Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
Synopsis:
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) is a science fiction thriller movie. It is the fifth installment in the Resident Evil film series, based on the Capcom survival horror video game series Resident Evil, and the third to be directed by Anderson. It is a direct follow-on from the previous film Resident Evil: Afterlife. The film has many returning actors and characters, along with new characters from the video game not featured in the previous films. Filming took place from October to December 2011 for a scheduled release date of September 14, 2012. The film was released in 3D and IMAX 3D, as well as 2D.
The film sees Alice (Milla Jovovich) captured by the Umbrella Corporation, forcing her to make her escape from an underwater base in the Arctic Circle, used for testing the T-virus. Many characters from previous films return, including Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), James "One" Shade (Colin Salmon), and Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). Three new characters from the games appear for the first time in the franchise: Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand).
Following where the previous film left off, Alice (Milla Jovovich) and the others on the Umbrella Corporation freighter Arcadia face an attack by a fleet of airships led by Alice's former ally Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), who has been brainwashed by Umbrella through a red scarab device attached to her chest. When Alice causes an airship to crash into the ship, she is knocked unconscious into the water.
Switching over into what seems to be an alternate reality, Alice finds herself living as a suburban housewife with her husband Todd (Oded Fehr) — a clone of Carlos Olivera — and deaf daughter Becky (Aryana Engineer). However, this idyllic life is disrupted when zombies attack and kill Todd. Alice and Becky escape to the streets and are rescued by Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez), who lets them ride in her car. As the three escape, they are hit by a truck, knocking Rain unconscious while Alice and Becky escape. Alice runs and is attacked by a zombified Todd.
The scene ends when the real Alice awakens in an Umbrella base, having been captured at the Arcadia. Jill interrogates Alice, who unsuccessfully pleads with her to remember her true identity. During an unexpected power failure, Alice escapes from her cell. After battling a horde of zombies, Alice encounters Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), an associate of Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). Ada explains that she and Wesker no longer
work for Umbrella. Wesker appears and, seeming to have redeemed himself, reveals that the Red Queen is now controlling what's left of Umbrella and he plans to aid Alice's escape and battle the base's programs, in order to save what's left of mankind. Ada also reveals that the base is underwater and serves as a testing ground for experiments. Additionally, Wesker has organized a team of freelance operatives to infiltrate the base and help Alice and Ada escape, including Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), and Luther West (Boris Kodjoe).
Leon's team plants explosives near the entrance of the base, which will detonate in two hours and trap anybody still inside. The group plans to meet with Alice and Ada in a simulated Raccoon City suburbia, identical to the one in Alice's flashback. As Alice and Ada walk through a simulation of New York City, they defeat two Axemen. Leon and his team enter a Moscow simulation, but are cut off by armed Las Plagas zombies. Alice and Ada manage to enter the suburban simulation where they were supposed to meet up with
Leon and his team. In the arena the two find Becky, as well as Jill and her mercenaries, consisting of clones of Alice's deceased allies: Rain, Carlos and James "One" Shade (Colin Salmon). A shoot-out occurs, resulting in Ada being captured and Alice and Becky escaping.
Alice and Becky run into the "good" Rain and head to Moscow, where they meet up with Leon's team. The
group escapes the intelligent zombies, and reach an elevator that leads them to submarines that could help them escape, although it shuts off. An enormous licker appears, with it capturing Becky and killing "good" Rain. The group pursues the licker, where they encounter Jill's group; another battle ensues, in which Barry is killed but not before he kills One. Alice manages to rescue Becky. During their escape from the licker they arrive at a cloning facility where Alice and Becky see multiple copies of themselves. Realizing this Becky pleads and asks Alice to tell her the truth, at which Alice declares that she is now her mother. Then she goes to the pod where she rescued Becky from, killing the licker and destroying the cloning facility. They rejoin Leon and Luther as the detonation occurs. The explosion results in the flooding of the facility and the death of Carlos.
