Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 4K Blu-ray Review

After 42 years, the Skywalker saga has come to a close after nine films with the last one being The Rise of Skywalker.

Begining in 2015 with Episode 7, the Star Wars sequels trilogy hasn’t been the best. The Force Awakens was a promising start with new characters and ideas but things start to take a turn for the worse with The Last Jedi which had some interesting ideas but some which didn’t play out as well.

And then the final film, The Rise of Skywalker was a bit of a messy, story-wise and didn’t feel like a satisfying conclusion to this nine-part film saga.

Here’s what the film is about:

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth and final episode in the Skywalker saga, welcomed the return of original characters Luke Skywalker, General Leia Organa, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, Emperor Palpatine, and Lando Calrissian, along with the latest generation of heroes and villains, including Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, Maz, Rose, General Hux and Kylo Ren. Newcomers include Jannah, a new ally of the Resistance; Allegiant General Pryde of the First Order; and smuggler Zorii Bliss.

I reviewed Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on 4K Blu-ray and it was actually shot in native 4K instead of being upscaled to 4K resolution. The disc supports HDR10 and Dolby Atmos for more immersive sound.

The film has some stunning video and audio with colours and effects really popping off the screen.

When it comes to audio, you can hear every detail in the film, for a better overall and more fluid audio experience. While John Williams’ score is present in the film, most of the score is a combination of iconic pieces from past Star Wars films.

The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a couple of bonus feature which are all on their own bonus features disc. Sadly the bonus feature Blu-ray disc is not in 4K. There’s a total of three discs with the 4K Blu-ray combo, the 4K disc, 1080p disc, digital code and the bonus features disc.

One of the highlights of the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Blu-ray is the feature-length documentary called The Skywalker Legacy. If you watched the documentary included on The Last Jedi Blu-ray, The Director And The Jedi, then The Skywalker Legacy documentary is very similar.

The documentary gives us a good amount of insight into the making of The Rise of Skywalker and serves as a great compliment to the film.

In addition to the documentary, some of the other bonus features include:

• Pasaana Pursuit: Creating the Speeder Chase – Dive into the making of the movie’s epic landspeeder chase and discover how this spectacular sequence was brought to the screen.
• Aliens in the Desert – See what it took to create the Pasaana desert scenes, from the sheer scale and complexity of the shoot to its colourful details.
• D-O: Key to the Past – Explore the ship that connects Rey to the mystery of her missing parents and get to know the galaxy’s newest, irresistible droid.
• Warwick & Son – Warwick Davis, who played Wicket in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, dons the Ewok costume once more; this time joined by his son Harrison.
• Cast of Creatures – The team behind the film’s memorable creatures reveal the puppetry, makeup, prosthetics and digital magic that bring them to life!

A digital exclusive feature called The Maestro’s Finale, it features “Composer John Williams reflects on his body of work for the Star Wars saga and shares insights on scoring Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

The bonus features should keep you busy for an hour or two but nothing too crazy.

The film was co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams with Chris Terrio as the film’s co-writer.

Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz), Domhnall Gleeson (Hux), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), and Billie Lourd (Ko Connix) reprise their roles.

Final Thoughts

While The Rise of Skywalker isn’t the best Star Wars film, it does deserve at least one viewing by any type of Star Wars fan.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is available now on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.

Pros

• Visually stunning film
• Detailed audio
• The Skywalker Legacy documentary is great

Cons

• Amount of bonus features is lacking
• 4K Blu-ray disc only includes the film