Captain Marvel - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Captain Marvel

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
Captain Marvel was one of the most hyped Marvel movies to hit the market this year, and it came with a negative and a positive side. On one hand we had Marvel hyping it up as the “must see in order to understand Avengers Endgame!”, and on the other hand was countless controversies about forced feminism, Brie Larson making some stupid statements to the press that got people all lathered up, and the other side of the political fence hailing it as the next Black Panther, just for women. Well, after watching the movie, I have to roll my eyes and say that the controversies and complains on both sides of the aisle fell into the typical internet hyperbole, and was just an entertaining action movie. There’s no real forced feminsim, Captain Marvel isn’t some super socially important movie, and had the movie not existed, Avengers Endgame would have been just fine.

Vers (Brie Larson) is a Kree warrior who has no memory of her past. Living on the Kree homeworld she is trained as an elite commando who is struggling to control powers that threaten to overwhelm her, and are being used to fight a war with the duplicitous Skrull shape shifters. On a mission to rescue a Kree outpost, Vers is captured by the Skrull who ambush her entire squad, and unlocks memories of a past life on a strange planet known as “Earth”. However, she is able to escape the Skrull ship and wipe out most of them, only to trail the lone survivors back to a backwater planet on the edge of known space (hint hint, guess where that is).

Landing on Earth to hunt down the Skrull, Vers starts to learn about her own past. Whatever technology the Skrull used to unlock her latent memories that have been suppressed gives her an insight into what seems to be her past. A past on the same planet that she is on now. Teaming up with SHIELD agent Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the confused Kree warrior begins to realize that the sides she has chosen may not be the real good vs. evil that she thought it once was. As her past resurfaces new allies are formed and old friendships are broken as she finds the real reason her Kree guardians have nurtured her so much, and why her memories have been suppressed.

Captain Marvel isn’t a fantastic movie. However, it’s not a trainwreck of forced feminism and leftist ideology as some were led to believe either. It’s really just a mediocre origins story and probably one of the weakest that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done since Iron Man 2 (still not as bad as Iron Man 3, that takes actual work). The biggest flaw that the movie has is really the marketing from Marvel. They played it up as some “MUST SEE!” film to enjoy the latest Avengers movie, when in fact (spoiler if you haven’t seen Endgame) her being completely absent from the movie wouldn’t have changed Endgame at all (she’s in it for like 5 minutes, and is more useless than Hawkeye at a magicians battle). What it is is a solid enough, middle of the road, movie that is best seen as just a standalone film.

There’s some good, there’s some bad, and then there’s the ugly. The good is that Samuel L. Jackson shows a really fun side of Nick Fury (and shows how he gets his eye patch in a hilarious end credits scene) and Ben Mendelsohn as the Skrull leader Talos is phenomenal. Honestly I think the man can’t turn in a bad performance and he was the single best talking character on screen. Now while Ben’s good, and Sam’s good, the best character on screen (though not talking) is given to the orange kitty cat “goose”. I’m not going to spoil anything, but Goose is absolutely fantastic and probably the shining star in the movie. The humor actually WORKED for once too. Usually Marvel humor can be a bit kitschy, but the humor was droll, well placed and except for one or two scenes, really worked well. The jokes about 90s culture was spot on and got more than a few chuckles from the audience when I saw the movie theatrically.

Onto the bad. The bad is that the movie is rather bland and mediocre. It’s your typical superhero origin story, but with a very stale and rundown plot. Carol Danvers/Vers character arc is a bit flat, and her character growth is near nonexistent. She finds out she’s strong, she finds out she’s super powered beyond measure (absolutely STUPIDLY over powered from the comics, and for no apparent reason), and goes “ok, that’s cool, I’m now a super hero” without any real conflict or arc. It’s just a simple discovery and simple acceptance. The second part of the “bad” is the fight scenes. Outside of some nifty dog fights at the end, the choreography is pretty mediocre and the CGI for the de-aging process on Coulson is wince worthy.

Now for the ugly. The real “ugly” thing here is Brie Larson herself. She has the personality of stale toast and her lack of emotion is a real point against her when it comes from feeling emotional connection to her already limited character growth. It was if the director told Brie to act like Robocop the entire time, and even when she tried to show emotion, it came off as snide and rather annoying.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief suggestive language




Video:

The Blu-ray is sourced from the same 2K master that the 4K UHD is sourced from, and it looks REALLY good in 1080p. The digital photography is nice and glossy, while digital noise is kept to a bare minimum. The movie is a bit dim in it’s lighting (though not AS dim as the 4K UHD I noticed) and that robs the film of a little bit of detail and “punch”, but the primary colors are well saturated and the detail levels are generally exceptional. Clothing shows off great colors and the individual stitch marks on jackets and pants are visible to the naked eye. Black levels are deep and inky, and except for a few smatterings of digital noise, showed incredible shadow detail, such as on MarVell's ship at the end. The CGI used for de-aging Coulson and Fury was a bit wonky (Coulson especially, Fury didn’t look too bad), but overall it’s a very revealing looking Blu-ray and great looking disc in general.








