Resident Evil: Vendetta (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Resident Evil is one of the biggest video game franchises of all time. Its popular in multiple entities and explorations, too. There were seven theatrical films based on the movies and don’t make me count the amount of games, sequels and spinoffs its seen. The original first 3 run of games are some of my most favorite ones of all time. They also make this little straight to video animated movies that sort of carry their own store too. Vendetta is the newest exercise in that kind of animated bloodshed and gun firing powerhouse. You can order the film, which is being released on July 18th, by clicking the Amazon link at the bottom of this review.
Film 
BSAA Chris Redfield enlists the help of government agent Leon S. Kennedy and Professor Rebecca Chambers from Alexander Institute of Biotechnology to stop a death merchant with a vengeance from spreading a deadly virus in New York.
While the Milla Jovovich films have been the big star for the outside of the games relevancy of the Resident Evil franchise, they have been making some straight animated movies from time to time. I saw one of them maybe some ten years ago and it was blah. They may have made another one in that time, but importantly, what we have here today is Vendetta. So yeah folks, two Resident Evil movies in the same calendar year. But, could this be better than the disappointing Final Chapter?
Vendetta apparently is trying to do a reboot of the series. The opening with Chris Redfield feels really familiar, because its how the original game starts. They do throw in Leon Kennedy and Rebecca Chambers, two of the more popular characters (I think). Its a different take on that mansion-heavy first game, but a more interesting one nonetheless as we have new character dynamics as well as some fresh science and monster attack sequences not seen.
This really isn’t bad, its just sorta “eh” for much of it. I’m probably just not as into this sort of thing is all. There is plenty of shooting up zombies and blood with a rocking audio track to hear it at its finest. Its surely something to watch and then never go back to, just like the one I saw. Fans of the series are probably the only person I may try and drum up to get interested to purchase it.
Video
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Layers: BD-66
Clarity/Detail: Being a modern animated film, its no surprise this one looks quite lovely. Every detail is picked up. One that REALLY impressed me was this worn, aged wooden table that our 3 leads discuss a virus cure at. You can see scratches, grain, nicks, peeling and faded spots on the stain. The floor in the room also reflects that. Everything is plenty visible at any distance. Hair follicles really impress. No this isn’t going to be mistaken for real life anytime soon, but its fully realized with what it is.
Depth: No, its not in 3-D, but don’t let that stop it from being quite impressive with spacing and a three dimensional appearance on a 2-D platform. Characters move naturally and with the most confidence.
Black Levels: Blacks are deep, natural and have that “dark” HDR look to them. Plenty of detail still there and good shadow work. No crushing witnees on this viewing for the review.
Color Reproduction: Colors are quite bold and strong. Rip roaring orange frames electrify the screen. Most of it is natural in appearance, which some good variety and saturation of the green. There are little colors that stick out and pop and skies are bright and blue.
Flesh Tones: N/A
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, Arabic 5.1 Dolby Digital, Czech 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Hungarian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Italian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Polish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, Russian 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital, Turkish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Dynamics: Well, this is two pretty outstanding Atmos track for me this week. This one has some incredible sound design on the foley effects. Said effects are well rounded, with a sense of realism beefing up amidst their layering. This is also a VERY loud track, as I had to turn my default volume spot down a few ticks (A good problem to have!). Vehicles and guns beat and blast through this movie, via this really loose, tightly mixed track full of all the zombie action.
Height: Bullets whizz by, weird creaks from the ceiling, helicopters and some zombie grumblings.
Low Frequency Extension: Pounding, stomping, punches, gun fire, explosions crashes and musical stings are make the subwoofer slam into action and shake the hell out of your room.
Surround Sound Presentation: This is a nice and well thought out Atmos track that identifies and gives good attention to each speaker in the mix. There are some absolutely incredible moments that happen with placement and sound traveling. Overall good fun.
Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are crisp and extremely clear with each bit of vocal diction captured.
Extras
Resident Evil: Vendetta is a 3-Disc set that features the Blu-ray edition and a Blu-ray bonus disc. All bonus materials are featured on the Blu-ray discs.
Moments
- Leon Kennedy (4K, 13:37)
- Rebecca Chambers (4K, 13:29)
- Chris Redfield (4K, 19:23)
- Zombies (4K, 17;24)
Blu-ray Disc
Audio Commentary
- Director Takanori Tsujimoto, Executive Producer Takashi Shimizu, and Writer Makoto Fukami
CGI To Reality – The Japanese production team talks some of the key creature design and environments that help bring this work to life.
- The Creature (HD, 13:55)
- Designing Vendetta (HD, 10:10)
Motion Capture Set Tour with Dante Carver (HD, 11:03) – A nice introspective look at the motion capture set and how it was utilized on this film.
Still Gallery
Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:38)
Teaser Trailer (HD, 1:40)
Blu-ray Bonus Disc
BSAA Mission Briefing: Combat Arias (HD, 5:06) – Told like a tactical military briefing, we get background on the villain and the mission as well has his cohorts and our heroes.
Designing the World of ‘Vendetta’ (HD, 3:31) – Talks a little of plot, characters and how much it adheres to the mythology of the game.
Tokyo Game Show Footage 2016 (HD, 13:06) – The crew address the studio audience of a game show and also show the trailer for this film
Summary
Resident Evil: Vendetta is a nice little reboot with some fan favorite characters. Its a fun enough little time killer, though it does feel like a big cut scene (Which is both good and bad). The picture quality and sound quality on this are both quite awesome. There are also some decent bonus features to boot. I don’t understand the 3rd disc though, as there’s not that much on the second disc. It could’ve fit on the main disc, I’m sure. This is probably just for the hardcore Resident Evil fans, but they are getting some I think they’ll find pretty cool.
