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There have been five of the "Resident Evil" movies now, all either written or directed by W.S. Anderson, who I’m not a huge fan of. When he brings his mind-numbing nonsense down to relatable level and doesn’t get as ridiculous as he did with 2011’s "The Three Musketeers", he has skill and he sure can bring the carnage like the best of them. So combining the ultra-popular genre of zombies with science fiction action appears to be a good recipe because this series, based on a very popular videogame, has been successful and has a reliable following.

I have to admit, as much as I’m not a huge fan of Anderson’s, I have enjoyed this series. There are requirements for viewing a "Resident Evil" movie. First of all, you have to know at least some of the background from the videogame and the characters. Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the most popular character and the one you need to know the most about. Course there is also Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) who had her own starring role in the video game series. In this film, she works for the Umbrella Corporation, a company bent on world takeover with a T-virus and cloning.

There is so much back-story and history to this series that I couldn’t possibly go into it and still write a review without losing you halfway through, so I won’t. The movie even starts with a fairly long back-story, but even it doesn’t help. You either know, or you don’t.

The problem with the "Resident Evil" series is the lack of feeling you get from endless gunfire and explosions. In a series that has humanity in peril around every corner, the lack of humanity in its storytelling has been its achilles heel. The action has always been cool and intense, but at some point or another, the relentlessness of it sort of desensitizes you. Eventually, the cool effects lose their impact. That being said, "Resident Evil: Retribution" did something about that. Nothing sucks an audience into a perilous situation like an eight-year old girl with a hearing impairment. As the movie unfolds Alice finds herself attached to her daughter, a clone, and you as an audience member are just as concerned for that girl’s safety.

The story is convoluted, but some of the best action sequences in the entire series are present here. They aren’t overwhelmingly ridiculous. Insert some humanity and feeling in the form of an eight-year old deaf girl who is probably the only actor in the film who brings the movie down to reality, and "Resident Evil: Retribution" is one of the best of the series. I don’t know how much that is saying. You’re either a fan, or you’re not. "Retribution" is a decent time at the movies.