No
Avg. Critic Score: 39 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Iffy for 16+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 88
    Slant Magazine | Jaime N. Christley

    At this point in the franchise, Anderson is content to alight the saga on a perpetual rewind loop, ever-ending, ever-rebooting, all subsidized by his nonpareil compositional sense. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Clark Collis

    Writer-director W.S. Anderson's overseeing of the Resident Evil zombie franchise has proven to be both lunatically haphazard and dementedly enthusiastic. Read full review

  • 60
    Boxoffice Magazine |

    If it's true that movies can transport you to places you could hardly have imagined, then Resident Evil: Retribution is the cinema's ultimate passport to purgatory. Read full review

  • 60
    Time Out New York | Nick Schager

    Anderson utilizes slow-motion 3-D to hyperbolic effect while again casting Jovovich as the epitome of badass sexiness. Read full review

  • 50
    Movieline |

    It's the closest thing you'll find yet to a recreation of a video game sensibility on the big screen - which is in line with the franchise's source material - and makes for a memorably unsettling if not particularly satisfying viewing experience. Read full review

  • 40
    Total Film |

    Giant brains with teeth, suburban mutant zombies, more bullets than a John Woo film festival, and hot girls in skin-tight S&M outfits pummelling each other to a deafening dubstep soundtrack. If you're looking for brainless, blood-guzzling carnage, you've found it. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Tom Russo

    Funny about retribution, though - it's a tricky thing to make time for when you've still got mutant zombie hordes after you. The real premise turns out to be a busy rehash of the first movie's story line. Read full review

  • 38
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) |

    A few striking images keep our attention – like evil warrior Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) seated menacingly with an assault rifle on a playground swing in the 'burbs. But the film's title promises payback, without offering ample compensation. Read full review

  • 30
    The Hollywood Reporter | Frank Scheck

    She's (Milla Jovovich) constantly being besieged by a seemingly never-ending series of monsters, and we -- at least every couple of years or so -- are forced to sit through yet another installment of the mind-numbing series. Read full review

  • 20
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    Thuddingly awful. Read full review

View more reviews for Resident Evil: Retribution on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+ Plenty of gore -- and more 3-D -- in fifth RE installment.
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.
  • Families can talk about Resident Evil: Retribution's violence. How did it make you feel? Were you scared? Were you grossed out?
  • Is Alice a strong female role model, or is she a stereotype?
  • How do the Resident Evil movies compare to the video games they're based on? Which is more entertaining -- the interactive zombie-killing experience, or the passive one?
  • Do you feel the need to see the latest Resident Evil movie just because you've seen the others? How does the latest one compare?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: 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.
  • rolemodels true1 Positive role models: 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.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: 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.
  • sex false2 Sexy stuff: 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).
  • language false3 Language: Infrequent language includes a few uses of "s--t," plus "hell," "badass," etc.
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: 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.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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