This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.

In San Francisco, Jill Valentine is dealing with a zombie outbreak and a new T-Virus, Leon Kennedy is on the trail of a kidnapped DARPA scientist, and Claire Redfield is investigating a monstrous fish that is killing whales in the bay. Joined by Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers, they discover the trail of clues from their separate cases all converge on the same location, Alcatraz Island, where a new evil has taken residence and awaits their arrival.

For thoughts on Resident Evil: Death Island, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/EXMMI2aDpio?t=1909]

Video Quality

Resident Evil: Death Island comes to 4K UHD Blu-Ray with a splendid 2160p transfer in its original 2.00:1 aspect ratio. The Dolby Vision brings so much depth and nuance to the colors present even if they do lean towards a more subdued side of the color spectrum due to the prevalence of blacks, browns and grays. There are bursts of colors such as the fleshy-looking creatures that show up and some of the bloody mess that coats the screen. The transfer handles every environmental shift and light source perfectly every time. Black levels are incredibly strong with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. Highlights are likewise stable with no blooming at play.

The textures on display, from the character designs to the environments, are endlessly impressive and give the film a real sense of depth. One of the areas where this entry improves on the earlier films is the fluidity of the character designs and level of intricacy that is able to be tapped into. All of the individual strands of hair are unique and flowing in a more natural way. The level of detail these animators put into each environment shines through from beginning to end. This presentation is a flawless representation of this impressively executed effort.

Audio Quality

This 4K UHD Blu-Ray release boasts a Dolby Atmos track that brings this one to life with force. There are several chaotic confrontations that are offered up right in your living room with a depth and clarity of sound that will knock you sideways. The track engages all of the channels with a complex soundscape of panning effects and palpable crashes that really make the effort feel realized. As the characters move throughout the world, the sounds of approaching foes and other minute effects flow out of your side and rear speakers. The height channels are also engaged to supreme effect for a three-dimensional onslaught. Each sound is carefully placed with perfect spatial awareness.

The utilization of environmental effects such as explosions and chatter from various team members come through in a natural way. Dialogue emanates clearly without getting overshadowed by the score or any sound effects. There is a fierce amount of activity in the low-end which will keep your walls vibrating with every confrontation. Sony brought their A-game to this effort, so those with a good surround sound setup should have fun with this one. This disc comes with lots of Audio options including English, French, Italian, Spanish and Thai and many more options on the Subtitles side.

Special Features

Sony has provided Resident Evil: Death Island with a sleek new SteelBook featuring artwork that is truly lovely in person. The front artwork is a depiction of a trio of main characters above Alcatraz, and the rear features one of the monsters lunging forward. The interior sports a still from a showdown in the sewer. Video of the SteelBook can be found at the top of this review.

Genesis of Death Island: A nine-minute piece in which the creative figures discuss the development of the movie, wanting to create a movie for fans, the characters that make an appearance in the story and more.

Motion Capture Set Tour: A five-and-a-half minute featurette which explores the use of motion capture to bring these characters to life, the evolution of the technology and more.

Designing Death Island: A six-and-a-half minute look at the process of bringing this world to life with all of the animated details that were not rendered with motion capture.

Jill Valentine – The Return: A 13-minute look at this fan-favorite character, the push by the creatives to have her included in this new movie, her role in the film and more.

Voicing Death Island: A five-and-a-half minute exploration of the new and returning performers bringing life to our characters.

The Birth of Death Island: A six-minute piece in which the same creative figures discuss the process of making the movie. This feels like a rehash of some of the sentiments shared in the previous featurettes.

Design Gallery: A gallery of different looks at the characters that you can arrow through.

Previews

Final Thoughts

Resident Evil: Death Island is another animated installment of the franchise which offers some thrilling action and fun moments but fails to deliver a script that brings the series to new heights. Visually, the film is firing on all cylinders and character designs, creature effects and background are eye-popping. It is just when you look beyond that when you begin to see the shortcomings in the narrative. It is safe to say this installment is once again for the dedicated fans, but even they may be a bit hot-and-cold on the end results. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released a 4K UHD Blu-Ray featuring a spectacular A/V presentation and a pretty good assortment of supplemental features all in a nice SteelBook package. If you are a fan of the series, it is still worth giving this one a go.

Resident Evil: Death Island is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray SteelBook, Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.