4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Review: RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY

Home » 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Review: RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY

Feb 12, 2022 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

After their parents died in a car crash, Chris and Claire Redfield were sent to the Racoon City Orphanage, where Doctor William Birkin (Neal McDonough) oversaw their care. However, there was more going on at that facility than the siblings were fully aware of. When the children got older, Claire (Kaya Scodelario, Spinning Out, Skins) ran away, learning how to fight, and survive on street smarts. Meanwhile, her brother Chris (Robbie Amell, Upload, The Flash) stayed in Raccoon City, becoming a cop the Racoon City Police Department. It’s now September 30, 1998, and the estranged siblings haven’t seen one another in a long time. Claire has returned with something important to tell her brother, but Racoon City has become a ghost town. The world’s largest pharmaceutical company, the Umbrella Corporation, had once called the town its home, but the company has been transitioning its operations to a new location. All that remains of the town are a skeleton crew overseeing the move, the local police department, and the residents who are too poor to leave. Claire had been working with a whistleblower who has suddenly and mysteriously gone missing. He had evidence that the Umbrella Corporation had been poisoning the town’s water—a Chernobyl-level leak that they could no longer contain—and was now moving away to cover things up and avoid responsibility. While many of the townsfolk have fallen ill, oddly none of Umbrella’s workers or local law enforcement seemed to be getting sick. Claire is determined to get to the truth and find proof of the company’s wrongdoing. But as she rolls into town, Claire starts to see some disturbing and shocking behavior from the residents of Racoon City.

Meanwhile, it’s nearly midnight, and rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia, Now Apocalypse, Ghost Wars) is waking up to head to his first graveyard shift at the Raccoon City Police Department, and for a small, dying town, they seem to have a lot of officers working the night shift. Two cops had been sent out earlier to investigate a report of a dead body at the Spencer Mansion—the former home of the Umbrella Corporation’s founder—but they haven’t been heard from in a while. So Chief Irons (Donal Logue, Gotham, Vikings) sends helicopter pilot Vickers (Nathan Dales, Letterkenny) to bring four officers—Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen, Brave New World), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper, The Umbrella Academy) & Richard Aiken (Chad Rook, Joe Pickett, Virgin River)—to help investigate. But it’s not long before the cops discover that the mansion is overrun by zombies. Meanwhile, back at the station, the rookie, the chief and a newly-arrived Claire also find themselves dealing with a mob of bloodthirsty zombies banging at the gates.

As both groups fight to survive, Claire also continues her search for proof of Umbrella’s wrongdoings. But time is running out—the company has secret plans to level the town at 6am in order to contain the virus and destroy all evidence of their activities. The clock is ticking. Can Claire and these cops survive long enough to get the evidence they need to stop Umbrella and escape? Little do they know that the zombies may be the least of their problems—even worse creatures are waiting for them in the shadows.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a reboot of the popular film franchise, this time more-closely based on the characters and storylines of CAPCOM’s first two Resident Evil videogames rather than the character of Alice that was created for the previous films. The storyline of the first Resident Evil game find Chris, Wesker and Valentine in the mansion, while the second game finds Claire and Leon in the police station. The film jumps back and forth between these two seemingly-disparate stories, ultimately coming together in the end. I never really played any of the games in the 90s, so I didn’t realize just how closely this movie adapts those games until I watched the bonus material on this disc. It’s quite impressive, and based on those featurettes, it looks like fans of those original games will find an extra level of enjoyment with this film. The filmmakers have kept the characters, costumes, and sets very faithful to those games—it made me want to check out those games. That said, brand new viewers who have never seen a Resident Evil film or video game can still jump right in and enjoy this reboot of the franchise. The character of Leon serves as the audience. He is new to the RCPD, and he asks a lot of questions of the captain and his fellow officers, which helps new viewers quickly come up to speed on what has been going on in this town.

The film primarily goes for a horror tone, with many jump scares, scary creatures, and zombies. Like a typical horror film, at first the viewer is just given hints and small glimpses at the zombies and other creatures, but as things progress, so does the amount of blood and gore, the number of zombies, and the extent of what the company’s T-Virus has created comes to light. Throughout the film, there are cutaways to title cards showing the current time as that 6am deadline rapidly approaches. The film’s creepy and thunderous score also helps bring the tension, as well as some creative use of sound to have the audience imagine what terrors actually lurk in the darkness, without always having to show it. The creaks of the old house, the chittering of creatures, and the sound of flesh and bone cracking and being eaten up creeps out the audience sometimes even more effectively than actually showing a creature (though there’s plenty of that as well). The film feels both cinematic, and also like you’re in a video game at times—this was especially noticeable as Claire, Leon and the Chief make their way to escape the precinct and the viewer is given this first person view that makes them feel like they are running along with the others. There are also many Easter eggs and other fun nods to the games throughout.

