Now with that said, I really did enjoy this movie. I went in with only seeing Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and Resident Evil: Extinction, missing out on Resident Evil: Rebirth (thank the fates for Wikipedia summaries to bring me up to speed!). So I sort of kinda knew what was going on with the movie series, but obviously was still at a disadvantage. Luckily this movie was prepared for people like me.
The movie begins beautifully! The first few minutes are all in slow motion and being shown backwards, so we start with Alice (Milla Jovovich ) looking lifeless in the water until suddenly her body floats up onto the ship Arcadia as explosions occur all over it. Bullets zoom out of dead people, nets untangle the tangled, Jill Valentine floats up a zip-line. It's a combo of melodic violence, where even though the destruction is obviously destruction, the slow motion backwards style keeps you at ease.
Once we get back to the beginning, the filmmakers decide to help out newcomers to the films as well as people who can't remember what happened in the previous four films with bits on pieces as Alice describes what is being shown on various video feeds. Once she's done with that, we go back to what was shown at the start of the film but the exact opposite, fast motion forwards taking the couple of minutes down to a minute.
What you see is what you get in the movie, everything is basically at face value. It's not really a movie you must use your brain to understand, instead it's the opposite. Sit back and turn your brain off, just enjoy what you see. The plot can be summed up as Alice is being held hostage by Umbrella so Wesker sends operatives to rescue her and get out of the maze of this Umbrella facility while trying not to get everyone killed (huh, that doesn't quite work out). There are loads of various enemies faced, from the regular zombies to Umbrella operatives to Axemen to zombie Russians to finally a licker.
The action is very well done, it makes me wish I had seen it in 3D. Regular glasses don't work well with 3D glasses, sadly. Throughout the movie in 2D, you just keep muttering things like "whoa, that would be awesome in 3D" and "this looks cheesy in 2D but likely amazing in 3D". There were a few hiccups in the graphics where events and creatures ended up looking a bit too cartoonish, but again if seen in 3D you likely wouldn't notice it. Explosions are the backbone of the movie, from a simple car crash to an aircraft being destroyed. As usual in the series, you get to follow the flight path of bullets from time to time, usually in slow motion to increase the impact. This is a popcorn movie so they definitely insure that you get you money's worth of action.
The only real complaint is that majority of action scenes can end up being a blender to the brain if you try to think about it. Physics gets defied many, many times in the movie. One scene in particular I cannot discuss as it would be a spoiler and I try my best to not spoil. At times the movie felt like I was watching the Matrix all over again, with overexaggerated jumping scenes and being able to twist around in the air four times completely before you land, after a normal jump. Definitely means that it's best if you just don't try to think about how some of the action can occur in the real life. Just don't, save yourself the confused looks that will automatically pop up. Just sit back and enjoy.
Overall I thought the acting was good...except for Leon (Johann Urb), that is. Some of his lines needed more emotion yet instead he mainly deadpans everything (if only Jensen Ackles had gotten the role, he would have been a hundred times better). Leon was perfectly fine with everything non-dialogue related, unlike how ridiculous Wesker looked as he tried to look stick as a board while walking but instead achieved a my-arms-are-metal look. Luckily we have everyone else who can shine much brighter than him to help out.
The filmmakers did a smart thing and shoved Alice into unfamiliar territory: motherhood! Milla Jovovich is able show a side of herself that is rare in this saga, that of pure compassion. She is forced to look concerned for her "daughter" Becky (newcomer Aryana Engineer, who only past stared in Orphan) and do anything necessary to protect her, even though she doesn't really know who she is. It works and it was a very good subplot as one sequence involves Alice having to rescue Becky.
As stated before, this is a fun movie to see. You get an added bonus if you're a gamer as you'll be extremely entertained and feel as if you're playing a game on the big screen. Now if you go into all movies looking for the plot to make 100% sense and for everything to be as it is in real life, you're going to have a hard time. Learn to turn the brain back and watch the pretty explosions unfold.
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