The thing I've learned about films like Underworld Awakening, Resident Evil: Afterlife and just released Resident Evil Retribution is, aside from falling victim to the lamentable random surname generator sickness, they simply must be seen theatrically. In IMAX 3D if available. The Underworld franchise has moody style to spare and ridiculously overqualified British thespians hamming it up for the cheap seats, not to mention an intricate, lovingly cared for mythology that holds up to narrative scrutiny. The Paul WS Anderson directed films of the RE series rely instead on slick visuals, insane plotting and bombastic action set pieces to gloss over the fact that they're simply a bunch of shampoo commercial models running around unconvincing digital environments wearing laughable outfits. The pompous film snob who humorlessly resided in me 7 or 8 years ago would dismiss this sort of junk food entertainment sight unseen. The me of today finds much to love in cinematic sugar bombs such as this and I must admit, I had a marvelous time at my solo, 940 am IMAX 3D screening this morning.
I saw Afterlife in the same theater 2 years ago and had a blast then as well. The problem was when I bought the bluray and tried to watch it at home sans 3D on a puny 40 inch screen. Films like this don't hold up when they're not larger and louder than life. The Underworld films offer more to chew on during repeat viewings, with their host of bitter feuds drawn out over centuries and hissing, maniacal work from the likes of Bill Nighy. RE Retribution doesn't even bother making sense from scene to scene and burdens thespians like Boris Kodjoe and Kevin Durand with the lions share of dramatic heavy lifting. I'm not intimating I outright hate the bland, blank, airbrushed boneheads who populate this film, I'm just saying it's a recognizable step down from rounding out your cast with say, Stephen Rea or Charles Dance. So, I guess I keep circling back to how much I prefer the Underworld series for this sort of entertainment, but don't misunderstand me so quickly(to paraphrase Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven). Resident Evil Retribution was a goddamned, hell of a time and I enjoyed every moment of it.
I'm a fan of Anderson actually, having loved AVP, Soldier and the certifiably brilliant Event Horizon. But let's be honest, the dude is a shockingly derivative director, shamelessly pilfering from films he clearly loves and worships. There are many sequences in Retribution that brought to mind better films, but Anderson's palpable excitement and supreme competence as a technical craftsmen carries the whole affair off with panache. Tomandandy are back from Afterlife to provide the score and once again it is imminently listenable and cool as techno ice. There's no way to accurately describe how much dimension and style their music adds to the film. The CGI and 3D is executed well enough to not be too distracting during a thrilling, first time viewing, but will likely show its seams upon re-watch. There is some lovely shot composition throughout and the opening credit sequence is worth the price of admission alone to revel in its hollow awesomeness.
Jovovich's transcendent, unearthly beauty anchoring the film helps a great deal. She convincingly comes across as both steely and vulnerable, sometimes within the same action scene. Her physicality and presence is fantastic here, no more so than in the films standout moment, a simple hallway fight sequence early on that had me wanting to jump out of my seat with juvenile enthusiasm. She's a tremendous, totally unique lead actress. I'm thankful for this franchise chiefly in how it facilitates a starring role for her every couple of years. She has found a niche within this framework and I applaud her for dedicating herself to these films, consistently giving the fans what they want. Milla doesn't phone these in, and on a 5th installment, that sort of dedication should be commended.
The most interesting thing about the picture however, is Anderson's central story conceit involving clones and what is essentially an underwater holodeck. It's a telling parable for not only his style as a film maker, but for the depressing nature of film production today. This is purely market driven, tent-pole franchise, formula film making here. As a continuation from the previous film, the story makes not one iota of sense and the labored, viral test-scenario structure seems in place primarily to pander to the foreign markets by giving shout outs to their more well known locales, not-so-coincidentally where the RE films truly make their money. Familiar faces drift in and out, shifting allegiances, dying and resurrecting and I don't think it was ever made clear who they were in the first place. There's an extraordinarily complex essay to be written concerning the malleable, highly mutable and utter meaninglessness of the world these films exist in. One where plot points and characters don't matter and the reset button is hit every 15 minutes. The film is a copy of a copy of a reboot of an adaptation of a videogame. A cinematic focus-group snake swallowing its own tail ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
But I don't feel particularly compelled to tackle that essay right now. I'm still beaming like a besotted fool, drunk on the spectacle and guffawing at the silliness of it all. The other Paul Anderson has a film out next week and we can all stroke our beards at that as we did his previous masterpiece. For now, I'm happy to have had fun at the theater again. To get my money's worth and swim in the ether of mindless escapism for but a brief while. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning at all.
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