It’s not quite day and date release, but you’ll soon be able to bring home your own copy of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, even while the uber-popular film is still in movie theaters. We’ve had a chance to explore the new Blu-ray DVD Combo pack and have found it to be a set worthy of the record setting film. If you’re done with collecting hard copy, you can also download a Digital HD version.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens picks up 30 years after the events on the moon of Endor and much of that era has fallen into legend. But the First Order, led by the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren, wants to pick up where the Empire left off. Only a small band of resistance fighters are there to oppose them. Into this backdrop comes an unlikely pair of heroes, one a storm trooper who defies his programming to help a prisoner and the other a scavenger on a desert planet who may be hiding something that makes her special. Together they set out to deliver a crucial clue to the whereabouts of the last Jedi, Luke Skywalker.
Finn, the former trooper, and Rey, the scavenger, escape an encounter with the First Order and, with the help of two legends of the Rebellion, make their way to the Resistance where they have a unique role to play in the destruction of the First Orders evil plot.
The 3-disc Blu-ray set had a fantastic transfer of the film with colors and detail looking super clear on our set. The super-wide aspect ratio of 2.40:1 was a little odd to get used to at first, but quickly became a great way to see the scope of the film. I watched it on both a 42 inch screen and 62 inch screen. The larger was better, obviously.
There are nearly two-hours of bonus features on the bonus disc. These include a set of deleted features, which contain some clues to questions left by the movie. The making of bonus features were great and really showed how everyone involved in the film felt like they were involved in something special. And they were.
The Secrets of the Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey is a four-part documentary featuring interviews with most of the cast. It starts with the switch of leadership of Lucasfilm from George Lucas to Kathleen Kennedy and walks through pre-production, casting, and then goes into the film’s production, while retelling the movie along they way.
Other bonus features I really enjoyed are: Crafting Creatures, a ten-minute segment focused on the puppets, costumes, and performers who make the Star Wars universe so unique. It was nice to see so many practical creatures being used; Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight, I was surprised by how low-tech some of this fight was, but you’d never know it in the final film; and ILM: The Visual Magic of the Force, anything ILM does amazes me.
I plan to add this to my A-rotation at home and soak up many more views of the movie and its bonus features, just like I did when I first brought home “A New Hope” on VHS back in the day. You can save up to 50% today when pre-order the Digital HD or the Blu-ray Combo Pack online at Amazon where your purchase helps The Disney Blog.
“The super-wide aspect ratio of 2.40:1 was a little odd to get used to” – that´s the standard ratio for Cinemascope movies on home video formats today . It does not make much sense, imho, but on the other hand, the difference to 2,35 or even 2,31: 1 is more or less insignificant…
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