Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Somehow I luckily found myself in possession of the Blu-Ray of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (yes, that's how you fully spell out the title, colons and dashes and everything) a little early, so I thought you guys might want a little rundown on what to expect from this release (hitting shelves April 5th or digital on April 1st).
I'm not one of those home video guys that has equipment set up to measure the exact level of audio or video compression, but I can say the movie looks and sounds great on my 65” plasma and through my 7.1 channel Onkyo receiver. If you're looking for tech specifics you'll be sorely disappointed, but I have a feeling you're here for thoughts on the special features.
As we dip our toes into a new, mysterious Star Wars universe every glimpse behind the scenes is fascinating, whether it's how they brought BB-8 to life or the journey to the story told in Episode 7. Consider this Blu the first dip into a larger BTS world. You get an almost feature length overall doc plus a bunch of featurettes covering the script read, building BB-8, constructing the snowy saber fight, how they built the practical creatures, ILM's VFX stuff and a look at John Williams conducting for the new score.
All the featurettes are pretty surface-level stuff, but they did a good job in not repeating info from the longer doc. The creature effects one in particular was nice. Practical effects done well always take me back to the magic that made me fall in love with movies in the first place and the animatronic work on display here is simply incredible.
John Williams also gives a lot of great insight in the relatively short doc on him coming back to score Episode 7. He's so thoughtful that every time he describes creating a new piece of music you really feel like he's Yoda-teaching you how music translates into emotion. His discussion on composing the final moments as Rey ascends the “Jedi steps” to find Luke in particular is fascinating.
Speaking of those steps, production designer Rick Carter talks about Skellig being a perfect location and might have shed some light on the location's significance in the story. He said the place is fitting because it looks like where the Jedi Order began. We know that Luke was searching for the first Jedi Temple, so that indicates that Skellig is indeed the home of that Temple. I suppose that should be the assumption anyway, but it was interesting to hear them say it for sure.
There's a lot of hidden hints throughout the docs, including a better look at the twisted shape of Snoke as we see how they created him via performance capture. You know how they always show the layers of effects, from basic gray shapes to finished product? Well, they do that for Snoke and show just how twisted and emaciated (and missing chunks of flesh) Snoke looks under his clothes. It's not just his face that's messed up. His skin is twisted and gnarled underneath all that. If he's as strong with the Dark Side as he appears I don't see him doing prequel-style crazy leaping saber fighting in future movies.
The Deleted Scenes are probably the biggest let down of the release. You get a little over 4 minutes of cut scenes with no running commentary and the best of which is the Kylo Ren on the Falcon scene that you've already seen in all the advertising for the Blu.
It feels to me like they're hiding some of the course-correction changes made throughout the late prep/early production days. We get to see an unfinished, but clunky Snow Speeder chase on Starkiller base, but not the scene where Finn gives Rey his jacket. We glimpse a shot of Lupita in her performance capture get up at the Resistance base, but there's no commentary on the mid-stream change up with taking her character out of the final act.
It's not that they gloss over this stuff, they just don't mention it at all. I don't think there's anything nefarious behind that choice, but I do think it means we'll have to wait until Episode 9 is hitting home video before we're likely to see real, in-depth step by step looks at what went on creating this whole new trilogy.
Basically, if you're expecting Lord of the Rings Extended Edition style intricate behind the scenes stuff on this release you're going to be disappointed at what's on offer, but if what you want is a great high def copy of the movie and a couple hours worth of behind the scenes peeks then you'll get your money's worth here.
I wish there were commentary tracks. I wish the full video of the entire script read was included. I wish they spent more time on the search for the right story to tell and how that developed over the a year's worth of production art and story meetings. I wish we got to see more than 5 seconds of Daisy Ridley and John Boyega's audition tapes (the glimpses we get of both are great and you totally get why they were cast). I wish they talked about Ford's onset injury and what was done in the wake of having to delay the shoot. I wish I could see every single cut scene or moment and hear the reasons behind their inclusion in the shooting script and why they were cut for theatrical release.
If I didn't think I'd ever get all that I'd be pissed at this release, but between the inevitable JW Rinzler Making Of book and the sure to be awesome mega home video release at the end of this new trilogy I'm happy to be patient.
This Blu-Ray is somewhere in the no man's land that exists between a bare bones release and the in-depth multi-disc LOTR: EE version we all really want. It's definitely not a rip-off, but I can all but guarantee there'll be a better Blu released in the future. Problem is it'll likely be 5 years from now.
Before I wrap up I do want to point out one of my favorite moments that you might miss if you're not paying attention. Although there is a deleted scene section the best deleted moment isn't featured there. It's in the main doc, Secrets of The Force Awakens – A Cinematic Journey.
The doc shows Harrison Ford walking onto the new Falcon for the first time and we get lots of BTS footage from his early scenes, including the beat where he walks into the cockpit and has his little moment at truly being back home.
What they cut out of the movie was after soaking in his old home for a beat he takes something out of his pocket. It's the gold dice that hung in the cockpit. He kisses them and rehangs them before noticing the altered controls and exiting the scene.
It's a great moment and the only one of the set that I dearly wish they'd kept in the movie.
You already know if you're going to buy this Blu-Ray or not, but now I hope you have a better understanding of what you're gonna get for your twenty bucks.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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