Why So Blu?

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

I honestly never saw this happening when I walked out of this one theatrically.  My first viewing of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter left me with a giddy smile on my face rather than one of disgust and regret.  After covering Resident Evil: Afterlife here on 4K Ultra HD and rewatching Retribution in preparation for this one I wasn’t sure about my decision to check out The Final Chapter, especially in the theater.  I debated waiting for this inevitable home media release, but Jordan Grout kind of gave me the courage needed to check it out.  I even spent the eight bucks and change to see it in 3-D.  The latter wasn’t worth it, but the decision to check out The Final Chapter so was.  I had the time of my life.  Okay, I’m exaggerating.  How about this?  I had the best experience in a theater considering it was the dreaded month of January.  Is that better?  Who would have ever thunk it?  I am finally able to give a Resident Evil film a favorable score of 3.  I’ll be darn as its the last one too and in my opinion they saved the best for last.  It’s a high octane thrill ride!

Film 

So as I was just saying Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is final installment in the series once again written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.  This makes it the sixth film overall in the franchise, which is loosely based on the Capcom zombie game of the same name.  Returning to this entry are the familiar faces of Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Shawn Roberts and Iain Glen with additional players Eoin Macken, William Levy and dear Ruby Rose (from Orange is the New Black Netflix series), who seems to be everywhere this year.  Just like in every other Resident Evil movie Alice and her friends attempt to stop the Umbrella corporation from ruining the world, but with an added caveat. This film actually has a working narrative and purposeful plot, and more importantly a conclusion.  How I love to be wrong about flicks.  A pleasant surprise is much welcomed everyday in my life.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter picks up after the events in Retribution.  I hesitate to use the word immediately though.  You see in Retribution we see our heroes along with Albert Wesker (Roberts) gearing up for one hell of a battle near the White House and surrounding Washington D.C. locales.  It was billed as humanity’s final stand against the undead forces.  Well when we finally reunite with Alice (Jovovich) here we learn that we missed the battle in its entirety and the only person to seemingly survive beneath the rumble of Washington D.C. is our heroine Alice.  The Red Queen summons Alice once again, but this time Alice knows better and has some serious trust issues with her.  However, she also wants her revenge and the chance to stop the T-virus once and for all.  I’m not going to go into any elaborate backstories on the T-virus, the Red Queen and what they all are.  You’re reading this review of the sixth films so you all should be acclimated by now.

So in order for Alice to stop the evil Umbrella Corporation once and for all we must go back to the beginning here, which is a good thing considering that the first film was always my favorite.  It’s like The Force Awakens to A New Hope.  You picking up what I’m dropping here?  Sometimes you just got to go back to the basics and experiment with what originally worked and jazz it up a bit.  That’s all Force Awakens was.  There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you do it effectively, but I digress.  So yeah it’s back to the underground Hive in Raccoon City, where Alice and the other survivors of the apocalypse race against time to not miss their one, final opportunity to end it all and save the world.  However, they do so with the masterminds of the Umbrella Corporation hot on their trail in step with one of the largest forces of undead armies in tow.

Now here’s the kicker and I know I’m going to be crucified for saying this, but the action was very reminiscent of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.  No I am not saying it is as good as that, but I am saying it’s very action packed and therefore highly thrilling.  Very little dialogue is exchanged throughout and instead we’re treated to one high octane thrill ride after another.  I love the fast edits!  Thank you for that Paul W.S. Anderson.  After the past two entries I’m very appreciative of that.  Furthermore, save for a few moments here or there, the actors, including Milla, seem to take their roles very seriously.  They weren’t just always firing heir guns like they were in a bad video game, but instead they were very purposeful blasts.  That’s important as most of these entries felt like just a series of stitched up bad dialogue and nonsensical violence just for the sake of.  Thankfully that’s not the case here.  There’s a sense of purpose, urgency and for the first time in a long time a cohesive plot, something really not seen since the first movie.  Like I said I never expected that again from a Resident Evil film.  Score!

Despite some bad looking explosion effects here or there, the action and fight choreography keeps me on my toes here.  It’s thrilling, engaging and non-stop.  Now I did say we go back to the basics here as we return to the beginning of it all.  Longtime fans of the series will recognize not only some familiar faces, but also some familiar traps and even callbacks to them.  Take for instance that hallway from the first film with those gridded lasers that traverse down it.  Well it’s back here with a vengeance.  Yes, I believe inanimate hallways with gridded lasers can enact vengeance too.  Ha ha.  You get the point I’m trying to make.  There’s always an anti-virus to everything.  Hint..hint.

