Trailer Trashin’: The Resident Evil Series Continues to Not Interest Me with Resident Evil: Retribution

I’ve been on a good run with Trailer Trashin’ these last couple weeks, but I knew it would happen eventually – I have to write about a movie I have no interest in. On the chopping block this week is the second trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth entry in the film series loosely based on the Resident Evil video game franchise.

Premise: Alice (Milla Jovovich) is captured by the Umbrella Corporation once again, and awakens in the heart of their operations facility. As she moves further into the complex, more of her past is revealed and she continues to hunt for those responsible for the viral outbreak that devastated the world. Her quest takes her and her new-found allies from Tokyo to New York; Washington, D.C.; and Moscow. After a mind-blowing revelation, Alice is forced to rethink everything, finally finding out the truth about herself and the Umbrella Corporation.

My take: For a long time, I had a rather contentious relationship with the Resident Evil film series. I’m a huge gamer, and the Resident Evil game franchise has long held a special place in my heart, despite its many flaws (silly voice acting, ridiculous overarching plot, outdated control scheme, I could go on). So when Hollywood made a movie that had essentially nothing to do with the games, I was outraged, and when that film begat multiple sequels, it gave me something to be miffed about every few years. But eventually, I had an epiphany – I started to think of the films not as attempts to adapt the games, but instead as cinematic fan fiction. Even if I’m largely opposed to these films, they don’t affect the games or my enjoyment of them. The only time I’ve ever seen any of the films was one night several years ago when I watched the first movie on the Sci-Fi Channel, and I found it to be competently made but completely forgettable. I’ve never been interested in seeing any of the sequels, and the trailers for Resident Evil: Retribution, the latest entry, haven’t changed my opinions.

From what I can tell, no one in the cast is really stretching their acting muscles, but none of them look like they’re going to embarrass themselves, either. As much as I feel ambivalent about the character of Alice, I do like Milla Jovovich as an actress. She kind of reminds me of Jason Statham, in that she’s never going to totally disappear into a character, but it’s always cool to see her kicking ass onscreen. It’s also nice to have Sienna Guillory – who I’ve liked since The Time Machine (2002) – back as Jill Valentine, and it looks like she’s got a lot more to do this time. The quick looks we get at Johann Urb as Leon Kennedy, Kevin Durand as Barry Burton, and Li Bingbing as Ada Wong are nicely-done bits of fan service, because they all look much more like their characters from the games than anyone since Sienna Guillory’s original appearance as Jill Valentine in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Li Binbing’s Ada especially looks like he stepped right out of the games. And while it’s always nice to see Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, and Colin Salmon getting work again, I think that bringing their characters back from the dead is a silly idea. Based on this trailer, the only member of the cast who seems to be really enjoying himself is Shawn Roberts, who reprises his role as main villain Albert Wesker. He’s got some great over-the-top evil lines, and he delivers them with appropriate gusto.

To give credit where credit’s due, I do think the way this trailer opens is genuinely clever. If I saw this in a theater without any foreknowledge, I probably would have been fooled by the beginning of the trailer and thinking it a trailer for some family dramedy I hadn’t heard of. But I do kind of wonder if revealing this element in the trailer might have been a mistake, since it could have been a pretty novel twist if they kept it under wraps until the film came out.

I also think the action and creatures in the film look pretty cool, despite how ridiculous and cheesy they are. But at the same time, my lack of knowledge about these films makes me ask a lot of questions Take for instance the scene of the tilt-rotor aircraft attacking the ship. For someone like me who doesn’t know the films, I have the visceral “cool” reaction to it, but I’m also scratching my head about how the Umbrella Corporation got a fleet of gunships. The giant creature chasing the car down the street looks cool, kind of like a giant version of the Licker from the second Resident Evil game and the first movie, but I’m wondering why they didn’t take the opportunity to use one of the many other monsters from the game series. And while “Evil Goes Global” is an undoubtedly great tagline, wasn’t human civilization pretty much finished back in Resident Evil: Extinction, two movies ago?

I just want to be clear, it’s not that I think this movie will be terrible, it’s just that I’m not interested in seeing it. If you are a fan of this series, I hope that Resident Evil: Retribution lives up to your expectations. Personally, if I want to watch a Paul W. S. Anderson video game-based film this fall, I’ll watch Mortal Kombat (1995) again.

ANTICIPATION: I missed the last three films, and there’s nothing here that makes me want to hop on at this point.

Release Date: September 14th, 2012

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Johann Urb, Kevin Durand, Li Bingbing, Oded Fehr, Boris Kodjoe, Colin Salmon, Aryana Engineer, and Shawn Roberts
Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
Writer: Paul W. S. Anderson