Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Resident Evil: Afterlife 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Here's an odd one: With the latest 'Resident Evil' film, 'The Final Chapter,' on the way, Sony has understandably returned to the catalogue to release one of the older films to 4K UHD. But it didn't release the first or the latest, or all of them for that matter, choosing instead to release only 'Afterlife,' the fourth film in what is now, with 'The Final Chapter,' a six-film series. Nevertheless, the movie is here on UHD/HDR with a new Atmos soundtrack. How does it fare, kind out of out on its own, for the moment, on the new format? Find out below.

Resident Evil: Afterlife 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Ignore that on the rather crude 0-5 ratings scale Resident Evil: Afterlife's 2160p/HDR-enhanced UHD release scored lower than the 1080p Blu-ray and take away that it's still a substantial improvement over the standard issue Blu-ray. Upon a direct compare, it's almost shocking how texturally deficient the Blu-ray appears. The Blu-ray's level of detailing is almost painfully flat by the UHD's standard of excellence, for example, and the HDR colors only alter the palette so far as it seems to improve on the movie's dreary tone. Textural refinements are obvious. The movie looks fine playing on its own, watching the first time through without benefit of the compare to the six-year-old BD, but it's getting down to cases where the improvements become clear. Take a shot of Alice upon arriving by plane to Alaska at the 20:06 mark. It's a great shot that encapsulates all of the changes (improvements) the UHD brings to the film. Details are substantially more complex. Where her face and jacket look surprisingly smooth and devoid of any textural nuance on the Blu-ray, the UHD offers a clear step upward in terms of bringing great facial complexity to the frame. The jacket is even more striking, looking like a smooth, gray swath of color on the Blu-ray but finding its textural realities on the UHD, enough to give it a very tangible, tactile feel. Such improvements in detail are evident throughout the film. Whether natural or manmade surfaces, skin, clothes, or heavy uniforms, the increase in definition, even considering that the film was reportedly finished at 2K and upscaled to 4K for this release, is at worst appreciable and oftentimes, at best, significant.

Colors aren't any more vibrant. Instead, they're more apt to emphasize many of the movie's beak, cold, gray-dominant accents. Brighter shades, a bit drained by designed, are a little more so here, but also more nuanced and lifelike, more appreciably real and less glossy. Even the brightest reds -- the Umbrella logo contrasting with the gray-blue-black dominant facility near film's start -- is still punchy, but more refined. HDR tweaks aren't insignificant, but they only go so far as to improve on the movie's textural demands rather than alter its intended look. As for the rest of the disc, it's great. Black levels hold true and flesh tones are contextually fine. Source noise is occasionally visible but Sony's transfer is otherwise free of other obvious source or encode flaws. The reason for the 4.0 score is that it just can't touch the excellence of the best UHD discs -- Pineapple Express, Angels & Demons, -- which were admittedly shot on film and sourced from a 4K master. Still, this is a very impressive UHD that will leave fans thrilled and wanting the rest of the series on the new format.

Resident Evil: Afterlife 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Resident Evil: Afterlife's UHD release features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack and it makes for a quality upgrade from the previous release's excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless presentation. The track is stunning, a symphony of action and violence, a barrage of sound that's perfectly defined, refined, and capable of sweeping and swooping through the listing area with amazing precision. Pretty much everything the track has to offer can be heard in the first 15 minutes. The film begins with widely dispersed, airy notes that slowly build towards heavier electronic pulses and deeper notes that play with seamless stage presence -- width, depth, and height -- that's the norm for music throughout the film. Things get exciting, fast. Guns blast and bullets zip and impact surfaces and shatter glass with amazing volume, rush, energy, and sense of place. Shots ring out from all corners, glass seems to spill in from every direction, bodies fall, swords swing: it's sonic chaos refined. A loudspeaker announcement seems to emanate directly above the listener and filters through the stage with a natural diffusion, an early film and terrific example of what Atmos can bring to a movie watching experience. Alices zip down a shaft with razor-sharp clarity. A wave of destruction pushes through the stage at the 14:50 mark, sending a seriously deep and obviously moving shock through the listening area. It's mayhem made precise and in every action scene the track always seems to outdo itself, to bring something new to the experience. Rounded out by well prioritized and positioned dialogue, Sony's latest Atmos presentation is a beast of a listen that will dazzle those with the ability to hear it in all its added channel glory.

Resident Evil: Afterlife 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Resident Evil: Afterlife's UHD release contains all of its core supplemental content on the included 1080p Blu-ray disc, which appears identical to the original, including, even, the long-abandoned "Movie IQ" content. The UHD disc contains the usual Sony extras: cast and crew stills and a collection of themed Moments (2160p, HDR, Atmos): Alice (9:34), Claire (7:10), Luther (3:47), and The Undead (5:17). For full supplemental reviews, please click here. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

Resident Evil: Afterlife 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Resident Evil: Afterlife's UHD release doesn't add any new, meaningful supplements (besides the cast and crew stills and grouped moments) but the video upgrade is honest and the audio upgrade adds, literally, a layer of refinement to an already established and exciting track. Highly recommended, and here's hoping Sony soon sees fit to bring the rest of the series to the UHD format.