Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) Movie Review

Resident Evil: Retribution is a 2012 action horror movie written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It's the fifth film in Anderson's cinematic version of the Resident Evil franchise and follows Afterlife from two years earlier. It stars Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Kevin Durand, Sienna Guillory, Shawn Roberts, Aryana Engineer and Colin Salmon. It was originally going to be shot back to back with a sixth part but plans were dropped by the director himself. The film was a box office success but not enough to require an immediate sequel so people had to wait four years for the last installment.

After finding the freighter known as Arcadia in the last picture, Alice and the rest of the survivors are attacked by the Umbrella Corporation and escape. She meets with Ada Wong and both encounter a rescue team consisting of Leon S. Kennedy, Barry Burton, and Luther West. They must face up to Umbrella once more as past enemies and friends return. 

The ultra bombastic spectacle comes back in this new entry and the unreal cartoony action set-pieces that characterized the series now have a new life after some lackluster moments in parts three and four. The divisive hyperstylized aesthetic that Paul W.S Anderson is known for is in full form here in a way that we haven't seen since and that we will probably never see again any time soon. Mind-bending and physics-defying stuff is displayed here with grace and self-awareness without descending into absurdity or parody, not in a gratuitous sense anyway.

Anderson's decision to include more and more characters from the game are part of what drags the movie a bit for me personally, this is because the series was doing a pretty good job at separating itself from the games and doing its own thing quite well. Sure, sometimes we would see some characters from the games but they would have their own purpose in the narrative. Here it just feels like the official lore is taking space and exists only for fanservice reasons.

Alice has a wonderful attire in this film and the overall aesthetic is top notch. The videogame costumes are neat but they do look slightly out of place in live action, no matter how stylized and cartoony the film tries to be. The inclusion of Ada and the return of Rain are very good additions that give this one more points as opposed to the last film.

Recommended for all the fans and those who wish to continue watching the franchise. While not my favorite, Retribution is a fun rollercoaster that's totally watchable and enjoyable in its popcorn film ambitions without remorse.  

Underworld: Evolution (2006) Movie Review

Underworld: Evolution is a 2006 action horror film directed by Len Wiseman and written by Danny McBride. It stars Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Shane Brolly, Steven Mackintosh, Derek Jacobi, and Bill Nighy. Evolution is the second film in the Underworld movie series and follows the events of the 2003 film. The film was a box office success and this opened the door for at least one more sequel, perpetuating the permanence of the Underworld series in the mainstream. Along with the first one, this second entry kept alive the gothic subculture and contributed to those types of aesthetics among the youth of the time.

This time, Selene (a vampiric Death Dealer) travels with a Lycan-Vampire hybrid named Marcus in order to inquire and investigate the origins and hidden information regarding their ancestry and savage lineage involved in a seemingly endless war between the two factions.

Unlike the first movie, this one is more of a journey through several different environments with out protagonists meeting many enemies and foes along the way but it sort of loses a bit of the focus the first film had with its post-expressionistic maximalist setting, opting for slightly more generic places and locations that still look ravishing and highly stylized because of the great technical work by cinematographer Simon Duggan but things look more artificial and less extreme in the expressive department. Still, there are many good aspects in the film when it comes to its visual flair and camera work. 

The characters are sort of disappointing, just like in the first one, since most of them are one-dimensional and have very little in the way of charisma or effective comedic moments. They are all cold and trying to be badass all the time and it works well enough for the most part but it keeps the movie in a one-note wavelength it never really breaks. It would be one thing if the film had more to offer but there really isn't much else there. Speaking of badassery, Beckinsale as Selene looks wonderful and has some outstanding action sequences from time to time. She really elevates the film and makes it a worthwhile experience, again, like in the first film.

Aside from a cool-looking main character we are mostly stuck with monotonous period war scenes, exposition-heavy scenes of characters info-dumping on the audience a lot of lore that is quite easy to forget and there's also a lot of flashy editing that doesn't help when it comes to keeping things clear cut or focused. It's a film made only to be seen and disposed of afterward, you won't really find anything here but a time waster with certain gothic and horror elements that appeal to a certain audience but it does the job as a popcorn flick fairly well for the most part. 

While not breathtaking nor innovative in any meaningful way, this slick sequel is entertaining but flawed and not very memorable. Recommended for fans of the first film and for those who enjoy action and horror mixed with a leather-clad vampiress.

Sukeban Deka (1991) Anime OVA Review

Sukeban Deka is a 1991 action crime anime written and directed by Takeshi Hirota based on a manga by Shinji Wada. The manga series was highly successful in Japan, which gave way for a full live-action TV series and 3 films inspired by the same story. This particular OVA starred Kazue Ikura, Akio Ōtsuka, Akira Kamiya, Hiroshi Takemura, Kenji Utsumi, Masako Katsuki, Naomi Uchiyama and Saeko Shimazu. Juvenile delinquents were a pretty big issue in Japanese society at the time and media related to it gave way for a fiction subgenre that focused on the female variety and it's subculture, Sukeban Deka (Delinquent Girl Detective) being one of the prime examples.

Saki Asamiya is a young delinquent who gets taken out of her cell by the police in order to go undercover into the social structure of a dangerous school ruled by the wealthy Mizuchi sisters, girls who belong to a crime family and fight for control and to be head of the organization. Saki does this in order to get her mother out of death row and to gain her freedom.

Such a premise gives us an action-filled vehicle that goes at 200 miles per hour and has very little time to breathe or rest, establishing relationships, settings and ideas in little time but with a lot of dynamism and a playful nature. It's stylish and lyrical, highly poetic and potently dramatic. It's an excellent piece of the genre that takes advantage of its medium. Everything is executed with precise skill by the animators and the crew.

This is probably the best example of an OVA series that, while surprisingly short, is able to construct a proper dramatic structure that has the same effect in getting you attached to its characters, both main and secondary, in such a small time frame. One example is the girl that the protagonist meets and is then attacked at the end of the first episode. The series doesn't waste time and introduces her right away. Her dialogue is succinct and to the point but the VA's give the lines some personality and emotion. We have some brief scenes of her that are well juggled between other plotlines but also presents us her intimacy (her home, her hobbies, her aspirations, what she sees in life) that gets us closer to her in a single brief but effective scene (through the main character's point of view as well). Because of this, when the tragic event happens we are more invested in her as a person, the stakes moving higher and higher with every event and we understand why the protagonist cares at the same time.

I really love how overdramatic and heightened character's reactions are. The VA's really give it their all and embody their characters with perfection. They yell and grunt and shriek in the right tone and register to make everything more expressive and understandable. This doesn't stop at the voice actors' performances, the direction also emphasizes these intense emotions via angles and visual techniques in order to solidify and express a needed emotion.

The constant array of action and events might have gotten tiresome it wasn't for the tricks they pull and the clever ways they are able to disguise the corners they cut, either by cutting away from the most laborious fight sequences with many characters by focusing on another character while we assume a battle takes place or by using eye-popping visuals to summarize events. You can tell, because of the fast pace, that this was a TV series or a long manga that had time for everything to take place before it became a 40 minute two-part OVA (80 minutes at most) but it all helps to give it some energy and make it consistently entertaining without losing the meat of the story.

A totally recommended OVA in every sense. It's quick and strong. Obligatory for all anime fans.