The Resident Evil film franchise is still going strong, and star Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson brought the latest installment to Comic-Con’s Hall H.  This fifth entry in the series is called Resident Evil: Retribution, and Jovovich and Anderson were joined onstage by co-stars Michelle Rodriguez, Li Bingbing, Oded Fehr, and Boris Kodje.  Hit the jump to read my recap of the panel.

Moderator Ralph Garman introduced the film as being “bigger and better” than any of the previous installments.  He brought out Anderson to talk a bit before the other actors came on stage.

• Anderson said he wanted to make the first truly epic apocalyptic film, and had the aim to go bigger and better since he feels the series is winding down to a close.
• They tried to make the movie as big as possible in terms of scale and action, but they waned to make it as small as possible when it came to Milla’s character.  Anderson said this lead to having some of the biggest scares because it’s Alice against everyone else.

They then played the latest theatrical trailer for the audience, but this was my first time seeing it in 3D.  Lots of things were flying at the screen and popping out, so expect to have stuff in your face if you see it in 3D.

• The cast was introduced onstage and Milla excitedly yelled “WHAT’S UP!” as soon as she sat down.
• Milla said she didn’t’ appreciate what it meant to be a superhero until she played a normal person in the Resident Evil universe, and that terrified her.
• Li Bingbing said she had a great time making the movie and loved all the makeup.

Anderson then introduced a clip that’s from a climatic, 9-minute sequence from the end film.  I won’t go into great detail so I don’t spoil a scene from the end of the movie, but it features a hand-to-hand fight scene between Jovovich and a few other characters.  Lots of sharp objects were involved and the scene took place in the snow on top of what looked like a frozen lake or ocean.  Honestly the fight scene actually looked pretty cool, but a grating rock song played over the entire sequence that was a tad annoying.  It’s clear that Anderson took advantage of the 3D, as lots of things came flying towards the screen.

• Fehr and Rodriguez talked about how great it was to come back after having their characters die in previous films.
• Rodriguez said as soon as she found out Anderson was making other movies after the first one, she hounded him to come back because she’s a big fan of the video games.
• Bingbing said that even though she doesn’t speak great English, Jovovich really helped her along throughout production.

Garman then turned over the panel to audience questions, and things got weird.

• A guy in a Buzz Lightyear costume came up to the microphone and asked Rodriguez if she would have sex with him.  Rodriguez responded by telling the guy he reminded her of someone she used to know that was “blasted off his mind” all the time.  She found the guy standing in her backyard “doing something horrible to himself,” and she stared back at him holding a knife and a .45 that Samuel L. Jackson gave her on S.W.A.T.
• Rodriguez talked about Jovovich’s influence on having more female action heroes, and also singled out Anderson as a champion of fighting to get these action movies made with a female star.
• A young girl stepped up and told Rodriguez that she’s been an inspiration to her since Girlfight and asked, since she’s being resurrected in Resident Evil and Fast and Furious, if we could see more of Captain Trudy Chacon from Avatar.  Rodriguez was truly touched by the girl’s comments, and answered that the Avatar question is something for James Cameron to answer.
• Anderson said that he feels like Retribution is the beginning of the end, adding that it has a lot of revelations in it and a lot of death.

Be sure to check out all of our continuing Comic-Con coverage here.