Review

Resident Evil: Retribution

  • Review Date: September 15, 2012
  • R
  • Genre: Horror
  • 2012

Common Sense Media says

Plenty of gore -- and more 3-D -- in fifth RE installment.
Age
16
Quality
 

  • Alice seems colder and more callous in this entry in the movie series, except for one thing: She decides to rescue a little "clone" girl who's deaf and has been programmed to believe that Alice is her mother. Alice risks her life to protect the girl. There's also an attempt to show her working with others, but the characters aren't very interesting, and so this attempt doesn't come across clearly.
  • Although Alice's life isn't very admirable -- it's filled with fighting, violence, and killing and very little joy -- she is a strong, commanding, confident female character with incredible skills and instincts. She often stops to help others, even at the risk of her own life. The movie also shows Alice and the girl communicating via American Sign Language.
  • Very strong sci-fi/fantasy violence. Almost constant shooting, with countless zombies blowing up. Some human characters die. Blood is shown. In one brief sequence, a zombie chainsaws a man, and (fake-looking) blood spatters everywhere. There's some martial arts fighting; in one scene, a character swings a chain and padlock to bash zombies in the face. A baseball bat is used on zombies in another scene. A giant monster goes on the rampage, kidnapping a little girl. Viewers see bones breaking and hearts stopping in X-ray close-ups. Zombies have scary mutated tentacles shooting out of their mouths. Car crashes and explosions.
  • No one is thinking about sex here, but in one scene, Alice wakes up and finds herself almost naked, wearing two white sheets that cover her back and front. Nothing sensitive is shown, but at the same time, not much is left to the imagination. Women wear tight, sexy leather/vinyl outfits throughout. In one early scene, a husband and wife display affection for each other (including a butt slap).
  • Infrequent language includes a few uses of "s--t," plus "hell," "badass," etc.
  • A couple of scenes take place in a fake model of New York City. This contains a replica of Times Square, complete with billboards. Reebok, Levi's, and other brands are briefly visible.

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that Resident Evil: Retribution is the fifth in the Resident Evil series of video game-based sci-fi/action/horror movies. Like the others, this one has strong sci-fi violence and gore (zombie and monster attacks), as well as guns and shooting and martial arts fighting. Many zombies expire, some humans die, and some blood is shown. There are a few scary and/or jump-shock moments as well. Language is less of an issue, with only a few uses of "s--t," and there's not much in the way of sexual content, though female characters do wear tight and/or skimpy clothes, and in one scene, the lead character wears a strange outfit that leaves very little to the imagination. Note: Watching the movie in 3-D increases the intensity of the viewing experience.


This review of Resident Evil: Retribution was written by
Age
14
Based on 5 parent & educator reviews:
  • 80% say violence is an issue

Most useful reviews by all members

Teen, 13 years old
September 15, 2012
 
Epic!
Great movie! I love it

Teen, 16 years old
September 16, 2012
 
go see it!
not that violent or scary. some language but who cares. 13 and up

Teen, 15 years old
September 16, 2012
 
i am 12 and enjoyed it
. headshots stabbings bitting and lots of blood. 4 curse words the whole movie. 3 frighting scenes

Parent
September 16, 2012
 
The Dude
I feel like it is an hour and a half of my life I will never get back. Complete waist of time.

Adult
September 21, 2012
 
16 and up.
this fifth installment Resident Evil: Retribution has all the familiar characters from the resident evil game franchise and has a lot of action that will likely appeal to your older teens but parents you need to know that Resident Evil: Retribution has a lot of intense violence and some mild language used.

Teen, 15 years old
September 26, 2012
 
Great movie

Parent
September 28, 2012
 
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) Review by Shivom Oza – Visually Flawless, Same Old Action-Template
‘Resident Evil: Retribution’, fifth film in the franchise, is nothing different from the rest. Honestly, too much is being done of this post-apocalyptic business! Filmmakers need to find newer settings. In almost every action film, there’s this after-the-end-of-the-world shanty township encroached upon by violent elements. It’s not working anymore. The story is not too different from the other films of the ‘Resident Evil’ series. To the credit of the filmmakers, the plot is kept concise and thankfully, short! Post-apocalyptic setting, Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up in an Umbrella base, having been captured at the Arcadia. Upon being interrogated by Jill (Sienna Guillory), Alice realizes that something is amiss. An unexpected power failure enables Alice to escape from her cell. Here, she encounters Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), from Albert Wesker’s (Shawn Roberts) team. Apparently, Ada and Wesker no longer belong to Umbrella. Wesker needs Alice’s help to battle the base’s supercomputer Red Queen (Megan Charpentier), in order to save the remaining of mankind. The build-up given to all the action sequences is fantastic. Not only has the cinematography (sublime work by Glen MacPherson) excelled, but the entire team contributing to the visuals (art direction, production design, editing, special effects etc.) have done a marvellous job! The opening credits, in particular, present scintillating visuals of Milla strutting all her action moves with a lot of gumption! Direction by Paul W.S. Anderson is just about fine. Performances by the cast are decent, nothing spectacular. The film will be enjoyed by fans of the ‘Resident Evil’ franchise and, in general, action movies! Luckily, the 90-odd minute duration works in the film’s favour. Watch it for the spectacular cinematography and the brilliantly-executed action sequences! Yes, there is a sixth film in the pipeline. Shivom Oza

Teen, 14 years old
September 26, 2012
 
it was ok
Resident Evil Retribution is just as dull and Lifeless like its previous instalments. In my opinion the film could have work if Paul Anderson put more effort in writing , directing and editing. The acting was not the best although it could have been better. The action scenes were great. You should expect a lot of shooting, blood ,explosion, some language Althouh the plot could have worked really well but instead they focused on the action sequence more. And the movie was really short. But over all I enjoyed the film

Teen, 17 years old
October 2, 2012
 
Resident Evil 5
I recently got into the Resident Evil series. I think this was another great, if not the best of the movies to date. I've seen it twice in the past two weeks and plan to get the blu-ray when it comes out. There's nothing that is really unappropriate for anyone over the age of 14. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic movies.

Teen, 16 years old
October 15, 2012
 
You should know about the violence in Zombie movies
Like the other movies, this one is violent. It has zombies! Not the best one in the series, but it is still good.

(R, 1999)

Intense, but many teens will be able to handle it.

(R, 1982)

A dark, philosophical sci-fi drama for older teens.

(PG-13, 1994)
Promising setup killed by action-film cliches.