Resident Evil: Afterlife 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
With five Resident Evil films already out and another one hitting theaters soon, I’m not sure there’s much more story to tell in the franchise. RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is the fourth Resident Evil film and to be blunt; if you played all of the movies back to back, I wouldn’t be able to tell you where Afterlife started and the next one began. They’re all running together at this point and since the deeper drama and storylines are muddled at best, it’s hard to even care. But if you’re showing up to these films looking for a story, then you’re in the wrong place. The basic point of a Resident Evil film is to get Milla Jovovich in some crazy situations and have her punch, kick and shoot her way out. With that in mind, Afterlife gives you what you’d expect.
I believe this is the plot for every Resident Evil film, but basically Alice is out for revenge against the Umbrella Corporation that is responsible for the plague that wiped out humanity. She’s chased down the remaining survivors to Alaska, where there was rumored to be a safe haven. Obviously, this was a lie and violence ensues.
If you’ve followed the franchise to this point, Afterlife isn’t going to make you give up now. Likewise, if you haven’t liked any of the films, then Afterlife isn’t going to make you a believer. Paul W.S. Anderson has a formula and even though fans have complained loudly about the lack of plot and divergence from what they loved about the games, Anderson is sticking with what he knows works. Personally, that’s the frustrating thing for me with the series since I think it would be possible to make a good Resident Evil film. But at the same time, I’m okay with Afterlife (and the others) because they know what they are and they don’t try to hard to be anything other than a vehicle for crazy, sci-fi stunts.
But the real question plaguing this 4K Ultra HD release is; why? Or to be specific, why release Afterlife on 4K and not Retribution? The only thing I can think of is that Sony was looking at the total success of every film in the franchise and Afterlife clearly made the most money to the tune of about $20 million more than Retribution. Still, I would have thought they’d release both Retribution and Afterlife. My guess is that we’ll get Retribution when The Final Chapter is released on 4K.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: I enjoyed the 3D version of RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE and as expected, the added detail and enhanced colors give Afterlife a 3D-like effect. As far as catalog titles are concerned, this is a nice improvement, presumably because the source material was of higher quality. The film has a dark, almost dreary tone to it, but the 4K UHD detail and HDR add a level of clarity to the entire film. In fact, the film didn’t seem so visually dark as it did on Blu-ray. This may not be the movie I’d choose to upgrade to 4K, but it’s a nice presentation nonetheless.
Audio: On top of the improved video presentation, we also get a nice Dolby Atmos track, which upgrades the Blu-ray’s DTS track.
This title was reviewed using a Samsung UBD-K8500 with a Sony XBR75X850C TV.
The 4K UHD does not contain any exclusive features, but it does include a Blu-ray of the film.
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