Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD) - Home Video

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THE MISSION COMES HOME!

Review

The quality of this Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Blu-ray release was determined using a Pioneer 7.1 Surround system, and viewed on a Panosonic 58" television in a home-theater environment. Your personal results may vary based on your viewing environment.

Rogue One was the second Star Wars movie to get a December release. Bringing in over $1 billion worldwide, the first stand-alone Star Wars movie did not disappoint. A December release also means we get a spring home release. Nearly 1 year to the day after the release of The Force Awakens on Blu-ray, we get Rogue One.

We will be reviewing the Blu-ray/DVD release for Rogue One. This review will concentrate on the qualities of this set, and not the movie itself. You can read our full movie review right here. There are several retail exclusive versions available, but for this review we will be looking at the standard Blu-ray/DVD+Digital Copy release.

Note: This review will focus on the Blu-ray and bonus content, and not the included DVD.

Picture

The transfer for Rogue One is what you should now expect from a top quality 1080P Blu-ray release. All of the scenes were crisp and the detail was not lost in the dark scenes. The producers for this set squeezed as much bandwidth as they could for this transfer, which rings in at nearly 40GB. This means less compression and more quality!

Sound

Several sound tracks are offered for Rogue One, with the primary soundtrack being a beautiful DTS-HD Master audio track. Make sure you set your system up correctly and you will enjoy a solid bass track rumbling through your living room, but not overpowering the dialog or secondary channels. The full home-theater experience is a mix between visual and audio experience, and this soundtrack will fulfill that requirement!

Packaging

For the standard release, you are not going to be blown away by the packaging, featuring pretty standard-style packaging for a Blu-ray release. If you want to showcase this on your shelf you might be better off picking up one of the exclusive releases such as the Steelbook release.

      

The case interior has two tabs to hold 3 discs: the Blu-ray feature film, DVD feature film, and the bonus features disc. There's no packaging insert to go with the set, although it does come with a Digital Movie code insert so you can add Rogue One to your online collection as well.

Each disc is decorated with promotional imagery, but it won't blow you away. This seemed like a missed opportunity to make at least ONE of the discs the Death Star. With all of the amazing promotional images that have been around since the movie release, the choice for the disc art was surprisingly lackadaisical. Again, if you really care about this you might seek out one of the exclusive releases to find more exciting disc art.

      

Also included is a digital code so that you can redeem your included digital copy of Rogue One. Always handy when you need to sit and rewatch Rogue One while on the go.

Menus and Presentation

The menus are beautiful. Period. With a very "technical readout" look and feel, the menu cycles through each of the heroes of Rogue One with a very nice 'death star plans' electronic blue overlay. They capture the theme of the film perfectly.

   

   

Each section of the disc uses the same cycling of characters, both on the Blu-ray feature presentation and the bonus content disc. The menus are very easy to navigate and you won't get lost in them.

Bonus Content

This set is not short on bonus material. We won't be reviewing each bonus feature, but instead breaking down what exactly is included with this release:

• A Rogue Idea – Hear how ILM’s John Knoll came up with the movie’s concept – and why it’s the right film to launch the Star Wars stand-alone films.
• Jyn: The Rebel – Get to know Rogue One’s defiant, resourceful survivor, and hear what it was like for Felicity Jones to bring her to life onscreen.
• Cassian: The Spy – Diego Luna shares insights into his complex, driven character, who becomes a hero through selflessness, perseverance and passion.
• K-2SO: The Droid – Explore the development of this reprogrammed Imperial droid, from initial pitch and character design through Alan Tudyk’s performance.
• Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills – Go deeper into the relationship between these two very different characters, with Chinese superstars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen.
• Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary – Forest Whitaker and Riz Ahmed reflect on Saw Gerrera, the broken Rebel leader, and Bodhi Rook, the Imperial pilot who defects.  
• The Empire – Meet a dangerous new Imperial adversary…and cross paths once more with the most iconic villain of all time. 
• Visions of Hope: The Look of “Rogue One” – The filmmakers describe the challenges and thrills of developing a bold new look for the movie that can fit within the world of the original trilogy. 
• The Princess & The Governor – See what it took to bring the vibrant young princess of “Star Wars: A New Hope” – as well as one of her most memorable foes­ – back to the screen. 
• Epilogue: The Story Continues – Filmmakers and cast celebrate Rogue One’s premiere and look forward into the future, to the Star Wars stories yet to be told. 
• Rogue Connections – Uncover Easter eggs and film facts hidden throughout the movie that connect “Rogue One” to the Star Wars universe.

Fans know the controversial re-shoots that Rogue One went through, producing quite a few scenes in the trailers that never made the final cut that we saw at the theater. We were all excited to finally get to see some of these extensive deleted scenes when Rogue One finally made it home. Alas, there are no deleted scenes included with the home release, and as of right not there are no plans to release the earlier scenes.

There's not an individual scene that you can drag and drop and put on a Blu-ray, there are little things that would come and go during the process of post-production, but they're not scenes. They're more moments within the scenes or a single shot. So it's impossible to be able to do that, and that's why the decision was made.

–Rogue One Director Gareth Edwards in an interview with Fandango

Disc Specifications

Feature Film Run Time: Approximately 133 minutes
Rating: PG-13 in U.S.; PG in CE; G in CF
Aspect Ratio: Feature Film (Blu-ray 3D/ Blu-ray/DVD) = 2.39:1
Audio (Blu-ray): English 7.1 DTS-HDMA, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Language Tracks
Audio (DVD): English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 2.0 Descriptive Audio Language Tracks
Languages: English, French & Spanish
Subtitles: English SDH, French & Spanish

Wrap-up

Fans will be excited to have this movie at home, and the quality won't disappoint. Those looking for something with a little better 'shelf' presentation will want to go with one of the exclusive packaging releases, but this set is adequate for a standard Blu-ray release. However, The lack of overall exciting artwork both externally and on the discs themselves will cause a slight hit on the score.

The movie and sound quality itself are both solid and won't disappoint. You will get a full theater experience on your expensive home theater.

The biggest complaint is the lack of bonus scenes. It almost balances out with the amount of amazing bonus material included... almost. With how all of the changes and re-shoots went down I can see the reasoning behind not including the changed footage. However, a nice documentary outlining these changes and showing the cut scenes in an alternate format would have gone a long way to pacify those with a hungry desire to see how this film evolved (and what was left on the cutting room floor).

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story In-Home Trailer 

Points of Discussion

• No Deleted Scenes Included
• Special Features

External Links:

• Buy on Amazon.com
• IMDB Listing