Verdict on Resident Evil Retribution

So... I had a problem. I dislike the Resident Evil movies... but I really like the idea of Umbrella controlled Jill Valentine. So being a reasonable member of the community... I took the hit and went to see the movie to see if it was worth our interest or not.

Suffice to say it is not.

For the uninitiated. Jill Valentine, one of the main characters of the first Resident Evil games is captured and infected with a parasite to make her the main villain's slave in the fifth game. The process involves her hair transforming from brunette to blonde and wearing a skin tight blue suit with the cleavage revealed.

Sounds great, huh? Sadly the game didn't show the corruption scene and even her transformation back to normal is very downplayed. The only enjoyment that I personally got out of the sequence in the videogame was knowing how good Jill was and how bad she was now... and that there was a physical transformation in there somewhere, too.

Well. That's the game. How about the movie?

Well the movie uses a robotic scarab to control her so there are two scenes which imply that she is an organic robot (for those who enjoy that), her eyes are replaced with the Umbrella logo and refocus like a camera lens, showing that the evil AI is watching the world through her eyes.

There is no capture or brainwashing scene as she starts the movie in this state (hair color not even referenced) and her purification is much like the game where the scarab is destroyed and she comes back to her senses (though she collapses and convulses for a while).

Her attitude as an evil "head of security" is the typical hammy acting you'd expect from the Resident Evil franchise. The actress is just having a fun time acting like a villain, yelling at people and acting cold to Alice's pleas to remember who she is.

The actress, by the way, is stunningly gorgeous and the world's greatest Jill Valentine cosplayer. How she took on Jill during the second movie is the entire reason I came out to see this fifth one (I skipped 3 and 4) and she certainly looks great in that tight blue suit... but from a corruption perspective, this one is sadly a little lax. Like the game it leaves the whole story to your imagination... but if you're familiar enough with Movie!Jill and want to see her acting like a stereotypical villain then by all means enjoy her wonderful 15 minutes of screen time. She steals it every time she's there.

Rest of the movie is very "...eh", the entire 90 minutes is one big escape run with varying degrees of monster. Really the only excuse to see it is for the big screen cosplay of Jill, Barry, Ada and Leon.

I have no idea why they keep making Resident evil movies, they get panned at the box office every time and they still have the funds and backing to make sequels. I'll probably rent it once it comes out on DVD anyway since I heard its at least somewhat better than the previous films.

There is some corruption in the games, with the Plaga parasite at least.