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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

What We’re Watching

Hatchet reporter Arich Morales shares his latest movie experience.

Photo used under the Creative Commons License.


Resident Evil: Retribution” (2012)

Movies based on video games are typically disliked among movie critics and gamers for two reasons. They tend to introduce distracting and contradictory side stories, and they often use artificially suspenseful scenarios to compensate for a shallow storyline.

And while “Resident Evil: Retribution” is occasionally guilty of both of these things, Paul W.S. Anderson’s fifth installment in the film series is definitely worth the watch.

Though lengthy, the introduction provides a comprehensive visual narrative of the main events that took place in the previous films. The film takes place shortly after the ending of the fourth film, where Alice (Milla Jovovich) is blown off an aircraft carrier and loses consciousness in the water.

Upon waking, Alice discovers she is living an entirely different life – that of a suburban housewife with a loving husband and daughter. This surreal scenario appears too good to be true, and it quickly proves to be so when only moments later, a zombie suddenly attacks her husband.

From then on, Alice and a new accomplice traverse new territory and battle zombies in an unrelenting quest to defeat the undead. Although characters from previous chapters of the series return to Alice’s aid, their roles significantly alter the story’s outcome. These returning characters work to blur the line between friend and foe by the end of the film.

While “Resident Evil: Retribution” keeps the audience’s attention for the entire time, some of the film’s elements are off-putting. When the first Resident Evil game was released, it was a horror game with action elements. But with this latest installment, “Resident Evil: Retribution” seems to be the polar opposite of its video-game counterpart – an action movie with horror elements. There are indeed a number of thrilling jump scares, but the majority of the film focuses on stylized, over-the-top battle and gun sequences.

Still, with beautifully choreographed action sequences, enough horror elements to satisfy thrill-seekers and plenty of context to inform even the newest fans of the series, “Resident Evil: Retribution” is a success.

Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Directors: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez
Release Date: Sept. 14

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