Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

"Resident Evil: Retribution" is the most recent release of the "Resident Evil" movie franchise. Written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, the film once again leaves the realm of horror in favor of a sci-fi feeling with nods to classic films such as "Aliens", "Westworld", and "Blade Runner". This movie requires a few viewings before you are able to fully make up your mind as to whether or not the film is any good. I would say yes but only for those who loved the game and the other films in the series. If someone who hasn't seen the other films (in order even) picked up this movie and tried to watch it, their experience would be greatly hampered. The best part of the film was the inclusion of the characters Barry (from the original game) and Leon (from "Resident Evil 2"). The extra monsters are kept simple and at a minimum this time around.

The movie picks up right where the last one ended, with the entire fleet of Umbrella's air force attacking the Arcadia and Alice. The battle is quick and over before you know it.

Sometime later, Alice wakes up in an Umbrella faculty in Russia, being interrogated by the mind-controlled Jill Valentine. Alice escapes when the computer shuts down for two minutes. It turns out that is was Ada Wong, an assistant of Whesker's, who helped Alice escape. Ada's mission is to rescue Alice from the faculty and to keep her alive; A team is coming in to meet them half way, coming from the outside in. The movie then becomes a series of fighting zombies, bigger and meaner monsters, and soldiers and clones of previous faces that have helped Alice at one time or another who are now trying to chase her down and kill her.Along the way, Alice meets a young girl who's mother was an Alice clone. Alice brings her along and does her best to keep her alive as well.

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" is the fourth film in the franchise and marks the glorious return as Paul W.S. Anderson as both writer and director, and it shows! This films feels more like the original in terms as a horror film with a sense of desperation and being trapped by a horde of zombies. The film's pacing is a bit slow at times, more so than needed, but it still has plenty of action scenes that keep the movie going forward. The issues about Alive being overly powerful and cloned are quickly dealt with in the beginning of the film, a perfect way for the proverbial "reset" button to be pushed in a very satisfying fashion.


The film opens with an exciting showdown between Albert Whesker and the Alice Army. Both Albert and a power-stripped Alice survive.

Later, Alice finds the helicopter that the survivors from Las Vegas used to fly to Alaska. She is attacked by Claire, who is under the control of a mind control device. Alice is able to disable the device and Claire is left without any memory after finding the Arcadia. The two travel to LA where the Arcadia has traveled to (it's a ship) and find more survivors. Together, they fight zombies, find the Arcadia, fight Whesker, fight more zombies, and claim the Arcadia as their own. And then the Umbrella air force arrives and the credits begin to scroll.

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

"Resident Evil: Extinction" is able to regain a bit of a sense of horror by presenting the world as a post apocalyptic wasteland. The action remains fast and intense but the story line is straight forward and very predictable. Mila Jovovich's Alice continues to discover new abilities and remains the primary focus of the franchise as she attempts to take a group of survivors from the middle of the Mojave Desert up to the vast wilderness of Alaska. Along the way she is forced to deal with the agents of the Umbrella Corporation, the company responsible for the T-virus. The ending of "Extinction" is open ended bu sets up the beginning sequences of the fourth film perfectly.

Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse (2004)

The second installment of the Resident Evil series "Apocalypse" loses all of the horror-like tension and subtlety in favor for more out right action and adrenaline rush. Unfortunately the adrenaline rush is pretty weak and I feel that this is the weakest film of the franchise. Mila Jovovich is still amazing and is the only reason to watch this movie.


A few weeks after the disaster at the underground complex known as the Hive, a second special military team dares to unlocked the sealed faculty only to be overwhelmed by the zombie horde. Now the deadly T-virus has been unleashed upon the citizens of Raccoon City, turning them into mindless, aggressive zombies with a desire only to feed. Alice and Matt were the only ones to escape from the Hive have been separated and taken to their own lab to be monitored and examined. Alice wakes up and regains consciousness after a good deal of time to find that Raccoon City has been over run by zombies. She must fight her way through the city and meets other characters from the game series and is forced to face Matt as an adversary after he emerges mutated and brainwashed, results from being a test subject of the Nemesis Program.

Jill Valentine

Alice, Angela, and Jill

Nemesis 

Resident Evil (2002)

In 2002, Paul W.S. Anderson presented the world with his movie version of "Resident Evil". He had already directed the movie adaption of "Mortal Kombat" and the incredible "Event Horizon" before tackling this franchise, taking on both writing and directing duties. Taking bits and pieces from the first three games in the cannon, Mr. Anderson crafted an adrenaline filled, action packed, zombie horror film that did justice to the original source material. While the characters are more one dimensional than not and are barely fleshed out, the viewer is still wanting to root for franchise hero Alice, played by Mila Jovovich in all five films.

Alice wakes up naked on the floor in a shower, unable to remember who or where she is. While exploring the beautiful house that she finds herself in, she runs into a specialist military team who takes her and two other unknown persons into the Hive, a large scientific and military complex hidden beneath the house. The complex is in a lock down and the military team is there to find out why. The reason is because a dangerous virus has been released and locking down the complex and killing all within was the protocol that the AI had determined to be the best and only course of action. Now that the military team has forced their way in, they must fight their way out through a mob of endless zombies, mutated dogs, and something worse....

Event Horizon (1997)

“Event Horizon” is one of the ultimate outer space themed horror movies because it utilizes several elements that could only be found in that kind of environment. At its core it’s a simply search and rescue storyline, much like the movie “Ghost Ship”; little ship finds big ship which happens to be the find of a lifetime, little ship is destroyed and crew is forced to try to survive on big ship…and usually fail. And the Event Horizon is a REALLY BIG SHIP. But instead of the Bermuda Triangle or what not, the ship the Event Horizon is lost while trying to perform a death defying feat of physics and ends up going to Hell. With this story happening in space, the idea that the crew is literally weeks away from help really sinks in and if they fail, they die. And to prove this point, a few crew members nearly die in space related accidents. Critics and fans have both described “Event Horizon” as being very similar to “Hell Raiser”; if this is true or not can be debated. But as Sam Neil’s character eerily claims, “Where we’re going…we won’t need eyes to see!”

The Event Horizon was lost in one of the worst space tragedies in history; on its maiden voyage, the ship suddenly disappeared without a trace when it neared the planet Neptune. Seven years later it mysteriously appears and the search and rescue team of the Lewis and Clark is sent out to check for survivors and to find out what happened. Joining Capt. Miller and his crew is Dr. Weir, the designer of the Event Horizon as well as person who developed the experimental gravity drive engine. This massive device was meant to fold space and make travel from one point in space to another practically instantaneous. Once the crew of the Lewis and Clark arrive, they find evidence that a gruesome massacre had taken place on board the Event Horizon and that there isn’t a single survivor. Soon several of the crew members begin to have hallucinations based on their personal fears. Weird accidents occur, Dr. Weir becomes obsessed with his ship and ultimately possessed by the evil that emits from the gravity drive and the ship itself. The crew discovers only too late that the Event Horizon has been to Hell and back and is determined to go back with them as her crew.

Favorite moment – I really like when Capt. Miller is telling his story about his greatest fear and regret in leaving a crew member behind during a past rescue attempt. The crew member was burned to death in a room with zero gravity, and the way that Miller described the fire was poetic. Seeing the visual later in the movie does not do his story justice but it was a decent attempt.