One of the brilliant moves was setting this film in the late 1990s, the same time period the games were released. This means the characters don’t have smartphones or mobile internet access in their pockets… which would help the two groups easily communicate with one another and probably have resolved the situation before things escalate. The time period also means a nice musical soundtrack for the film—these cops always seem to be distracted listening to music, not noticing as a looming threat approaches.

There is definitely a different feeling to this reboot than the previous films starring Milla Jovovich. The scope of the movie feels smaller and more intimate, with the virus thus far just contained to this one town, and the action primarily taking place in just in two locations—the mansion and the precinct. We don’t have this massive post-apocalyptic world filled with hordes of zombies. The film also has a lot more humor weaved into the dialogue. Most of these cops have known one another for a long time, so there’s some fun banter and ribbing between them. The officers also enjoy making jabs at the rookie and giving him a hard time, and the ornery chief often gets frustrated with Leon, constantly giving him ridiculously conflicting orders. The cast make a great ensemble, playing well off one another. Overall, I enjoyed this new version of the franchise, and would gladly welcome more films set in this world.

Sony’s 4K Ultra HD release looks and sounds great. Since the film primarily takes place in the middle of the night, the majority of the scenes are dark. However, the video presentation still provides a clean, clear picture with a nice level of detail throughout. There is a noticeable change in the lighting and color palette comparing the 4K picture with Dolby Vision and the Blu-ray release, though both versions look quite good. There are some beautiful looking shots, such as when the cops first arrive at the mansion. The effects are also well done, realistic and terrifying (well, as realistic as these strange creatures could look). The Atmos audio track is also pretty impressive, the sounds of zombies moaning and creatures chittering and biting their victims is very clear and discrete, and really strikes up the imagination, raising the terror level. While I never really noticed great use of the height, the track does utilize the surround channel for a very immersive experience, especially once when the chaos kicks in. The bass is also constantly rumbling (maybe slightly on the aggressive side) to help sell some jump scares and build the tension. Dialogue remains clear throughout.

Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs contain the same 25 minutes of entertaining behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast/director. It would have been nice to get a commentary, deleted scenes, outtakes, etc. But the featuretettes are still quite interesting—the participants talk a lot about how the film is a faithful adaptation of the video games—it was really interesting to see the visual comparisons of the two. The two discs are packed on either side of a standard 4K keepcase, with a glossy carboard slipcover. An insert provides instructions on how to redeem an 4K Movies Anywhere-compatible digital copy of the film.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:47:29)

2160p / Widescreen 2:40:1
Dolby Vision / HDR10
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible), English Audio Descriptive Service, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Blu-ray:

1080p / Widescreen 2:40:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Audio Descriptive Service, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish

Digital (Limited time offer):

4K digital copy, redeemable via Movies Anywhere or Vudu

Extras:

Replicating the DNA (10:58)
The cast and director/screenwriter talk about adapting the characters, costumes and locations from the first 2 games to make a film that would appeal to the gamers, how the time period and lack of technology helps tell the story, and more. They also discuss keeping the sound, look and aesthetic from the games, and point out many references and Easter eggs. Includes comparisons between the feature and game footage, and behind-the-scenes footage.
Cops, Corpses and Chaos (8:06)
The cast and director/screenwriter discuss the tone of the film, the characters, casting the movie, what it was like working with one another, filming at night in the cold, weapons and stunt training, and more. Includes video game and behind-the-scenes footage.
Zombies, Lickers and the Horrors of Resident Evil (5:40)
The cast and director/screenwriter talk about bringing the horror back to the franchise, the look of the zombies and other creatures, the use of VFX, and more. Includes production artwork, and video game and behind-the-scenes footage.
Previews* (16:34)
Trailers for Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Don’t Breathe 2, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness*, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions*, Morbius, and Uncharted play back-to-back. A couple of the trailers only appear on the Blu-ray disc, these are noted with an *.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

I really enjoyed this reboot of the Resident Evil film franchise, which goes for more of a horror tone (mixed with some humor), and also sets the story at a time without a lot of modern technology, making things a little more difficult for the characters. Sony’s release looks and sounds great, and includes a small but excellent assortment of behind-the-scenes bonus material. This comes highly recommended for fans of the original Resident Evil video games, and an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a fun, throwback horror film set in the Resident Evil universe—though no prior knowledge of the franchise is required.