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.  

Dirty Pair: The OVA Series (1987-1988) Episode 1: Prison Uprising. We Hate People With Grudges!

The success of the original Dirty Pair series based on the light novels by Haruka Takachiho, the OVA movies and the theatrical feature film prompted a sequel show for the home video market in the form of a 10-episode OVA series by Sunrise. The series was mostly handled by director Katsuyoshi Yatabe, but other directors included Masayoshi Tanidabe, Shinji Takamatsu, Shin'ichirō Watanabe, Mihiro Yamaguchim and Osamu Sekita. The writers included Koichi Kasamoto, Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Yuichi Sasamoto, Hiroshi Ônogi, Hideki Sonoda and Yasushi Hirano.

This first episode has the angels going into a space prison named Karuso after a riot broke out and prisoners took control of the facilities. They are looking to rescue a warden that's being held in the place by the inmates. They meet with some marines as they enter the prison in waves and wearing mechanical suits for protection. The girls enter the prison and beat the crap out of the rogue convicts, finding their target in the process but he makes the mission troublesome.

It's quite fun to see more of the angels working on a case doing paperwork and research at the beginning, something that we didn't get to see a whole lot of before, we even start out turning the tables a little bit with Yuri on her own flirting as Kei works in the office. Some other new characters are introduced but they won't really become all that relevant later on anyway. The function of these new characters is basically to set up some plot devices that will come in handy during the episode. 

The writers and board artists bring a lot of the charm and fun back with sequences like the space surfing one or the dynamic and flashy action sequences and shootouts that abound here. The comedy never fails as the Lovely Angels are as endearing and charismatic as ever, solidifying this new introduction as a pretty nice return to form.

Project A-ko Versus: Gray Side/Blue Side (1990) Anime OVA Series Review

Project A-ko Versus (Project A-ko: Uncivil Wars) is a 1990 action sci-fi anime OVA mini-series divided in two parts: Grey Side and Blue Side and is a reboot of the Project-Ako film and OVA series. It was directed by Project A-ko's original director Katsuhiko Nishijima and written by newcomers Yuji Kawahara and Shôichi Tsuji. The cast includes Miki Itô, Emi Shinohara, Michie Tomizawa, Kazuo Oka and Tesshô Genda. These OVA'S are basically unrelated in plot and characters but they do retain the same designs and part of the energy of the original, transplanting the girls into a sci-fi setting.

In an undetermined intergalactic setting, A-ko and B-ko are two space bounty hunters who catch giant creatures in a desert planet. Fate has in store for them more than what they can chew as they find C-ko, a small princess kidnapped by space pirates. What begins as a simple crime turns out to be a menace for the universe as a powerful sorceress possesses C-ko's body and gets her evil plans going.

Continuing the Project Ako franchise by making a straight science fiction story with little to no resemblance to the original concept was quite a wild move on their part because this really could have been titled just about anything else and it still would have made sense and be understood, it didn't need to have any connection to the Ako series whatsoever. Having said that, what we do get is quite cool on its own. Yeah, it stands apart from the franchise but fits perfectly into the landscape of anime shows with female friendships at their core, having A-ko and B-ko be more similar to Kei and Yuri from Dirty Pair than their original incarnations. C-ko is also shown as an actual small child which makes her usual behaviour make more sense even if she is dumbed down and aged down explicitly in the story. The three are cute together and have some hilarious moments.

The new villains are very cool, particularly Liza Chichi, who engages in awesome combats with A-ko, who still has super human abilities in this version but not in an overpowered way as she has to put up a fight against Liza. The action sequences are expertly crafted and dynamically boarded with very smooth animation once again. The change of setting makes things be a bit more generic, we see space shuttles and some typical desolated planets instead of the high school, so that type of contrast gets mostly lost on the change of setting but we do get some notable fight scenes sprinkled with some spicy touches, so it's a bit faithful to the spirit of Project A-ko in that regard.

Blue Side has a lot of great moments, but the set up of Gray Side I found to be the most engaging, especially because it all seemed to build up to something outstanding or at least an exciting climax with a lot more action and stakes, and while we do get a good ending I think the writers were hoping for more OVA episodes that never came because the way these conflicts are resolved don't really close much and it all feels too scrambled and loose to be a proper ending. I could see the rivalry between A-ko and the blondie get more complex or reach a more impactful breaking point if they had gotten more episodes.

It's overall a very highly recommended OVA series but don't expect to come back to the same characters in the Project A-ko saga, because you are not, you are gonna be exposed to a brand new universe that is a lot of fun on its own.