Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

Resident Evil: Retribution is a 2012 American-Canadian-German science fiction action horror film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. 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 written and directed by Anderson after the first film and the previous installment.

Resident Evil: Retribution is a direct follow-on from the previous film Resident Evil: Afterlife, and focuses on 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. 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 an international release date of September 14, 2012.

The film was released in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D to a box-office success, grossing over $240 million worldwide. Film critics criticized the film for its characters, plot, and acting while praising the 3D, visual effects, and fight choreography. The Blu-ray and DVD for the film was released on December 21, 2012, and a sixth installment is planned by Sony.

PLOT SUMMARY

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’s been brainwashed by Umbrella through a scarab device attached to her chest. Alice causes an airship to crash into Arcadia, resulting in an explosion that knocks her out and into the water. The fates of Chris, Claire, and K-Mart remain ambiguous.

The story switches to a suburban housewife who appears to be Alice living with her husband Todd (Oded Fehr) and deaf daughter Becky (Aryana Engineer) in a suburbia. Zombies attack, revealing the suburbia is actually Raccoon City during the contamination. Alice and Becky escape to the streets and are rescued by a student, 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 hides Becky, but is killed by a zombified Todd.

The original Alice awakens to see she’s been captured. Jill interrogates Alice, who unsuccessfully tries jogging her memory, and demands to know what happened to Chris, Claire, and K-Mart. During a power failure, Alice escapes her cell and the laser grid, finding herself on the Shibuya Square, just at the beginning of the Tokyo contamination. Fighting her way out, she returns into the facility, and encounters Ada Wong (Li Bingbing), one of Albert Wesker’s (Shawn Roberts) top agents. Ada explains they no longer serve Umbrella. Wesker appears on a screen, revealing the Red Queen, who was reactivated after the contamination of The Hive, now controls Umbrella. Ada explains the base is underwater, located in Kamchatka, Russia, that served as a former Soviet outpost; as the Hive was designed in producing the T-Virus, the base was designed by Umbrella in manufacturing clones and created simulated outbreaks to show the effect of the T-virus, and thus selling it at high price around the world.

To infiltrate the base from outside and help Alice and Ada escape, Wesker has organized a freelance team: 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, to ensure the base’s destruction. The group plans to meet with Alice and Ada in the Raccoon City suburbia. In a New York City simulation, Alice and Ada defeat two Axemen, prompting the Red Queen to send Jill after them next. Leon and his team enter a Moscow simulation, but are cut off by armed Las Plagas zombies.

Alice and Ada enter the suburban simulation, the rendezvous point, and discover Becky and the dead “suburban Alice”. Ada explains Umbrella uses clones for virus outbreak simulations and troops; Becky, Todd, and Rain were clones as well. Despite this, Alice quickly becomes attached to Becky. Blocking their escape are Jill and her mercenaries, consisting of clones of Alice’s deceased allies: an “evil” version of Rain, modified after the original, a former deceased Umbrella soldier and Alice’s ally, Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), and also James “One” Shade (Colin Salmon), leader of the Umbrella group that was sent in the Hive. The group demand their immediate surrender, which Alice complies with for Becky’s safety; however, Ada starts a shoot-out, allowing Alice to escape with Becky.

Alice and Becky run into the “good” Rain and head to the Moscow simulation, where they meet Leon’s team. The group escapes the Las Plagas undead, and reach the elevator; however, an Uber-Licker captures Becky and kills “good” Rain. Alice pursues the Uber-Licker, while the others fight off Jill’s group; Barry and One are casualties. Alice rescues Becky despite Leon’s discouragement. During their escape, they arrive at a cloning facility where Alice and Becky see copies of themselves. When Becky asks Alice if she really is her mother, Alice says she is now. The Uber-Licker follows them inside, as Alice drops grenades, and fires a grappling hook, escaping the explosion. The explosives at the entrance go off, flooding the place and propelling the elevator upwards with Leon and Luther. Alice and Becky also survive, having used the ventilation system.

The group awaits pickup but is ambushed by a Soviet submarine, from which Jill, the “evil” Rain, and a captured Ada emerge. With new orders to kill Alice, Jill attacks. Rain injects herself with the Las Plagas parasite to gain superhuman strength and healing; she knocks out Ada and fights Leon and Luther. Alice manages to destroy the scarab device on Jill, returning her to normal, though, unlike Claire, she retains her memory. Rain kills Luther with a blow to the chest, and knocks Leon out; Alice, realizing they can’t kill Rain, shoots at her footing. Rain falls in the water, and vows to get Alice but is dragged under by the Las Plagas zombies. Alice collapses from her injuries, but later awakes in a helicopter with the others.

Alice, Ada, Becky, Leon, and Jill travel to Wesker’s base: the heavily barricaded and fortified White House, staffed by S.T.A.R.S. and the remainder of the U.S Marine Corps. Alice meets Wesker in the heavily-barricaded Oval Office, where he injects her with the T-Virus, returning her former powers; as only Alice successfully bonded with it, she is the ultimate weapon. On the roof, Wesker explains the Red Queen is trying to wipe out humanity, and all of the remaining uninfected are in the base; it is humanity’s last stand. A pull-away shows Wesker’s Umbrella army defending the White House alongside the remaining U.S. Armed Forces against enormous hordes of T-virus abominations.

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