Somehow, some way and for some some reason why Paul W.S. Anderson saved the best for last with appropriately titled The Final Chapter.  Of course that’s not to say Sony can’t always change their mind and reboot the franchise or even restart in another twenty years to rejuvenate Millas’s career, but for the first time in a long time we have a sense of closure here.  Best of all too pretty much everything is finally explained.  It feels like the end of it all and I’m perfectly fine going out on a high here just like Peyton Manning did with the Broncos.  “We’re all going to die here.”

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Sony’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter with some comparisons to the 1080p Blu-ray version.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: This 4K UHD presentation is a step above its already decent looking Blu-ray counterpart.  Onscreen events, characters and environments are all crystal clear with the utmost of sharpness and fine detail found prominently throughout from individual beads of rain and rubbles of rock to the highly visible pores and individual hair follicles.  Now I know what you’re thinking.  Sure there’s a lot of CGI to contend with in these Resident Evil films, but truth be told it never once hampered my appreciation of the finer visuals in this one despite the many fake looking explosions at times.  Milla never looked better!  Either I must be getting older and my taste in older women is sophisticating or Milla is drinking out of the Fountain of Youth.  Either way I’m happy with the way things look here (I’m also talking you Ali and young Ruby).
• Depth: Despite the bleakness throughout I have to say the depth of field in this one is still something of marvel.  Sure there’s vast sweeping wastelands to travel down here, but it’s the three-dimensional pop of the characters against their environments that are truly riveting to behold thanks to the blurred depth of field of it all.  I even love the extreme layers of depth given to key action sequences, moments and environments within the constrained Hive.  They like the many boobytraps looked killer!
• Black Levels: The black levels are all deep and inky throughout too.  The HDR brings everything to life despite the apocalyptic undead aspect of it all and ensures nothing gets left behind lost in the shadows.
• Color Reproduction: When it chooses to be the color palette here is bright, rich and bold  throughout despite it being a zombie film, which you would ordinarily expect to look bleak and post apocalyptic.  However, the latter rings true for most of the presentation, but it’s of artistic intent and tone folks.  You don’t want it to look like La La Land do you?  No!  The reds of the Red Queen pop and the contrast of the neon controls against the bleak environments invigorates your viewing pleasure.  Trust me that despite the bleakness of it all this one is still a looker.
• Flesh Tones: The temperatures of the skin tones all look natural and authentic throughout despite the intentionally tweaked bleakness of it all.  Skin on characters just simply looks natural, and scrumptious at times.  Take that however you want it to mean.  Ha ha.
• Noise/Artifacts: There’s absolutely nothing to ding this 4K Ultra HD presentation for in the way of anything unfavorable.  Like Tony the Tiger says its GRRRRRREAT!

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.  Sadly the regular 1080p Blu-ray only comes equipped with a 7.1 DTS-HD MA surround track while the 4K UHD disc comes heavily armed with an explosive, bombastic reference Dolby Atmos one.  It just goes to show you not everything is created equal in life.

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), Czech & English Audio Description Track, French (Quebec), Hungarian, Italian, Polish VO, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish (Castilian) and Spanish (Latin American), Thai & Turkish  5.1 Dolby Digital
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Cantonese, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Italian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian,Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Classic), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin America), Swedish, Thai, Turkish
• Dynamics: First and foremost let’s get this out of the way.  This Dolby Atmos surround track is a ferocious loud one.  It’s almost like the undead in this film…it’s ALIVE!  There are lots of jump scare moments and volume used for emphasis, but at the same time there’s those subtle synth beats that just completely put you under their trance.  Make no mistake this audio presentation is reference in every which way and despite the ear threatening deafness of it all no dialogue EVER gets lost in the mix.  Hell to the yeah!
• Height: The Atmos channels engage throughout here just as beautifully as the dynamics of it all with many shining examples such as rain falling from overhead, the overall atmosphere and effects, undead jumping up through rubble throughout to scare you, huge zombie dragons soaring in the air, rocks falling and so much more.
• Low Frequency Extension: This one like the dynamics and Atmosphere channels is in absolute beast mode.  I guess I should say like Marshall Lynch, huh?  Ha ha.  The bass is in your face (and yes I know that rhymes).  It’s ferocious, there’s a heftiness to all onscreen objects and the roars of the various forms of undead will knock your picture frames off the wall if you’re not careful.  All the gunshots throughout have nothing on the heaviness of those killer turbine fans.  Beware!
• Surround Sound Presentation: What more can you ask for here either?  You’re immersed in all the non-stop craziness of it all.  From debris and bullets flying around you everywhere to the Red Queen’s haunting voice and zombie dragons flapping their wings the surround channels eat you up and spit you out here.  One of the most impressive scenes was an underwater one where these zombie dogs were drowning.  Holy hell it felt you the viewer were under water thanks to the rears and the nudging of the bass channel working in perfect parallel cohesion.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue levels are LOUD, clear and intelligible throughout the presentation.  They are spot on perfect!

