Captain Marvel Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 3.0/5

This review does contain plenty of SPOILERS on the plot, so reader beware!

Captain Marvel is the first female-led movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have to preface that since DC, for once, beat them to the punch. Since comparisons with DC’s Wonder Woman are inevitable, I will say I did prefer WW to CM, but to be honest, I’ve grown up a DC fan. As Marvel movies go, Captain Marvel in terms of quality is lower-tier, alongside the likes of Ant-Man and Doctor Strange, not to say this was at all bad, and there is quite a bit to admire, but it’s not as good of an origin movie like Iron Man though I would say it is stronger than Thor and even Captain America.

The movie opens with a woman named Vers (BRIE LARSON) living on the planet of Kree in the capital city of Hala. Vers is plagued with dreams, getting snippets here and there. She is under the command of Yon-Rogg (JUDE LAW), a part of an elite Starforce unit — comprised of Korath (DJIMON HOUNSOU), Bron-Char (RUNE TEMTE), Minn-Erva (GEMMA CHAN), Att-Lass (ALGENIS PEREZ SOTO) — and sent to retrieve an operative working undercover with the Skrulls, the Krees mortal enemy. Upon arrival to the planet where his operative is huddled down, the unit is ambushed and Vers captured.

As the Skrulls attempt to extract her memories, we learn more about her past when she is in fact human, having a life as a fighter pilot and working with Dr. Wendy Lawson (ANNETTE BENING) who is developing a light speed tech which the Skrulls apparently want to get a hold of to turn the tide of war… But Vers does manage to escape from their contraption and onto an escape ship, which crash lands onto Earth and she is lunged right into a Blockbuster Video store, meaning the movie takes place way back in 1995 (f**k am I old). Thankfully, outside a few references, like music or computers, the reminders of this time period is kept to a minimum.

Vers’s presence leads her to meet a young Nick Fury (SAMUEL L. JACKSON), a lower ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D. as this juncture along with Agent Coulson (CLARK GREGG). Of course he’s not exactly buying her explanation of the Skrulls coming on Earth and their shape shifting capabilities, but before long begins to believe especially after encountering one, during which we do get a fun subway chase which also involves the much talked about Vers punching the face of an elderly lady.

Basically the movie becomes a buddy-action movie as Vers and Fury go on the hunt to find Dr. Lawson and in the process, she discovers who she really is: Carole Danvers and little by little her memory unlocks to what really happened and how she ended up on Kree. Won’t spoil any more, though pretty anyone could see the twist coming.

Captain Marvel is hardly perfect, in fact can’t say it’s great but I was mostly entertained throughout its reasonable two-hour running time (refreshing not to have something that’s 150-minutes plus) and the movie has a few things going for it. On the technical side, the visual effects are spectacular, no terrible CGI like we saw in Black Panther and the de-aging done on Samuel L. Jackson was also pretty phenomenal, as was Jackson and his usual charming self, actually makes me want to see a Nick Fury film. Kind of.

The other acting was fine, but nothing noteworthy from Jude Law to Annette Bening to, yes, Brie Larson who at least showed a little more personality than she had in her brief appearance in Avengers: Endgame, but not very much as, outside maybe a couple moments, has one mode: constipation, or maybe determination, I couldn’t tell which. I’m not sure who’s to blame because Larson has shown herself to be a tremendous actress so perhaps the script and direction from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (filmmakers behind Mississippi Grind co-starring Ben Mendolsohn who plays a Skrull) or, in the case of Endgame, forcing the Russo Brothers to fit the character in. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and maybe she’ll shine better in the eventual Captain Marvel 2, either that or truly she was miscast.

There is plenty wrong with the script which at times makes no sense and is illogical from how this advanced tech didn’t make it into the hands of the humans down to how Fury is using the term “S.H.I.E.L.D.” when that acronym wasn’t utilized until 2008’s Iron Man. Nit-picky for sure, but for a company like Marvel running like a well-oiled machine, and one that can nicely retcon events and not piss off its audience, would’ve been more aware of these inaccuracies. But the biggest sin the script does we are mostly told about Danvers past instead of showing it. Yes, we get a few flashbacks but we’re told she didn’t get along with her parents… why not show that? There are many other aspects of Danvers’s life that couldn’t been explored much better, and that does lie at the feet of Boden and Fleck (and whomever at Disney/Marvel also worked on  the script).

With all of that said, I at least did find Captain Marvel mostly entertaining though certainly had the opportunity to be great. Still, the effects work was impressive and I did enjoy seeing Jackson’s Nick Fury having a larger role compared with his previous MCU appearances.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5

This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover and a code for the Digital HD copy which contains two exclusive featurettes: What Makes a Memory: Inside the “Mind Frack” and Journey into Visual Effects with Victoria Alonso. Unfortunately you would need to redeem the code just to watch them… online. Wave of the future, I’m afraid.

Audio Commentary – Co-Writers/Co-Directors Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck take viewers down the road on their process of making the movie like how they became involved, what drew them to the characters, providing bits of information on how some scenes were shot, etc.

Featurettes (23:25):

• Becoming a Hero (6:40) – This looks at the introduction to Brie Larson into the MCU.
• Big Hero Moment (3:31) is more on the character and what drives her.
• The Origin of Nick Fury (3:33) delves into Samuel L. Jackson’s character and his involvement in the movie.
• The Dream Team (2:44) – Writers-Directors Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck are profiled on why they were hired and their approach to directing their first big budget film.
• The Skrulls and the Kree (3:31) – This is a profile on the two alien races.
• Hiss-sterical Cat-titude (3:23) – And yes, Goose the cat gets a mock featurette. The fact this is longer than the ones about the directors is perplexing.

Deleted Scenes (8:47) include six scenes either cut down or completely removed for one reason or another. With these, kind of wish there were introductions or running commentary to explain why.

Last up is a Gag Reel (2:02) filled with line flubs.

VIDEO – 5.0/5

AUDIO – 4.75/5

OVERALL – 3.5/5

Captain Marvel has a flawed even messy plot yet I did find some entertainment value, mostly with Samuel L. Jackson, the de-aging effects and the visual effects as a whole, and while Brie Larson doesn’t quite shine thanks to the script, my hope is she gets something more, and better, to work with on the eventual sequel. As for the Blu-ray, it offers excellent video/audio transfers but the features were lackluster.