The group reaches the surface; however, they are met by a submarine, from which Jill, the evil Rain, and a captured Ada emerge. With new orders from the Red Queen to kill Alice, Jill battles Alice while Rain, injecting herself with the Las Plagas parasite that gives her strength and apparent invincibility, knocks out Ada and fights Leon and Luther, with Luther being killed in the process. Alice manages to remove and destroy the scarab device from Jill, returning her to normal. Alice joins Leon in fighting Rain; she notices there are zombies from the facility swimming up to the ice. She shoots the ice where Rain is standing, and she falls in the water, leaving her fate to the zombies. Alice, Ada, Becky, Leon, and Jill (who is no longer being controlled by the Red Queen) travel to Wesker's base: the heavily barricaded and guarded White House. Wesker injects Alice with the T-virus, returning her former superhuman powers in order to enact his plan, then tells her that she is responsible for saving the remaining humans from extinction once and for all. Wesker then leads them up top of The White House, explaining that this is the last stand of the human race. The scene zooms out to reveal the landscape around them, showing destroyed Umbrella helicopters, volcanic craters and the remaining U.S troops and Wesker's Umbrella army fighting against enormous hordes of zombies and mutant creatures.
Cast:
Milla Jovovich as Alice
An ex-employee of Umbrella Corporation. After being experimented on by Umbrella, she sets out to destroy
all of those who started the outbreak. When asked about her character, Jovovich says that "Alice started off as the audience, as this innocent bystander watching what’s going on and then finally understanding what role she had to play in all of it and who she was. And then throughout the series, she kinda started separating from people. You know, first she realized Umbrella was controlling her, so she couldn’t be close to people. Now that she’s human again, and not only human again, but now she’s almost… I mean, this is her life. This is what she loves in a weird, sick way. It’s what she does best. And I think in this one, she has a little bit more of a sense of humor about it and is a little more relaxed with it. It’s not as shocking as it normally is. In a sense, now she’s got her friends, her team, she’s part of a team. She’s a human being again, so she’s connected with the people around her. And she has fun with them."
Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine
A former member of Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), police officer of Raccoon City and ally of Alice who was captured and subsequently mind-controlled by Umbrella to find Alice. Sometime after the events of Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Jill was captured by the Umbrella Corporation and is under their control through the Scarab Appliance on her chest. Guillory was originally set to appear in Resident Evil: Extinction, but she dropped out due to her commitment to Eragon. She made a cameo appearance in Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Michelle Rodriguez as Rain Ocampo
A pair of clones of Rain Ocampo, who was an Umbrella commando operative from the original film where she died. The Umbrella Corporation has cloned Rain, creating a "Good Rain" and a "Bad Rain". "Bad Rain" is hunting down Alice, under Jill's orders. For many years, Anderson has been trying to get Rodriguez back in the Resident Evil films. He says that he wanted "to kind of give her an opportunity to play something different." Rodriguez explains "Bad Rain" as "mechanical, very straight-forward and very matter-of-fact" and "Good Rain" as "awkward and different - someone who is quirky and doesn’t know how to handle a gun and someone who is curious."
Aryana Engineer as Becky
A little girl whom Alice develops a mother-daughter relationship with. Jovovich says that the relationship between Alice and Becky is similar to Ripley and Newt in Aliens. She went on to say the relationship is a way for Alice to hold onto her humanity. Becky is a deaf child, but does speak, as revealed when she says 'Please get a room!' in the official trailer. She is first seen in the film when Alice has a flashback in an Umbrella Corporation Investigation room, based on the day Racoon City is infected with the T-Virus. She is found by Alice, when she goes into one remaining house on a suburban street. Ada complains that Becky is just a clone, but Alice takes her anyway. As they leave the house, Alice, Ada and Becky are encountered by a team of Jill Valentine, Rain Ocampo (Bad Rain), One and Carlos Olivera. While in Moscow, Becky is captured by a licker and Alice must fight it one-on-one to get her back.
Johann Urb as Leon S. Kennedy
A survivor and leader of a resistance group who teams up with Alice to hunt down Umbrella. Anderson says
that the decision to include Leon, Ada, and Barry in the film was "fan-driven". When describing his character's story, Urb says "As far as I can tell, I’ve just been fending for myself, taking care of business, and banding with some people. Then, apparently what’s happened is Alice is in a bit of trouble. Wesker needs somebody who, what’s the word… is smart enough and strong enough to go in and save Alice. Leon is the first thought that comes to mind, obviously."
