyptic epic, and did he? I kind of think he did. There’s too much action and not enough character exposition to really call it an epic, but I truly got the sense that this movie meant something. I really felt for Alice when she saw her friends turned evil. Becky’s fear of abandonment really came through, you could sense that she just wanted her mother back, and I’m so glad that she survived the movie, because kids in zombie movies don’t have a good track record. Even though she’s a clone, Becky has all these memories of a real life. Luther, Leon, Barry and their little gang just exude survivalism, you want them to succeed, even though Wesker was previously a bad guy. There’s a lot going on in this movie and it’s all very urgent, but the overriding feeling is one of hope, and victory. There is a resistance; humanity isn’t totally destroyed. And Wesker has moved into the White House, naturally.
Things I would like to see in the 6th movie:
- The BSAA (pleaaaase! - that ending got me really hyped with the White House and Wesker’s soldiers, I really thought the BSAA were involved)
- Closure on Angela Ashford (but, um, I’m pretty sure she’s dead)
- What the heck happened to the rest of Claire’s convoy?!?!?
- I’m pretty sure Claire is going to get stuck looking after Becky. First Sherry, then Rani, then an entire convoy that seems to be 80% kids. DIAL 0800 FOR CLAIRE’S BABYSITTING SERVICE.
- MOAR LEON.
- MOAR Rain clones.
- Alice just needs to take Becky and go live in Jamaica or somewhere and have a happy ending, idk.
Also I watched Damnation and I only have one thing to say:
LEON WORE JEANS.
And now I need to end this here because Jill has just jumped onto the floor and OMG she could be anywhere, I have to go search for her.
/emotions
LOL, ok. Let’s start by saying that this ~review is going to be an emotional rollercoaster full of uncontrollable emotions. So, y’know, you have been warned. Also, I’m writing this review with two rats running around my bed, so: DISTRACTIONS. Any typos can be blamed on Jill and Starbuck, I’m sure.
Overall, I was impressed. It isn’t that difficult to impress me; they could’ve shown a still photo of a traffic jam for three hours, as long as it was a Raccoon City traffic jam, and I’d give it five stars. But yes, I liked the movie. If I was rating it beside the other movies, I’d put Apocalypse first, then Retribution. It was a pretty good movie, with solid positive points. I think people would enjoy it even if they aren't fans of the franchise. I'd give it 4/5.
In terms of general plot and actual straight forward narrative… lmao, when does Resident Evil do that properly? I think that people who haven’t played the games/at least read up on them would really struggle to understand this movie…. And even then, Retribution is a great big hot mess. I never really got the Las Plagas thing anyway. The whole escape-from-the-testing-facility plot was all over the place, I mean, why was the Red Queen trying to kill them in the first place? Who was Jill working for, who was the head honcho of Umbrella? So yeah, it was a mess, and it kind of bugged me, but then:
LEON
ADA
JILL
BARRY
Tears in my eyes, and yes I left the cinema crying, what of it? Perfect casting all round. I’m glad they kept the Leon/Ada romance in, because it’s really rare for big action movies like these to give romance stories to secondary characters, so that was nice, and Leon/Ada are as canon as it gets. Barry died (and the narrative didn’t exactly suffer from his loss) which kind of sucked a little but since when is Barry even relative to the plot anyway? His death was unnecessary, I don’t really see what he accomplished by staying behind while the others went on :S but, whatevs, Barry Burton has been a law unto himself since ‘96. I wish we had seen more of Carlos, it felt wrong that he died at the beginning of the film. And I wish LJ had come back :(
I also thought it was incredibly weird that this movie chose to just throw characters in the mix and then kill them off (Carlos, One, Barry). I didn’t see the point. There was all this hype about previous characters coming back, and it was supposed to be brilliant, but they were really… underused, IMO.. It was just… weird. But I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, Alice is such a driving force in the narrative that everybody else just seems… extraneous. Which is not necessarily a bad thing (Alice is awesome) but I wish the production team would make up their mind one way or the other. Out of the clones, I really liked Rain, and the contrast between her two versions, and I was pretty sad when she died. POOR RAIN :(
And let’s not talk about Leon and how he didn’t even get an introduction. But I don’t care about that because JIIIIIIIIILL. Jill is finally back in the movies, and even better is back on track in terms of canon. Everyone knows I love Jill, more than is sensible for a fictional character, and her mind-control is my favourite aspect of the game(s). I wasn’t exactly sure why or how she’d been captured (or even when) and why someone had placed the scarab on her chest (also, wtf, the scarab moved of its own accord??).
The 3D was very good, although it wasn’t as obvious as in other films. In places, it was quite easy to forget that I was watching a 3D film. In other places though, it was great, axe-throws and bullets and zombie chases, it was all high-end and very impressive. As always with RE tbh, everything was really well done and cinematic, which is great. Quite a few parts made me jump, which has never happened to me before with RE.
Anderson said he wanted to create a post-apocalyptic epic, and did he? I kind of think he did. There’s too much action and not enough character exposition to really call it an epic, but I truly got the sense that this movie meant something. I really felt for Alice when she saw her friends turned evil. Becky’s fear of abandonment really came through, you could sense that she just wanted her mother back, and I’m so glad that she survived the movie, because kids in zombie movies don’t have a good track record. Even though she’s a clone, Becky has all these memories of a real life. Luther, Leon, Barry and their little gang just exude survivalism, you want them to succeed, even though Wesker was previously a bad guy. There’s a lot going on in this movie and it’s all very urgent, but the overriding feeling is one of hope, and victory. There is a resistance; humanity isn’t totally destroyed. And Wesker has moved into the White House, naturally.
Things I would like to see in the 6th movie:
- The BSAA (pleaaaase! - that ending got me really hyped with the White House and Wesker’s soldiers, I really thought the BSAA were involved)
- Closure on Angela Ashford (but, um, I’m pretty sure she’s dead)
- What the heck happened to the rest of Claire’s convoy?!?!?
- I’m pretty sure Claire is going to get stuck looking after Becky. First Sherry, then Rani, then an entire convoy that seems to be 80% kids. DIAL 0800 FOR CLAIRE’S BABYSITTING SERVICE.
- MOAR LEON.
- MOAR Rain clones.
- Alice just needs to take Becky and go live in Jamaica or somewhere and have a happy ending, idk.
Also I watched Damnation and I only have one thing to say:
LEON WORE JEANS.
And now I need to end this here because Jill has just jumped onto the floor and OMG she could be anywhere, I have to go search for her.
/emotions