4K Ultra HD movie reviews: ‘The Marvels’ and ‘Contagion’

Here’s a look at a pair of world-threatening action films debuting in the ultra-high definition disc format.

The Marvels (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 105 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $39.99) A popular superhero-rich cinematic universe continued into its 33rd movie late last year but suffered a total lack of critical and movie audience interest.

Its debut in the 4K home theater format seeks out fans of the 2019 Captain Marvel movie who are willing to embrace its latest girl-powered, popcorn-munching, action-enriched narrative.

In this sequel, viewers learn about the plight of Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) after taking down the tyrannical Kree and destroying the Supreme Intelligence that gained her the nickname the Annihilator.

A Kree female warrior revolutionary named Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) emerges from the shadows and looks to acquire a pair of super-powered gauntlets to not only reignite the sun of her dying planet but take revenge on Captain Marvel.

Her cosmic meddling ruptures a chain of wormholes, leading to malfunctioning celestial jump points and unintentionally now linking the powers of Captain Marvel with two other super-powered beings.

Specifically, it’s a nonstop gals night out with Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), aka Professor Marvel, dimensionally tethered together with Captain Marvel, and each flipping positions with each other every time they use their powers.

The trio — with help from a Flerken, an alien cat that spews tentacles to eat large objects, and wisdom from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) — must stop the dastardly and forgettable Dar-Benn and figure out how to detangle their powers.

Director and co-writer Nia DaCosta’s effort certainly did not deserve the vitriol leveled upon her and the film, which has its share of witty moments and visual splendor.

Heck, probably 10 years ago, it might have been a blockbuster, but the current superhero genre fatigue and backlash over Disney make it an unfortunate, soon-to-be-forgotten release.

The Marvels is an evening rental satisfying to fans of the characters but irrelevant to the average movie lover of action blockbusters and not much of a building block to propelling the waning Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Viewers do get a movie that looks like it cost more than $200 million to make, loaded with budget-busting noisy special effects and production design not limited to beings flying in space; exotic locales of the Skrull, Kree and Aladneans; a dying sun; and the colorful wormhole jumps brought to life through the vivid ultra-high definition format.

Best extras: Viewers will focus on the director’s optional commentary track that allows Miss DaCosta to explain how she enjoyed her first foray into orchestrating a massive budgeted Hollywood movie.

Unfortunately, we get too much gush overshadowing the details or analysis on her design choices, but one must admire her passion for the source material and professing to be a multiverse geek.

However, joining her is an equally important member of the crew, visual effects supervisor Tara DeMarco, who helps the director by focusing on details and the decision-making tied to her onscreen digital magic.

Much less worthwhile are the pair of featurettes (roughly 18 minutes) covering the swell time the cast and crew had making the movie and a very lame gag reel.

Contagion (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, 106 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $33.99) Director Steven Soderbergh’s prophetic disaster flick from 2011 debuts in the 4K format to remind viewers that the COVID-19 pandemic could have been horrifyingly much worse.

Taking snapshots of key transmission events around the world and even listing the countries’ populations, the plot focuses on a group of researchers and government officials who are in a desperate race against time to identify and curtail a pathogen killing roughly 30% of humans exposed to it.

By visiting infected cities such as Hong Kong, London and Minneapolis and its key victims, Mr. Soderbergh offers a methodical deconstruction of the start of a pandemic and the meticulous science to identify and attempt to stop it during a typical winter holiday season.

An ensemble cast brings the events to life, featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as traveling wife and mom Beth Emhoff; Kate Winslet as CDC intelligence officer Dr. Erin Mears; Elliott Gould as university researcher Dr. Ian Sussman; Laurence Fishburne as CDC Director Dr. Ellis Cheever; Matt Damon as immune father Mitch Emhoff; and Jude Law as investigative blogger and conspiracy theorist Alan Krumwiede.

Viewers will find the similarities of what actually happened to the world in 2020 awfully disturbing and a potent reminder of the frailty of society and culture collapsing under any type of duress.

The 4K restoration and its screen-filling presentation will shock with some graphic scenes of death and clear exposure to some grotesque moments including a brain autopsy. Cinematographer Peter Andrews’ choices of tinting sickly green and yellow hues in many scenes add to the stark discomfort.

Best extras: Viewers only get a trio of featurettes (18 minutes in total) culled from the 2012 Blu-ray release. The best covers a brief look at the realities of a plague with opinions from the screenwriter, scientific technical advisers on the film as well as Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, and select cast.

Also, an animated short explains how a virus can spread around the world and the damage it can cause as a pandemic (amazingly, a two-minute case study of COVID).

Sorely missing is some level of a retrospective commentary track or documentary exploring how “Contagion” really happened in 2020 and what it will take for the human species to ultimately survive an aggressive pandemic.