Kevin Durand as Barry Burton
A survivor and member of Leon Kennedy's resistance group who teams up with Alice to hunt down Umbrella. Slated as Leon's "partner in crime" and close friend.
Li Bingbing as Ada Wong
A survivor who is taken captive by Jill as she hunts down Alice. Despite their romance in the video game, Li says that Ada and Leon Kennedy's relationship will be "subtle" in the film. Li got the role only a few days after her first audition, and prepared for the role by watching Resident Evil: Degeneration. During filming, she wore a $7,500 wig.
Oded Fehr as Carlos Olivera
A pair of clones of Carlos Olivera, a former Umbrella commando and love interest of Alice, who was killed
in a sacrificial explosion in Resident Evil: Extinction. Carlos, who appeared in Resident Evil: Apocalypse and also Resident Evil: Extinction, was cloned after his death by Umbrella Corporation, creating a "Good Carlos" and a "Bad Carlos". There is also set to be a flashback, showing Carlos (appearing as one of his clones named "Todd") living in a suburban area with Alice as his wife and a daughter named Becky. Fehr says in an interview that "the interesting thing is, I come back as two different guys on this one. There’s a dynamic to the relationship with Milla’s character, and then there’s the other side. He’s working for the Umbrella again."
Boris Kodjoe as Luther West
A former basketball player and survivor who joins Leon Kennedy's resistance and reunites with Alice in the process. He previously appeared in Resident Evil: Afterlife as the leader of a survivor group stationed in Los Angeles and is one of the few characters that did not originate from the video games. Kodjoe found out that he would return for the fifth film after he read the script for Afterlife and found out that his character survives.
Colin Salmon as James "One" Shade
A clone of James Shade, the leader of the Umbrella commando team who died in the original film. After his
death, his DNA was cloned by Umbrella and is used against Alice.
Shawn Roberts as Albert Wesker
Former-head of the Umbrella Corporation. Wesker is revealed to have survived the events of Afterlife. In this film he takes on a much different role. He is responsible for helping Alice escape so she can help him save the human race, since The Red Queen no longer follows his orders.
Mika Nakashima as J-Pop Girl
The patient zero of the T-virus in Japan. After seeing her performance in Afterlife, both Jovovich and
director Paul W. S. Anderson praised Nakashima saying, “I want to work with Mika again.” Describing her
fight sequence with Jovovich, Nakashima expressed, “It was a very valuable experience. A lot of things
were new to me, so I had fun.”[15] Parts of the scene she appeared in Afterlife was used in this film and
her scenes in this film is basically a continuation involving Alice.
Megan Charpentier and Ave Merson-O'Brian (voice) as The Red Queen
The Red Queen was once the artificial intelligence that operated the Hive, a secret underground facility where the T-virus was developed. Since the Raccoon City outbreak, she has been reactivated by the Umbrella Corporation and is at war against humanity.
Development:
After the release of Resident Evil: Afterlife, director Paul W. S. Anderson was in discussion with Screen Gems of filming a fifth and sixth film back to back. But Anderson later decided to just focus on Retribution. Anderson returned as writer and director, Glen McPherson serves as director of photography, Kevin Phipps as production designer and Nick Powell as both a fight choreographer and
second-unit director.
Influences:
An element from Resident Evil 4, a parasite called Las Plagas plays a part in the film and allows the undead to "run around, ride motorbikes, and shoot machine guns." An action scene inspired by Resident Evil 5 where the characters are driving a Hummer while being chased by zombies is featured, but for the film the Hummer was changed to a Rolls Royce Phantom.
Aside from the video games, writing for the film was heavily influenced by science-fiction films. "I think Inception had a huge impact on everyone," says Bolt, "and I think Westworld is an important film to Paul. Everybody knows, because he talks about it enough, the Alien series, Blade Runner, all these things are inspirations." Makeup effects supervisor Paul Jones stated that he wanted the makeup on the zombies to look realistic. He took inspiration from Day of the Dead.