Audio:

The 7.1 DTS-HD MA track is very good sounding track, but it DOES suffer from the same problem that most Disney films have been suffering from lately. A weak dynamic range and a muted mix. The track needs to be bumped up 3-5 db’s to really get to a solid sounding track, and after that point it really does sound good. The bass is hot and heavy and kicks in quite often, but does some a bit cramped and not as deep or nuanced as I would have liked. The vocals are cleanly replicated up front ,and the surrounds get used a LOT during the action scenes (the train while Vers chases the Skrull is a standout point), but the dynamic range itself feels a bit “squashed”, if you know what I mean. Things are loud and aggressive, but they lack the texture and depth of some of the better tracks. It’s solid, but and really is more than fine most of the time, but it’s really a matter of expectations.







Extras:

• Alternate Movie Versions

- Movie with Intro – An introduction by directors/screenwriters Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.​

- Movie with Commentary – Commentary by directors/screenwriters Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.​

• Featurettes

- Becoming a Super Hero – Follow Brie Larson's journey as she joins the MCU, and see what it takes to be a Marvel Super Hero in every sense of the word.​

- Big Hero Moment – Explore how impactful Captain Marvel's entrance into the MCU is, and how she inspires audiences around the world.​

- The Origin of Nick Fury – Witness some of the MCU's most significant events through Nick Fury's eyes, and see how his influence helped shape the MCU.​

- The Dream Team – Discover why Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck are the perfect pair to direct Marvel Studios' most powerful hero.​

- The Skrulls and the Kree – Take a deeper look into the Skrulls and the Kree, their ongoing conflict, and the importance of shifting perspectives in the film.​

- Hiss-sterical Cat-titude – The cast and crew dish on working with Goose and the raw talent it takes to portray such a complex character on-screen.​

• Deleted Scenes

- "Who Do You Admire Above All Others?" – Kree Commander Yon-Rogg must answer to the Supreme Intelligence, who questions his leadership ability.​

- Starforce Recruits – Yon-Rogg lectures a roomful of students on the Kree's mission to defend all nations from the scourge of the Skrulls.​

- Heading to Torfa – Vers (Danvers) and her fellow Starforce members banter as they prepare for their rescue mission to Torfa.​

- "What, No Smile?" – In this alternate version of a scene from the movie, Vers is consulting a map when she receives a dubious offer of assistance.​

- Black Box – Keller attempts to track Vers and Fury after their escape in a quadjet from the Joint USAFA Facility.​

- Rookie Mistake – Novice S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson helps Director Keller out of an embarrassing situation.​

• Gag Reel – The fate of the universe hangs in the balance as the cast battles props, flubs and Flerkens in these outtakes from the set.

Final Score: ​

As I said. Captain Marvel is not a bad movie. It’s flawed, it’s nowhere near the top of the heap of MCU movies, and it was WAY over hyped, but it’s not a bad movie at all. It’s fun, got some light hearted humor, and some great characters. I really love Talos and Goose, and Samuel L. Jackson playing Nick Fury as an UN jaded agent is fantastic. The only real downside is some mediocre acting from the lead character, and the distinct feeling that Marvel only made this movie to force another character into Endgame and use the Captain Marvel intellectual property. Basically a cash grab (which explains why it had one of the lowest box offices of recent Marvel movies). The audio and video for this Blu-ray disc are good, as are the nice array of extras.. If you’re a Marvel fan you’ll want to check it out, but be warned, it’s one of their more generic ones.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Annette Benning, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Gemma Chan, Clark Gregg, Lashana Lynch
Directed by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Written by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Geneva Robertson
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, French, Spanish, Portuguese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 124 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 11th, 2019

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. We saw this in the theater and enjoyed it. Will get this one.

 

[Tony V.]

Ive avoided the theater for most new movies and this is no exception, It is in my mailbox as we speak so will watch it this weekend hopefully.
My understanding was that you needed to see this before Endgame as the last movie left off with the teaser at the end credits showing a message being sent to (who I assumed was Captain Marvel) but from what Ive heard now is she has very little to do with Endgame (I have not seen Endgame yet).

 

[Michael Scott]

Ive avoided the theater for most new movies and this is no exception, It is in my mailbox as we speak so will watch it this weekend hopefully.
My understanding was that you needed to see this before Endgame as the last movie left off with the teaser at the end credits showing a message being sent to (who I assumed was Captain Marvel) but from what Ive heard now is she has very little to do with Endgame (I have not seen Endgame yet).

correct on all counts

 

[Tony V.]

very poor marketing on Marvels account. Not sure why they would make a movie touted as being connected to Endgame but never following through with a story that could have been much more.

 

[tripplej]

Yeah, they definitely drop the ball on that one but endgame did make its $$$ and it is still making its money!

 

[Michael Scott]

very poor marketing on Marvels account. Not sure why they would make a movie touted as being connected to Endgame but never following through with a story that could have been much more.

Honestly, this is just my opinion, but it felt like a cash grab more than anything. pesonally I felt Captain Marvel would have worked fine as its own self contained storyline, but Marvel was adamant about making it a part of Endgame and that's where a lot of the frustration arrives (outside of the movie's own issues).

 

[Asere]

I will rent this one. Thanks for the review.