ENSFC Media Studies
Film Review
Film Review
Film Title – Resident Evil Retribution.
Year of Production – 2012.
Director – Paul W.S. Anderson.
Genre/Genres – Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller.
Brief Plot Outline - Alice awakes at home with her daughter Becky and her husband. But soon she realizes that she is actually in an Umbrella Corporation's underground facility. Out of the blue, the computer security system shuts-down and Alice flees to the central control room of the facility. She meets Ada Wong, who works with Albert Wesker, and she learns that a five-man team has been sent by Wesker to rescue them. However, the Red Queen sends Jill Valentine and Rain to hunt them down.
Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?
Scene 1 – The Elevator fight scene.
It a lot of different angles to it; High angles, low angles to it which sets power developments. One of my favourite shots is a long shot of Barry’s walking out and accepting defeat. From this we get a good look at the area and what he’s up against. This clip seemed to have collision cutting in it when it went from a silent atmosphere to a lot of things happening. In the Elevator fight scene, we see the death of Barry, one of the main characters on the survival team. Within this scene, Barry is shot by Luther (one of the villains) and as he hit the floor you presume he is dead. At this point it goes dead silent and within 5 seconds his eyes open bringing the music back and it jumps straight back into the action where he quickly shoots Luther.
Scene 2 – The city scene.
In this scene, Alice and Ada (Main characters/Female Survivors) are against two of the BOW'S (main infected/slow moving monster). We see how they have to struggle with two guns against some giant undead monsters with axes. We see slow editing techniques as the monsters move in which then switches to some collision cutting as the music immediately starts with a lot of action. We see close ups of Ada as she is trapped in the bus to give an idea of her emotion which then switches to a POV shot of her looking at the axe. This scene is very good as we can see emotion from the character and makes the audience develop specific feelings for the victim.
Year of Production – 2012.
Director – Paul W.S. Anderson.
Genre/Genres – Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller.
Brief Plot Outline - Alice awakes at home with her daughter Becky and her husband. But soon she realizes that she is actually in an Umbrella Corporation's underground facility. Out of the blue, the computer security system shuts-down and Alice flees to the central control room of the facility. She meets Ada Wong, who works with Albert Wesker, and she learns that a five-man team has been sent by Wesker to rescue them. However, the Red Queen sends Jill Valentine and Rain to hunt them down.
Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?
Scene 1 – The Elevator fight scene.
It a lot of different angles to it; High angles, low angles to it which sets power developments. One of my favourite shots is a long shot of Barry’s walking out and accepting defeat. From this we get a good look at the area and what he’s up against. This clip seemed to have collision cutting in it when it went from a silent atmosphere to a lot of things happening. In the Elevator fight scene, we see the death of Barry, one of the main characters on the survival team. Within this scene, Barry is shot by Luther (one of the villains) and as he hit the floor you presume he is dead. At this point it goes dead silent and within 5 seconds his eyes open bringing the music back and it jumps straight back into the action where he quickly shoots Luther.
Scene 2 – The city scene.
In this scene, Alice and Ada (Main characters/Female Survivors) are against two of the BOW'S (main infected/slow moving monster). We see how they have to struggle with two guns against some giant undead monsters with axes. We see slow editing techniques as the monsters move in which then switches to some collision cutting as the music immediately starts with a lot of action. We see close ups of Ada as she is trapped in the bus to give an idea of her emotion which then switches to a POV shot of her looking at the axe. This scene is very good as we can see emotion from the character and makes the audience develop specific feelings for the victim.
How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?This film has helped me understand the horror genre by looking further into the Slow Moving Monsters subgenre of Zombies. With many different films related to them, we can see how they change when comparing the two (Resident Evil – Slow Zombies, 28 Days Later - Fast Zombies). The differences in gore seem to go by the speed of the action, as 28 Days Later has a lot more gore in it than Resident Evil, yet Resident Evil has a more understandable storyline with the gore being slower. From this, I’ve come to the conclusion that the slower zombie films usually drag out their gore to make the viewer shudder more, whilst faster zombies have much more gore but you don’t pay as much attention to it with how fast it goes.
Horror Genre Checklist -
Characters:
Slow Moving Monster – Zombies
Female Survivor – Alice, Ada
Male Hero – Chris
Helper – Wesker
Fast moving Monster – Jill
Editing:
Slow Editing – As the Biohazard walks from behind the bus – They seem to drag out the feeling as they are walking very slow.
Fast Editing – The laser grid scene – The lasers are moving at high speed in an attempt to kill Alice.
Collision Cutting – The laser grid scene – Quiet, nothing happening and as Alice walks in the room activates and everything is moving very fast.
