Considering how liberally many video games lift their ideas from movies, I suppose it should come as no surprise that, when experiencing a drought of creative inspiration, the movies return the favor by lifting ideas from video games. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of cinematic cannibalism. The history of the films-based-on-games genre has not been particularly distinguished, with most falling to hack directors working from incompetent scripts and tiny budgets. Somehow, Paul W.S. Anderson seems to have had the best run at it, making unexpected hits out of game-based pictures 'Mortal Kombat', 'Alien vs. Predator', and of course 'Resident Evil'. None of these are good movies, per se, but they're all slick and efficient, relatively coherent, and pander to horror and action junkies successfully enough to turn a profit.
'Resident Evil' began life as a survival horror game for the first Playstation console whose original title in Japan was 'Biohazard'. Borrowing extensively from George Romero's famous 'Living Dead' movies, the game involved a paramilitary squad exploring a large mansion and the secret underground laboratory beneath it while fending off hordes of flesh-eating zombies. It was an extremely fun actioner with clever puzzles and mazes, a very moody atmosphere, and even some legitimate scares. It was a massive hit and spawned a string of follow-ups that have extended to several subsequent game consoles.
Enter director Anderson. Casting a pair of hot babes (Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez) and working loosely from the structure of the game, Anderson crafted a gloriously silly fright flick with exciting action sequences and plenty of juicy gore. High art it ain't, but the result is a lot of fun. The movie has sleek visuals, impressive production design, very effective makeup and gore effects, some particularly inventive death scenes, and an unsettling musical score by Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson.
The first movie earned a tidy profit, so a sequel was inevitable. Thus came 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse', which doesn't work nearly as well but does have some merit on the guilty pleasure scale. Written by Anderson but directed by Alexander Witt, 'Apocalypse' makes a valiant attempt to expand the parameters of the concept by taking the action outside of "The Hive" (the underground research facility where zombies and mutant beasts ran rampant through the halls) and letting all hell break loose on the streets of Raccoon City. The problem is that the script for the movie is really dumb. The attempts to add comic relief with annoying sidekick characters are miscalculated, and the plot contradicts the rules established in the first movie. Many of the fight scenes are incoherently staged and shot, and worst of all the final big baddie monster is just incredibly cheesy and lame.
Nevertheless, 'Apocalypse' also did well at the box office, and now we have a third film, 'Resident Evil: Extinction', which is better than the second movie but not as good as the first. In this entry, we learn that the T-Virus infection has spread rapidly around the planet, essentially wiping out most of mankind and leaving the world a barren desert wasteland overrun by zombies. In 'Mad Max' fashion, a band of survivors cruise the highways in a convoy of modified and armored vehicles.
Once again written by series mastermind Paul Anderson, 'Extinction' is directed by Russell Mulcahy of 'Highlander' fame. What he's put together is an efficient, professional sequel with decent action, gore, and production values. It's a nice change to see a horror movie set mostly outdoors and during the daytime. The third film thankfully pares back most of the blatant stupidity that plagued 'Apocalypse', though there are still some lapses in basic logic.
The 'Resident Evil' pictures aren't the type of movies to watch with critical film aficionado standards. They're guilty pleasures, but pleasures all the same. Paul Anderson has been calling 'Extinction' the end of a trilogy, which is odd considering that the film's final twist is a blatant setup for a 4th movie. I'm not sure how much longer the 'Resident Evil' franchise can carry on, but it's been fun so far and I'd be willing to give it another go.
The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats
'Resident Evil – The High Definition Trilogy' is a simple repackaging of the Blu-ray releases for 'Resident Evil', 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse', and 'Resident Evil: Extinction', each of which is also available separately. The three discs are held in their original keepcases, stored inside a cardboard slipcover box. The Trilogy box set contains no new content, but is a less expensive alternative to buying the movies individually.
While the disc packaging for 'Apocalypse' claims to be coded for Region A only (the other two state A/B/C), I have tested all three discs and found them all to be region-free.
