Star Wars: The Force Awakens is one of the most enjoyable films of the decade, full of laughs, nostalgia, and high-octane adventure! Today, we take a look at the brand new Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Collector's Edition, released on November 15, 2016. For a full movie review, read our review here.
In the realm of Blu-ray & DVD extras, I have been accustomed to seeing a few cool clips. Nothing more. The Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D Collector's Edition is not your typical Blu-ray set. It has a disc devoted solely to bonus features. This Blu-ray edition has more special features, in-depth commentary, and behind the scenes than any disc I have played in a very long time.
I was happily surprised at the breadth of content the bonus features offered. Bonus features included; Secrets of the Force Awakens, The Stars Awaken, the First Read, Crafting Creatures, Building BB-8, Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight, ILM: The Visual magic of the Force, John Williams, the Seventh Symphony, Deleted Scenes, Force for Change, Foley a Sonic Tale, Sounds of the Resistance, Dressing the Galaxy, The Scavanger & the Stormtrooper: A Conversation With Daisy Ridley & John Boyega, and Inside the Armory!
Run times for the movie & extras is an impressive 4:17:33, broken down as follows:
- - 0:00:00-2:17:55 Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- - 2:17:56-3:27:23 Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey
- - 3:27:24-3:32:08 Deleted Scenes
- - 3:32:09-3:36:14 The Story Awakens: The Table Read
- - 3:36:15-3:45:54 Crafting Creatures
- - 3:45:55-3:52:02 Building BB-8
- - 3:52:03-3:59:09 Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight
- - 3:59:10-4:07:10 ILM: The Visual Magic of the Force
- - 4:07:11-4:14:06 John Williams: The Seventh Symphony
- - 4:14:07-4:17:33 Force for Change
The production quality of it all is quite impressive. When the first bonus feature, Secrets of the Force Awakens, is finished (about an hour long), it rolls a long list of credits that illustrate just how much work went into making the special feature disc. Each behind the scenes and commentary footage is expertly transitioned and woven to tell the story of how the film was conceptualized and executed to create an amazing film. The bonus features even weaves in Star Wars symphonic scores that create their own excitement and tension.
Watching the bonus features, you will learn quite a bit about the making of the film, as well as some interesting insights. For example, Kylo Ren was initially imagined with a silver colored wardrobe design; however, J.J. Abrams didn't feel it fit the character, but it inspired him to make Captain Phasma silver.
While other sci-fi films are heavily based on CGI, and might look boring and uninspired behind the scenes, this film is quite the opposite. Many of the Force Awakens sets are real. The Trees, the Millennium Falcon, most of the places on Jakku, all real. When you watch the behind the scenes unedited footage, it is quite amazing to see how realistic it all looks, even without the final CGI touches. Even characters that you would have to believe are CGI are mostly practical and real to life as seen from the bonus features.
If you are a Star Wars fan, or even just a movie lover in general, this Blu-ray set dives deep into how the movie was made, and is much more than just a re-watch of the theatrical version. I highly recommend this collector's set. You will not be disappointed!
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