The film's fight sequences were influenced by Asian cinema. "We watched a lot of Thai movies this time around because of the movies (Powell) has done" says Anderson. "He did The Last Samurai as well. He has worked with a lot of Japanese stuntmen and he has worked with a lot of Hong Kong stuntmen. But we felt the area that hadn’t been mined by western cinema much was that whole kind of high impact Thai style of fighting. So we just watched a lot of action sequences from a lot of Thai movies. There were moves and just a general feel that we thought we could infuse the movie with. You know, that kind of bone crunch where you really feel the impact. We tried to bring that into the movie, which is also good for 3D because obviously 3D makes it harder to sell those kind of fake phony punches because you see the distance between the fist and the face. So that kind of Thai style of fighting where you actually make contact is a lot stronger."
Casting:
Returning from the previous film are: Milla Jovovich as Alice, Sienna Guillory (Jill Valentine) and Boris Kodjoe (Luther West). Shawn Roberts (Albert Wesker) makes a cameo appearance. Colin Salmon who played James "One" Shade and Michelle Rodriguez who played Rain Ocampo in the first film return. Oded Fehr who portrayed Carlos Olivera in the second and third film also returns. There will be two "versions" of Rain, One, and Carlos; one being portrayed as "evil" and one as "good".
The characters, Ada Wong (played by Li Bingbing), Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb) and Barry Burton (Kevin Durand) appear in the film. Ali Larter (Claire Redfield), Wentworth Miller (Chris Redfield) and Spencer Locke (K-Mart) do not return and their absence is explained by their characters being captured by
Umbrella. Also, a new character portrayed by Aryana Engineer has been added to the franchise cast.
Filming:
Principal photography started on October 10, 2011 and wrapped on December 23, 2011 for a 55 day shoot. Filming locations included Toronto at Cinespace's Kipling studio facility, Times Square in New York City, Tokyo and Red Square in Moscow. Resident Evil: Retribution is the second film in the series to be shot in 3D, the first being Resident Evil: Afterlife. It was also filmed in 4K resolution The Red Epic camera system
was used, which producer Jeremy Bolt said is 50% smaller than the Sony F35 that was used for Resident Evil: Afterlife.
On October 11, a platform collapsed during the second day of filming and injured 16 people on the set. According to Toronto police, ten people were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. Injuries included bruises and broken bones. Emergency workers had a difficult time determining which injuries were real since the people were dressed in zombie costumes with fake blood.
The streets of Red Square were cleared for a day and background filming was done in the Russian subway after it was cleared for five hours. Most of the streets were built into sets. The car chase scene was filmed in late November in Moscow.
Durand and Roberts wrapped filming in the first week of December and Li wrapped on December 14. A fight scene between Jill and Alice that involved over 200 moves began filming December 14 until the end of
production.
Music:
The music group Tomandandy, who performed the Afterlife score, returned to score Retribution. Anderson
explains that the score for this film will be a progression of Afterlife, stating that he "wants to kind of mesh their more electronic stuff with an orchestra this time. It still has that cool tomandandy feel but it has a more epic scope to it." The official soundtrack will be released on September 11, 2012 under Milan Records, which will include tomandandy's score for the film, as well as the film’s end credits song "Hexes" produced by Bassnectar featuring Chino Moreno (of the Deftones) on vocals. Actress Mika Nakashima will sing the theme song for the Japanese version of the film.
Marketing:
The first teaser trailer of the film, was attached to Underworld Awakening and released in January 2012, featuring product placement promoting Sony products such as the Xperia phone, the PlayStation Vita and the Tablet S before transitioning into a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C., with Alice standing on the roof of
the White House.
A viral website umbrellacorporation.net supposedly informed about Umbrella's on a recruitment tour all over the world searching for "great minds to help them advance". On several occasions, a video of Alice (Milla Jovovich) shows up, telling you not to trust Umbrella. At the same time, an actual mobile tour for the film was launched going to Cancún, Barcelona, Poznan, Warsaw and Rome. Also a Black, tinted SUV with the Umbrella Corporation symbol and name on its doors and license plate was seen in Atlanta in June. A second trailer premiered online on June 14, following a live Q&A with Milla Jovovich in New York City
and was attached to prints of That's My Boy.
Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, Boris Kodjoe, Mika Nakashima and Paul W. S. Anderson
appeared at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con Convenction on Friday, July 13. A discussion for the film took
place, as well as never before seen footage debuted.
On August 10, 2012, a group of 27 people dressed as zombies "invaded" the Shibuya shopping district and
handed out leaflets to promote the film. The group marched across the crossing in front of the Shibuya Station and the moved on to Shibuya’s underground shopping area "Shibuchika" and to the "Shibuya Cine
Palace".