Which aspects of the film would you like to INCLUDE in your own trailer? Why?I would like to put in the scene with the Biohazards. This is because it creates tension in the viewer as they wait to see what will emerge from behind the buses. In a trailer, there would only need to be a quick shot of something like a foot to show the overall size of this thing in comparison to the main characters and it would symbolise a boss fight. The thought of a giant boss that is an obstacle has always been one of my main things when watching horrors as it is an enemy that has been perked up and will require a lot of efforts for a group to kill.
Which aspects of the film would you like to AVOID in your own trailer? Why?I would like to avoid the long cuts of dialogue. This is because I’m not a fan of a long dialogue talk between two characters. Short discussions should be made under pressure and in a situation such as this a quick judgement would be best for time management. This lets the audience relate to the current situation in the film as they can get an idea on how it would be if it was real.What was the best aspect/more enjoyable moment of the film? Why? The best moment of this film would have to be the introduction for me. This is because we get a slight back story from the previous film that wasn’t put in so we are up to speed with what’s going on. I also like the idea of the previous main villain teaming up with the Heroes as it shows that in tight situations like this you can’t be having arguments.
Can you recreate this in your own film? How?I can have a person portrayed as villainous so that the audience starts out by addressing him as the villain and then cut to a further scene of them all working together. This would put my viewers into confusion as to who is the overall enemy of this film, having a chance of more people being interested in the film to find out who it is that they are actually up against.How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context?This film portrays its historical context by relating back to the previous films with the characters. We can see this by seeing characters that were missing from previous films brought back to the camera. This is good as it shows how the film has adapted and how the characters personal files have changed since their first encounter. I particularly like this as it means a reunion of the heroes and also an addition of characters from just seeing Alice on her journey to find Wesker. We can see when this film is made on average by the scene where they are re-enacting the first signs of the outbreak in a massive testing ground of Tokyo. This gives us an idea into what is going on at the current time of the Zeitgeist through the advertisements placed around the city and the style of fashion that can be seen from the zombies. This scene also relates us back to the first film where we get a shot of how this outbreak started, showing relations back to previous additions of the film.
Horror Genre Checklist -
Characters:
Slow Moving Monster – Zombies
Female Survivor – Alice, Ada
Male Hero – Chris
Helper – Wesker
Fast moving Monster – Jill
Editing:
Slow Editing – As the Biohazard walks from behind the bus – They seem to drag out the feeling as they are walking very slow.
Fast Editing – The laser grid scene – The lasers are moving at high speed in an attempt to kill Alice.
Collision Cutting – The laser grid scene – Quiet, nothing happening and as Alice walks in the room activates and everything is moving very fast.
Which aspects of the film would you like to INCLUDE in your own trailer? Why?I would like to put in the scene with the Biohazards. This is because it creates tension in the viewer as they wait to see what will emerge from behind the buses. In a trailer, there would only need to be a quick shot of something like a foot to show the overall size of this thing in comparison to the main characters and it would symbolise a boss fight. The thought of a giant boss that is an obstacle has always been one of my main things when watching horrors as it is an enemy that has been perked up and will require a lot of efforts for a group to kill.
Which aspects of the film would you like to AVOID in your own trailer? Why?I would like to avoid the long cuts of dialogue. This is because I’m not a fan of a long dialogue talk between two characters. Short discussions should be made under pressure and in a situation such as this a quick judgement would be best for time management. This lets the audience relate to the current situation in the film as they can get an idea on how it would be if it was real.What was the best aspect/more enjoyable moment of the film? Why? The best moment of this film would have to be the introduction for me. This is because we get a slight back story from the previous film that wasn’t put in so we are up to speed with what’s going on. I also like the idea of the previous main villain teaming up with the Heroes as it shows that in tight situations like this you can’t be having arguments.
Can you recreate this in your own film? How?I can have a person portrayed as villainous so that the audience starts out by addressing him as the villain and then cut to a further scene of them all working together. This would put my viewers into confusion as to who is the overall enemy of this film, having a chance of more people being interested in the film to find out who it is that they are actually up against.How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context?This film portrays its historical context by relating back to the previous films with the characters. We can see this by seeing characters that were missing from previous films brought back to the camera. This is good as it shows how the film has adapted and how the characters personal files have changed since their first encounter. I particularly like this as it means a reunion of the heroes and also an addition of characters from just seeing Alice on her journey to find Wesker. We can see when this film is made on average by the scene where they are re-enacting the first signs of the outbreak in a massive testing ground of Tokyo. This gives us an idea into what is going on at the current time of the Zeitgeist through the advertisements placed around the city and the style of fashion that can be seen from the zombies. This scene also relates us back to the first film where we get a shot of how this outbreak started, showing relations back to previous additions of the film.
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