Long before A New Hope, there was a rebel uprising trying to challenge The Empire. It seems there was always a rebel uprising and black market profiteers, etc. that The Empire was trying to crush. In 2022 Disney+ decided to bring yet one more story of rebellion to the Star Wars Universe. Andor, told the story of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna; Narcos: Mexico), a rebel fighter who first came to audiences' attention in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Now, before Season 2 comes to the streaming channel, Andor: The Complete First Season is being released as a 4K SteelBook.
Andor finds himself on the planet Morlana One looking for his younger sister. Though he doesn't find her, he does manage to find trouble in the form of two officers. When they follow and harass him, Andor fights back, accidentally killing one of the officers and then shooting the other officer to cover up his crime. Briefly returning to his home planet of Ferris, Andor tries to gather funds and resources so he can disappear for a while. However, when Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård; Dune: Part One and Two) offers to pay him to help some rebels, Andor joins the fight.
Series creator Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) assembled a great cast for this series that has terrific chemistry. While focusing on Andor, Gilroy manages to give some insight into the type of people Andor works with, those he avoids and those he seems to somehow "trust". While Luna shows emotion all over his face, Skarsgård balances his cool, aloof nature with the rebel hidden inside. Kyle Soller (The Titan) who plays Syril Kahn is a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any second. The rest of the cast is solid overall with a misfire perhaps here or there.
The HEVC/H.265 encoding offers the best resolution available and defines even the smallest details. With a multitude of variations, even the muted tones that are most prevalent in the color scheme give the picture life and make everything seem rich. The black tones have moments that seem a little lackluster but only moments...blink and you miss them.
The audio is equally as impressive and the Dolby Atmos quality does a wonderful job of allowing the fullness of sounds to permeate the room. The dialogue is strong throughout and whether it is the ambient noise coming through in quiet moments or the thunderous roar of a Tie Fighter flying by the sound quality shines.
If there is anything to complain about with this SteelBook release it might be where the extras are concerned. There is no digital code included which is slightly disappointing and the extras are a little thin. The five featurettes totaling 40 minutes are decent but there could have been more and those included could have been beefed up more making the extras more substantial than they are. The five featurettes include: Ferrix Part 1: Imperial Occupation, Aldhani: Rebel Heist, Coruscant: Whispers of Rebellion, Narkina 5: One Way Out, and Ferrix Part 2: Fight the Empire.
Between the Mandalorian, Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor, Disney has created some terrific live-action stories surrounding the Star Wars Universe, and offering the limited series shows in 4K SteelBooks makes for a sweet collector's set to put on your bookshelf. Andor adds something a little unique and different to the mix while still offering the standard Star Wars drama and action. With three discs and three graphic cards cased in a beautifully decorated (both inside and out) SteelBook, Andor is worth the money.
Grade: B-