Release:
Resident Evil: Retribution had its world premiere in Japan (where it's retitled Biohazard V: Retribution) on September 3 and had its release worldwide on September 14 in 3D, IMAX 3D, and 2D. The MPAA's official rating for the film is R for "sequences of strong violence throughout". It was not screened in advance for critics.
Box office:
Resident Evil: Retribution opened at number 1 in 3,012 theaters, beating out the 3-D re-release of Finding Nemo. During its opening weekend, the film grossed $21,052,227 domestically (an average of $6,989 for each theater), which makes the film the second lowest domestic opening weekend in the series, with the lowest being the original Resident Evil ($17.7 million), though it sold the least tickets; however, it broke the series record for the highest worldwide opening with $50 million, beating out Afterlife's opening of over $33 million. The audience in the opening weekend was 64% male, and 55% were 25 years of age or older. Regular 3D showings accounted for 48% of ticket sales, while IMAX 3D contributed 14% and other large format showings contributed 4%.
In its second weekend, the film dropped to fifth place with $6.7 million on the domestic charts. With a 68% decline from last weekend, this makes the worst domestic drop so far for a Resident Evil film. However, it remained number one on the international charts, grossing $30.5 million for a new foreign total of $103.8 million. Its top market was once again Japan, where it eased 27% to $6.3 million; Japan is currently the movie's highest-grossing overall market with $28.1 million. Its new debuts included Germany ($3.6 million) and Mexico ($3.5 million).
Critical reception:
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 26% of 53 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.3 out of 10. The critics consensus on the site is "another predictable entry in the Resident Evil franchise that seems to get more cynical and lazy with each film". Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 39 based on 15 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a C plus on an A plus to F scale. Most critics criticized the film for its characters, plot and acting while praising the 3D, visual effects, and fight choreography.
IGN gave the film a 6 out of 10, saying, "Even with all of its dopey dialogue, wooden characters and 'been there, done that' elements, Resident Evil: Retribution is pretty amazing as far as entries in this series go. It’s certainly feels more like a video game and has a bit more emotion to it than some of the past Resident Evil sequels, but if you don’t like this series then there’s not much here to make you suddenly warm up to it.." Clark Collis from Entertainment Weekly also gave the film a mostly positive review, stating that "writer-director W.S. Anderson's overseeing of the Resident Evil zombie franchise has proven to be both lunatically haphazard and dementedly enthusiastic." Matt Singer from ScreenCrush gave the film a mixed review and a score of 5 out of 10, stating that "Anderson's action chops are undeniable - but Resident Evil: Retribution might be one of the dumbest things ever crafted by human hands."
Sequel:
Director Paul W.S. Anderson stated in an interview that their original plan was to produce Retribution and a sixth installment back-to-back, but he later decided to focus on just the fifth film. In the same interview, Anderson stated that if Retribution does well financially, then a sixth film would be developed and it will be the finale of the series. Milla Jovovich revealed that she is planning to star in a sixth and final installment of the franchise which will close out the series' storyline. Her husband, Anderson, pitched her the idea while vacationing following wrapping the fifth film and that the series would most likely continue past a sixth film, just not with her as the star. A sixth film was confirmed by Sony distribution's head, Rory Bruer.
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
Produced by Paul W. S. Anderson
Jeremy Bolt
Don Carmody
Samuel Hadida
Robert Kulzer
Written by Paul W. S. Anderson
Starring:
Milla Jovovich
Michelle Rodriguez
Kevin Durand
Sienna Guillory
Shawn Roberts
Aryana Engineer
Colin Salmon
Johann Urb
Boris Kodjoe
Li Bingbing
Music by tomandandy
Cinematography: Glen MacPherson
Editing by Niven Howie
Studio: Constantin Film
Davis Films
Impact Pictures
Distributed by Screen Gems
Release date: September 3, 2012 (World premiere (Tokyo, Japan))
September 6, 2012 (Europe premiere (Moscow, Russia))
September 14, 2012 (International Release)
Running time: 95 minutes
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci fi
Language: English
Budget: $65 million
Box office: $175,700,000
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