Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) | Blu-ray Review

By thisguyoverhere | October 21, 2011

Cast: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci
Directed by: Joe Johnston
Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Genre: Action/Adventure

Rating:
Video: ★★★★★1/2
Audio: ★★★★★
Extras: ★★★★★1/2
Value: ★★★★★

Review:

Video: ★★★★★1/2
Please note that this is for the 2D Blu-ray release, not the 3D.
What we have here is a film that is set in war torn 1940’s world, which has been designed to portray the grimy tone of the time. Therefore, the color palates are not vivid but instead draped in sepias so as to give it an aged look. While this won’t show off your carefully calibrated color settings, it does not detract from deep dark blacks and rich textures (both in skin and set design). Paramount delivers a sturdy pictorial presentation that is as beautiful as it is faithful to the filmmakers vision.

Presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC / 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Captian America The First Avenger (2011) | Chris Evans

Chris Evans in Captian America The First Avenger (2011)

Audio: ★★★★★
Simply put, this disc is sonically stunning. Sound effects will exercise your surround speakers, dialogue is clearly audible, and nuance in sound design is ever present but never distracting. To round out the overall experience, Alan Silverstri’s score is enthrallingly presented. The range of sound is quite dynamic from numerous scenes of exposition, to environmental design, to high energy action sequences, and everything in between. Get ready to annoy your neighbors, because you’ll want to play this loud.

English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital

Extras: ★★★★★
The supplements on this release are as to be expected: production featurettes with brief interviews with cast and crew to give a brief overview of the magic of filmmaking. There isn’t anything particularly enlightening to be found here, nor does there need to be. THe information that anyone could want is here and nothing more. An audio commentary sweetens the deal a bit, and the addition of a digital copy and DVD version make this release very worthy.

Audio Commentary with director Joe Johnston, director of photography Shelly Johnson, and editor Jeffrey Ford
This is a very technical audio commentary as Johnston, Johnson and Ford talk about the practical and digital effects in the film, production design, locations, and other odds and ends of how the film was constructed. As far as commentaries go, this one suffices as informational, but not necessarily entertaining or that insightful.

Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer (HD, 04:03)
This odd short film stars Clark Gregg as one of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D agents as he thwarts a convenient store robbery. The existence of this, and why it’s included here and not on the Thor Blu-ray is perplexing, but it’s entertaining nonetheless.

Featurettes

Outfitting a Hero (HD, 10:52)
A costuming featurette that focuses on translating the design of Captain’s outfit from the comic books to the big screen.

Howling Commandos (HD, 06:07)
A look at the supporting characters, specifically the troopers like Bucky, Dumdum, Stark, Falsworth, and others as explained by the actors who play them.

Heightened Technology (HD, 05:43)
Designers of the film explain the logic behind the various weapons and vehicles in the film, insisting on authenticity behind the fantastical technology.

The Transformation (HD, 08:50)
A focus on the special effects that goes into the pre- and post-transformed Steve Rogers through digital effects, body doubles, and good ol’ elbow grease.

Behind the Skull (HD, 10:24)
A makeup featurette about realizing the villain Red Skull on the big screen. Wonderful behind-the-scenes footage of the makeup being applied and interviews with the cosmetic artists and Hugo Weaving.

Captain America’s Origin (HD, 03:55)
Comic book artist Joe Simon talks about the inception of Captain America back in the 1940s.

The Assembly Begins (HD, 01:46)
A quick promotional ad for 2012’s The Avengers.

Deleted Scenes (HD, 05:32)
These deleted scenes are just odds and ends of deleted exposition, and transitional scenes. The most interesting of these is between Cap and Nick Fury. There is optional audio commentary here, but it’s pretty benign.

Trailers (HD)
A collection of trailers including two theatrical trailers, a video game trailer, and an animated trailer for The Avengers.

Digital Copy for a limited time only, and a Standard DVD included

Value: ★★★★★
Could there be a better version of this? Perhaps, with an addition of a more extensive documentary, or with a bit more time dedicated to smoothing out some of the blatant visual effects in the first half of the film. Should there be a better version of this? No, not really. Paramount’s 2D presentation of Captain America is everything a fan will want and more.

Will There Be A Double Dip?
Captain America is part of the Marvel cash cow that will drain fans’ wallets for years to come. Films like this always have an inevitable double-dip in their future, however that’s not to deter people from purchasing this release. This is as good as it is going to look and sound until there are 2K resolution screens and discs on the market. The only thing we can look forward to are subsequent releases with additional special features, which will assuredly pop-up once The Avengers makes its way to Blu-ray sometime in the future.