Despite its low budget, 'Resident Evil' has pretty stylish photography, emphasizing the sleek, metallic interiors of the high-tech laboratory sets. The Blu-ray's 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer is sharp and detailed, with vivid colors, rich black levels, and excellent shadow detail. Being a horror movie, the photography is naturally a little grainy, but not overwhelmingly so, and the grain is always well-compressed without turning noisy until the deliberately stylized ending. 'Resident Evil' looks excellent. Ironically, it even looks better than either of the later sequels.
The 1080p/MPEG-2 transfer on 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse' is not all that impressive. The picture is rather soft, with only fair but not exceptional detail. It appears that a lot of Noise Reduction has been applied. Colors are often exaggerated, and the contrast range is dull. The result of all this is a flat image without much depth or dimensionality.
Even though it's the most recent of the 'Resident Evil' trilogy, 'Extinction' falls in the middle of the pack for picture quality. The 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer is better than the second film, but not as good as the first. The movie's photography has a deliberately bleached appearance with pumped-up contrasts meant to evoke the harsh desert climate. It's a very flat image, without much sense of depth. Colors are also muted by design. The picture is a bit soft and has only fair detail, better in close-ups than medium or long shots. Dark scenes are sometimes grainy, but feel appropriately so. The digital compression quality is fine, with no major issues, though there's a small amount of edginess to some of the higher contrast desert scenes.
The lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack on 'Resident Evil' is extremely loud and aggressive, with throbbing bass and jolting stinger scares. The surround channels are used creatively, notably when the Red Queen computer's dialogue cycles from speaker to speaker around the soundstage. At least for the first half hour or so, sound effects are all crisply recorded and the score is delivered with excellent fidelity. Around the time of the first major gun battle, however, things start to turn muddy. After that point, the mix keeps piling on masses of noise, each competing in loudness against the rest, and the effect is a lot of aural overkill. Don't get me wrong, this is still a very satisfying and entertaining track, but clarity isn't always its strong point.
The uncompressed PCM 5.1 soundtrack on 'Apocalypse' features punishingly deep bass, and a lot of it. There are many sharply recorded gunshots and stinger scares. The car crash at the beginning is sure to grab your attention. Surrounds are used aggressively, but not as creatively as the first film. Overall fidelity is also merely OK. Dialogue and music sound a bit dull, which is largely factor of the sound design continually layering louder and louder noises on top of each other. Subtlety was not on anyone's agenda here. It sounds fine, and will likely impress those who measure sound quality by how much their subwoofer rattles the windows, but I've listened to many superior soundtracks on other High-Def discs.
'Extinction' has a very impressive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. It's incredibly loud and obnoxious, but undeniably effective. It has rocking bass and razor sharp sound effects. The surround channels are used aggressively to build a creepy atmosphere. Subtle is not a word I would use to describe it, but it works, and the crystal clear fidelity of the music and effects is the best of the trilogy.
'Resident Evil'
'Resident Evil: Apocalypse'
'Resident Evil: Extinction'
HD Bonus Content: Any Exclusive Goodies in There?
All Three Movies
'Resident Evil: Extinction'
'Resident Evil: Extinction' is one of the first Profile 1.1-enabled Blu-ray titles, and includes a new interactive feature that can only be viewed on Profile 1.1-compliant Blu-ray players (such as the Playstation 3 or the Panasonic DMP-BD30). Players without this function can access all of the traditional supplements and the Blu-Wizard feature described above, but not the following:
The fact that 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse' was previously released on Blu-ray a year ago means that many fans may already own it. For them, this 'High Definition Trilogy' box set is difficult to recommend, unless they really like the box art and don't mind buying the second movie again. The box contains no exclusive content that can't be found in the separate Blu-ray releases of each movie. For others, the Trilogy box set is an affordable way to pick up all three films in the series for less money than buying each individually, and merits a recommendation.
Portions of this review also appear in our coverage of Dunkirk on Blu-ray. This post features unique Vital Disc Stats, Video, and Final Thoughts sections.