Captain Marvel 4K Blu-ray Review
By Chris Heinonen on
Audio Quality
Video Quality
Overall
Captain Marvel Summary
Set in the 1990s, “Captain Marvel” is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that introduces the MCU’s first stand-alone, female-franchise title character—Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel. When we first meet Danvers, she already possesses her superhero powers, having left her earthly life behind and become a member of an intergalactic elite Kree military team called Starforce, led by their enigmatic commander, Yon-Rogg. But after Danvers has trained and worked with the Starforce team, and become a valued member¬, she finds herself back on Earth with new questions about her past. While on Earth she quickly lands on the radar of Nick Fury, and they must work together against a formidable enemy in the form of the Skrulls—the notorious Marvel bad guys made even more dangerous by their shape-shifting abilities—and their leader, Talos, who is spearheading a Skrull invasion of Earth.
Captain Marvel Movie Review
Having not seen Captain Marvel before going into Avengers: Endgame I felt like I had missed out on quite a bit. Captain Marvel takes a bit of time to get going but then picks up around 30-40 minutes into the film and becomes an enjoyable ride. I really enjoyed the throwback soundtrack, replaying all the hits from the 1990’s that I hadn’t heard in a while but are still fantastic (Elastica!).
The story is good, and the film is more family-friendly than some of the Marvel films can be. There are fewer people dying here or other things that would cause me to not let my kids watch it (they loved it), and a decent amount of humor interspersed as well. And Goose the Cat makes the most of its time on-screen.
Captain Marvel Technical Review
Captain Marvel was shot on Arri and RED cameras at 6.5K and 8K resolution but finished with a 2K digital intermediate. Overall the image here is quite good, but with some small issues. There isn’t as much detail as there could be with a true 4K transfer, and none of the IMAX sequences are shown at their full aspect ratio. The use of HDR is nicely restrained for the first 80% of the movie and then is extensively used the final 20%. At some points on my OLED, it looked like there was a fair amount of highlight clipping in scenes, which is very uncommon with the OLED when using the Panasonic UB820 Blu-ray player. There is no Dolby Vision layer here either, Disney seems to not use them as much as they did last year, but overall the image is very solid.
The soundtrack is also solid but doesn’t use the subwoofer as much as I would like. Atmos channels are used often and do a good job of putting action all around you, and voices are usually very clear to understand. Action scenes sound fantastic but just lack some of that very low-end impact from the subwoofer.
Captain Marvel Special Features
- 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.
Captain Marvel Review System
Sony A1E OLED, Panasonic UB820 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver, Power Sound Audio Subwoofer.
Pros
Enjoyable story that's good for the whole family, overall very good image and audio.
Cons
Could be more subwoofer use and Dolby Vision to prevent what looks to be highlight clipping in HDR.
Summary
Captain Marvel is an enjoyable entry into the Marvel Universe and one that the whole family is likely to enjoy. The disc looks and sounds very good overall and is just shy of reference quality.
Cody Greenberg says
“At some points on my OLED, it looked like there was a fair amount of highlight clipping in scenes”
I’m curious how the reviewer defines and identifies this. I’m imagining they mean something like audio clipping, but in the visual field, maybe something where the brights get ‘mushy’ and lack detail.
I watched this last night on my OLED (LG C7) and didn’t see anything about the HDR that struck me as odd or deficient. Most of the stuff that utilizes strong HDR effects is pretty fast-moving, so hard to say if there’s any reduction of clarity it’s pretty hard to judge. In shots where CM is glowing but not moving (e.g. her first big ‘reveal’ moment after unlocking her powers, the face-off with Ronan or the end shot of her just before she flies off at the end) there is a ton of detail and nuance of color in the brights throughout her “glow”. Are there any other parts that show what the reviewer noted, or something I should be looking for to see the deficiencies they say they did?
I’m also curious where the info about the 2K DI came from. I can’t find any other site or document that confirms or denies that claim.
Chris Heinonen says
Notes about the 2K digital intermediate: http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/f16/t003627.html
The issues with highlight clipping are on a couple of explosions near the end of the film. On OLEDs as you get too bright, they lose saturation and effects like a fireball move from orange-red to white. That is what it was looking like, where the fireball is too bright for the dynamic range and so it was pushed into white, which is brighter than orange-red by a large amount. Maybe it is how they wanted it to look, but it looks more like highlight clipping when I watched it.