Resident Evil: Retribution

Indian Express Rating:1/2

WAY back,when the first Resident Evil came out,the woman who would make the franchise her own,Milla Jovovich,said one had to be 15 years old to appreciate the film for its zombies,leather,guns,blood and shooting. It’s 10 years later,Milla is still around,so are Rodriguez,writer-director Anderson,the zombies,leather,guns,blood and shooting. Those 15-year-olds though may have moved on.

And would you blame them? In a story that manages to be both incredulous and boring,everything from zombies/aliens to monsters and axe-wielding giants are thrown the way of Alice (Jovovich). Later,she is shot,trampled and has her heart brought to a stop,literally — without a crack on either her or her all-leather unitard ensemble.

Her initial dress is almost more believable,comprising two small white sheets pinned on the sides and covering just the needful. To Jovovich’s credit,she makes even that seem like a dress that could be lived in. To Anderson’s,he doesn’t have his favourite actress and real-life wife trying to save the world in it. There are some things even gravity and Jovovich’s willpower can’t hold down.

When she does wake up in the aforementioned dress,Alice finds herself imprisoned inside the evil network Umbrella’s labyrinth,and escapes to realise the zombies are still around. She has an accomplice inside and a rescue team working their way in – “in” is a submarine 300 ft belong the surface. What they cross are simulations of cities around the world used by Umbrella for its experiments – New York,Berlin,Moscow,Tokyo and Suburbia. All the better to destroy each of them.

This time there is a kid too,part of the “pretend family” Umbrella had created for Alice’s model as part of its evil experiments. The kid,Becky,however,believes Alice is her real mother.

That Becky can’t hear or speak is almost a mercy considering the mayhem the film puts her through – including time trapped inside the gooey membrane of a monster. There’s a reason this movie franchise originated as a video game – for 15-yr-olds.

shalini.langer@expressindia.com