Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer, Bingbling Li, Boris Kodjoe, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts
Rating: (R16)
1 star (out of 5)
Which explains why the Resident Evil franchise has reached number five before I weakened enough to check in.
I wish I could say that through Resident Evil: Retribution (Hoyts) I have gained a new respect for Miss Jovovich, but the best I can manage is that she is no worse an actor than anyone else in this sorry mash-up of a cinematic video game.
Director (and Jovovich's husband) Paul W.S. Anderson is a dab hand at visuals.
The sets are great and the 3-D is smoothly integrated.
Jovovich's character, Alice, gives us a status update at the beginning of the film, so being a late-comer to the franchise is not a problem.
Even though I knew what was going on and why, I just found it boring because every sequence, no matter how expertly staged, was a homage to other, better movies.
Being just like everything else out there is not a problem when you are playing a game and are part of the action but when sitting in a movie theatre it is just dull.
Best thing: The first five minutes verge on greatness, but it is downhill from there.
Worst thing: By the time it was winding up, I was whimpering "Please make it stop" and then it ended with a teaser for number six - oh, the humanity.
See it with: A gamer under doctor's orders to rest his/her thumbs.
- Christine Powley.
