Solo: A Star Wars Story – Home Video Review

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now available on several home video formats and  digitally.   This stand-alone Star Wars film explores the back story of Han Solo including his first meeting with Chewbacca as well as how he acquired the Millennium Falcon.  For more on the film check out Lee’s Review from the theatrical release as well as our coverage of the press conference back in May.

This initial home video release is available in a variety of formats –  4K, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital choices, and On-Demand.   It includes a solid set of bonus materials including a round table discussion, several featurettes/documentaries, deleted/extended scenes and the teaser featurettes that were released.   For a full listing of the formats and bonus features here is the original press release for the release.

I thought for a first offering the selection and quality was above average compared to most films released today but not nearly as extensive as the Force Awakens or the Last Jedi.

The Documentaries were longer than most featurettes you find now a days. They ran from 5 minutes up to 15 minutes and covered a variety of topics showing some behind the scenes and making of elements as well as cast and creative team interviews.    I really enjoyed the documentaries and when you eight together it makes for a good run time and exploration of key elements, scenes and characters from the film.  Some noteworthy elements to highlight.   In the Remaking the Millennium Falcon piece I thought it was interesting looking at the thought that went into first restoring the ship to its new look then beating it up throughout the film.   The Train Heist and Escape from Corellia ones show some behind the scenes looks at how the elements were put together for these complex sequences.   The Welcome to Fort Ypso featurette includes a look and discussion of some of the puppets that were used.   The L3-37 one was interesting at how much of the live capture/performance was used in the film.

There is a  round table discussion which clocked in at just over 20 minutes  moderated by director Ron Howard featuring most of the cast talking about some of their experiences during the filming as well as getting the news they were in the film.

To close out the regular offerings are 8 deleted scenes.  As is common there is no commentary or set up for them just a title card then the scene.  Some are in various stages of completion. Some are actually extended versions of what was edited for the film.   I always think it is a missed opportunity not to include something about the sequence from the director.

Also included on the digital version are 4 short featurettes that were released prior to the film teasing elements from the film.

The featurette I was most looking forward to was not available with my copy.  It appears it was a Target Exclusive.   It is titled “The Millenium Falcon: From Page to Park” which shares some information about the upcoming Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction/land at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  I think Disney missed an opportunity by not including something along these lines on all versions.

I thought this was a solid first release for Solo: A Star Wars Story.  There are a good number of bonus features spanning a range of topics.  If you enjoyed the film and want to learn more you will most likely enjoy the bonus features.  If you missed the film in theaters you may want to give it a try.  It was a fun movie to watch.