Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 11, 2022

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City reboots the franchise but doesn't revamp it. Unlike the Paul W.S. Anderson/Milla Jovovich films, this one aims for a more structurally faithful adaptation of the popular video game franchise, which it does to mixed result. The film is loud and grisly but it's also hollow and flat. It brings nothing new to the table that hasn't been seen in the other Resident Evil movies (beyond the superficial). Its action, cadence, and characters are lacking in genuine interest and purpose beyond bringing a smorgasbord of characters from the games to the screen.

Raccoon City, once a thriving place under the auspices of the ginormous Umbrella Corporation, is a shell of its former self. Umbrella has moved out and only a few people remain. Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), who grew up in the city in the care of an orphanage with her brother Chris (Robbie Amell), has returned to investigate why the town is really dying: she suspects that there may be contaminants in the water. With rookie Raccoon PD cop Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia) and STARS (Special Tactics And Rescue Service) team members Chris, Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), and Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper) at her side, Claire not only unravels the truth but faces deadly apocalyptic consequences that will threaten her life, her town, and the world.

The film takes place in 1998. The first Resident Evil game released in 1996, so chronologically this is something of a backwards move but it is also a welcome move that sees the franchise literally return the story to its roots. This is clearly designed as a reboot of the film franchise that ignores the Jovovich films (and it is strange not to see her in a Resident Evil film, but at the same time it’s fun to see an updating that moves the filmed franchise iteration into a new direction). Still, try as it might to capture so much of the atmosphere and storyline from the first and second games, the film plays hollowly, not lacking in scares but lacking that intangible sense of importance and originality. It’s a shallow film, one that tries hard to recreate the video game magic for the screen but ultimately demonstrates that, just maybe, this is a franchise destined to play better with a controller, not popcorn, in the hands.

The characters are fairly flat an uninteresting, a strange observation considering there’s much more dynamic depth in the games, but here between rote plot maneuverings and fairly flat performances, there’s not much room for the characters to stretch and develop in any meaningful ways. Mostly, the film becomes about action, gunplay, and the like – in the same vein as so many other movies – and it cannot find much separation from the pack, even as it’s well aware of what makes the games work and incorporating so many little bits and pieces of the video game experience into the movie. The film is slow out of the gate and never picks up much momentum, even as the action really gets underway because it’s nothing more than a rehash of so many other zombie action films from the past couple of decades. Essentially, this is a product of its exterior with little reason to become involved once the novelty of a fully realized Raccoon City and all of the other little touches just become part of the scene.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Sony brings Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City to UHD with a very good 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD presentation. The picture upgrades over the Blu-ray are clear from the start: superior blacks, more intense colors, better noise management, sharper textures, improved overall clarity. There are some excellent examples of the newfound color pop near film's start: the red film title is one, a neon motel sign is another, and from there the Dolby Vision grading continues to prove itself with healthy skin tones, punchier blood red, and enhanced whites. The image is a little darker, but with that comes better black levels and superior contrast. The image proves its worth with the Dolby Vision grading alone, but what also comes with that is enhanced textural capabilities. The picture reveals skin and hair with sharper definition and more intimate clarity in close-up. Environmental details are crisper and cleaner as well. In both areas of concern -- color and detail -- this UHD is the superior to the Blu-ray.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From the opening studio logos it becomes clear that the Atmos track has more to offer than its 5.1 lossless counterpart on the Blu-ray (and included on this disc as well). There's much more obvious space and flow to the choral music to open, and even in the quieter moments to follow the light ambient effects, the scattering off to the side, and the music alike play with not just incredibly precise spacing but also incredibly precise clarity. Spacing and clarity are hallmarks that never give way in this track, holding even through the most intensive gunfire bursts, high power explosions, and other opportunities for the subwoofer to push very hard. The sense of precision detail and placement hold, and even the most subtle atmospheric effects take advantage of the larger stage engagement to more finely and fully draw the listener into the experience. There's not a sonic stone left unturned on this one. Everything is in balance, from the slightest atmospheric hint to the most intense action element. Dialogue is perfect, too. This is a winner!

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City includes three featurettes. A Blu-ray copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase.

• Replicating the DNA (1080p, 10:58): Exploring this film's faithfulness to the original first two games, cast and characters, and more.
• Cops, Corpses, and Chaos (1080p, 8:06): Horror mood and influences, humor, cast chemistry, Johannes Roberts' direction, shooting locations, and more.
• Zombies, Lickers and the Horrors of Resident Evil (1080p, 5:40): Looking at some of the creatures and zombies seen throughout the film. The piece focuses on design, prosthetics, and special effects.
• Previews (2160p/HDR): Additional Sony titles.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City: it could be a lot better, and it could be a lot worse. It falls into that middle ground morass where so many other films find themselves these days. This is a stale and slow film, one that aims for video game faithfulness but really only finds any success at the superficial level, and even then it's so trite in places as to wear thin before the action comes, and the action itself is so generic and bland that the film just never takes off. Nothing around the edges -- the acting, the gore, the gunplay -- is worth writing home about, either. Sony's UHD delivers excellent video, reference audio, and a few extras. Rent it.