Extras 

Bonus materials on the Resident Evil: The Final Chapter Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, DVD and digital releases include two behind-the-scenes featurettes: “Explore the Hive,” and “The Badass Trinity & The Women of Resident Evil.”  Furthermore, bonus materials strictly on the Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD and digital releases include: a sneak peek at the upcoming CG animated feature Resident Evil: Vendetta, a featurette exploring the “Stunts & Weaponry” highlighted in the film and a very cool extra dubbed “Retaliation Mode,” a way for fans to extend their movie watching experience.  In addition to all of this there’s also that redeemable Digital HD code good for the UltraViolet version of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.  Now let’s take a closer look at all these 1080p Blu-ray extras as listed down below.

• Explore the Hive (HD, 4:18) – In this extra Sony provides us fans a chance to have a deeper understanding of the Hive and what Alice and team endured to save mankind.  What does that mean to you.  We get to go back!  Oh yeah!  The cast and crew talk about the hive set environment and how exhausting and dirty it all is.  I really can’t say enough good things about all these sets in the film.  They are incredible looking!
• The Badass Trinity & The Women of Resident Evil (HD, 6:32) – Here the female heroines discuss how their roles in this film empower women everywhere.  That’s kind of a pompous statement huh?  LOL.  This is why I like these films though as I love strong female action characters and here you have the leading two back together again, Ali and Milla.  What more can you ask for?  Oh yeah…there’s a Ruby Rose too.  Ha ha!  I kind of wish Ruby was stronger in this one, but beggars can’t be choosers.
• Retaliation Mode (HD) – This extra is pretty cool as you can extend your movie watching experience and enjoy 30 extra minutes with Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson where the pair break down pivotal scenes from the movie and discuss the world of Resident Evil.  This is pretty cool, huh?  If you’re a fan of this one, then I think so! PLEASE NOTE that this way of watching the film is ONLY available via the 1080p Blu-ray presentation of it.  Truth be told when they do speak it kind of pulls you out of the film.  It’s amazing how much whiter Milla’s teeth are compared to Paul’s.  LOL.  I’m serious!  It was interesting to learn that the zombie dogs were CG for the first time ever.  In prior films they used real dogs.  Hmm.  You really do learn something new every day.  Ha ha.
• Sneak Peek: Resident Evil: Vendetta (HD, 4:22) – Here we get a quick sneak peak at this upcoming CG animated feature.  It looks cool, but because it’s animated I can’t say I am the least bit interested in this.  Sorry.
• Stunts & Weaponry (HD, 9:03) – This featurette gives us a closer look at all the stunts and weapons highlighted in the film.  The filmmakers are proud of their actors doing the stunts and not stuntmen and women.  However, that’s not to say they are not stunt people.  They also talk about how they changed up the fighting style for Alice so it’s not rehashed from the last one.  Quite honestly Alice has a lot of formidable opponents in this one.  Milla, Ali, Ruby and others chat about the action and the film itself.  They talk about the turbine scene too how that’s really Ruby and Milla.  William Levy cracks me up when he said after filming a day of this movie you never want to go to the gym again.

Summary 

So there you have it.  Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, the sixth and supposedly final installment in the worldwide franchise phenomenon, premieres on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD May 16th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.  I armed you with enough knowledge up above as to why you MUST own this 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray package of this final film in the long running horror/video game franchise.  Now the only thing left for you to do is to save the world by clicking on that pre-order link down below pronto.  A percentage of all proceeds will be donated to the National Coalition for the Prevention of Zombie Epidemics.  Your life and the state of the free world depend upon you successfully doing so.  Don’t let yourself and others down.  Click pre-order now and enjoy life!

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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PRE-ORDER Now!

To Align and Fight With Alice

To Rid The World of Zombies in

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

on 4K Ultra HD May 16th

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