I've been reviewing the various Resident Evil projects for years and in all of those reviews I've gone off on a tangent where I've gotten on soapbox and condemned the entire enterprise, stating that as a fan of the video games (at least, the original few games), I was appalled by what was put forth in these movies. But, I've grown weary of these arguments, as the movies just keep coming and never do anything to change. I may sound naive, but I still hope that one day we will see a movie which truly reflects the stories and characters of the games, but for the moments, we are left with things like Resident Evil: Retribution.

Resident Evil: Retribution is the fifth film in the Resident Evil series and as hard as this is to believe, the movies get worse with each entry. British director Paul W.S. Anderson is behind the franchise, having written all five films and directed three of them. Why have they gotten worse? That's easy to answer. Each film has strayed farther and farther away from having a concrete story or anything which resembles a fully-formed character. Anderson has attempted to create a story-arc and a mythos here, but the characters and scenarios shift at random during and between the films, making it impossible to create any sort of concrete narrative.

Of all of the movies, Resident Evil: Retribution strays the farthest from having a real story. We critics like to point out the lack of plot and story in movies, but we often exaggerate this idea. Not here. Alice has to make it through the facility alive. Boom! That's it -- that's the entire plot. There are no new ideas and no plot twists here. The movie is just one action set-piece after another and despite the impressive stuntwork, this grows old very quickly. Many often accuse movies of being like video games, but this one actually is, as there is a task rather than a tale and we, the audience, suffer for it.

As with the other movies in the series, Anderson has chosen to augment what little story he has with ideas from the video games. This decidedly lazy move comes across as really lazy in Resident Evil: Retribution as there aren't many monsters. There are some zombies and one giant licker and that's it. No dogs, no spiders, no Tyrant, no nothing. Alice is typically fighting soldiers instead of something which looks like it came from a horror movie. And I get to get on my Resident Evil fan soapbox, but the inclusion of Barry Burton and Leon S. Kennedy is simply ludicrous here. Barry is miscast, as he's a stocky middle-aged man in the games, and I didn't even realize that the character was supposed to be Leon until the final credits. These are just more examples of Anderson robbing the Resident Evil vault, but refusing to make a movie which resembles the games. Why does Capcom let him keep doing this? (Speaking of robbing, did the first sequence remind anyone else of the opening of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead?)

So, to review, Resident Evil: Retribution brings us a movie with no discernible story, no character development, and a fondness of unoriginality. I've seen people defend these films as dumb fun, but wouldn't they prefer smart fun? If this movie didn't have Resident Evil in the title, it would have gone straight-to-DVD, but for some reason, filmgoers continue to catch these movies in the theater. I usually don't endorse reboots, but I saw a news story stating that Capcom was looking to reboot the Resident Evil franchise and I'm all for it. Go back to the beginning, enter the Spencer Mansion and show audiences what scary really is.

Resident Evil: Retribution shows the negative sides of artificial intelligence on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. If you want an idea of how nice this transfer is, simply check out the scene where Alice wakes up in the white room and no how crisp the image is. The colors look very good and the image is never overly dark or bright. The depth is admirable, even in this 2D version, although at times, it makes it obvious that a green-screen is at work. The level of detail is good, as we can see every line on the actor's faces. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are nicely done, as the movie has an affinity for moving sounds through the speakers, especially from side-to-side. These effects are nicely detailed and show good separation. The surround sound effects are detailed as well, and we have no problem picking out individual sounds. The subwoofer effects are nearly constant throughout the film, bringing shakes and rumbles to accent the action.

The Resident Evil: Retribution Blu-ray Disc contains several extra features. Viewers can choose to watch the film using the "Project Alice: The Interactive Database" mode which uses movie clips to explore the history of the franchise. We have an AUDIO COMMENTARY with Writer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson, Milla Jovovich and Boris Kodjoe, as well as a second COMMENTARY which features Anderson with Producer Jeremy Bolt. The Disc contains five DELETED & EXTENDED SCENES which run about 13 minutes. Three of theses are simply longer versions of scenes which already exist in the film. We get a 5-minute reel of OUTTAKES. "Maestro of Evil: Directing Resident Evil: Retribution" (8 minutes) contains comments from Anderson who describes his involvement in the franchise and his goals for this film. Jovovich's character is examined in "Evolving Alice" (7 minutes) which includes interviews with the actress. "Resident Evil: Reunion" (10 minutes) looks at how actors like Oded Fehr and Michelle Rodriguez, who appeared in earlier films, have returned for this one. The visual effects used to create the various locations and scenes are looked at in "Design & Build: The World of Resident Evil: Retribution" (9 minutes). "Drop (Un) Dead: The Creatures of Retribution" (7 minutes) takes us behind the scenes to see the design and creation of the monsters from the film. "Resident Stuntman" (6 minutes) has Stunt Coordinator Nick Powell describing the action in the film. "Code: Mika" (6 minutes) features Mika Nakashima, the patient zero from Tokyo. "Resident Evil: Retribution - Face of the Fan" (3 minutes) profiles a girl who got to fulfill her dream of playing a zombie.