The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition)
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Features
• Box set
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• Dolby
• DTS Surround Sound
• Dubbed
• DVD-Video
• Special Edition
• Subtitled
• Widescreen
• NTSC
In Theaters : 17 December, 2003
DVD Release : 14 December, 2004 |
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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) description
The greatest trilogy in film history, presented in the most ambitious sets in DVD history, comes to a grand conclusion with the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Not only is the third and final installment of Peter Jackson's adaptation of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien the longest of the three, but a full 50 minutes of new material pushes the running time to a whopping 4 hours and 10 minutes. The new scenes are welcome, and the bonus features maintain the high bar set by the first two films, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. What's New?
One of the scenes cut from the theatrical release but included here, the resolution of the Saruman storyline, generated a lot of publicity when the movie opened, as actor Christopher Lee complained in the press about losing his only appearance. It's an excellent scene, one Jackson calls "pure Tolkien," and provides better context for Pippin to find the wizard's palantir in the water, but it's not critical to the film. In fact, "valuable but not critical" might sum up the ROTK extended edition. It's evident that Jackson made the right cuts for the theatrical run, but the extra material provides depth and ties up a number of loose ends, and for those sorry to see the trilogy end (and who isn't?) it's a welcome chance to spend another hour in Middle-earth. Some choice moments are Gandalf's (Ian McKellen) confrontation with the Witch King (we find out what happened to the wizard's staff), the chilling Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor, and Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) being mistaken for Orc soldiers. We get to see more of Éowyn (Miranda Otto), both with Aragorn and on the battlefield, even fighting the hideously deformed Orc lieutenant, Gothmog. We also see her in one of the most anticipated new scenes, the Houses of Healing after the battle of the Pelennor Fields. It doesn't present Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) as a savior as the book did, but it shows the initial meeting between Éowyn and Faramir (David Wenham), a relationship that received only a meaningful glance in the theatrical cut.
If you want to completely immerse yourself in Peter Jackson's marvelous and massive achievement, only the extended edition will do.
| And for those who complained, no, there are no new endings, not even the scouring of the Shire, which many fans were hoping to see. Nor is there a scene of Denethor (John Noble) with the palantir, which would have better explained both his foresight and his madness. As Jackson notes, when cuts are made, the secondary characters are the first to go, so there is a new scene of Aragorn finding the palantir in Denethor's robes. Another big difference is Aragorn's confrontation with the King of the Dead. In the theatrical version, we didn't know whether the King had accepted Aragorn's offer when the pirate ships pulled into the harbor; here Jackson assumes that viewers have already experienced that tension, and instead has the army of the dead join the battle in an earlier scene (an extended cameo for Jackson). One can debate which is more effective, but that's why the film is available in both versions. If you feel like watching the relatively shorter version you saw in the theaters, you can. If you want to completely immerse yourself in Peter Jackson's marvelous and massive achievement, only the extended edition will do. How Are the Bonus Features?
To complete the experience, The Return of the King provides the same sprawling set of features as the previous extended editions: four commentary tracks, sharp picture and thrilling sound, and two discs of excellent documentary material far superior to the recycled material in the theatrical edition. Those who have listened to the seven hours of commentary for the first two extended editions may wonder if they need to hear more, but there was no commentary for the earlier ROTK DVD, so it's still entertaining to hear Jackson break down the film (he says the beacon scene is one of his favorites), discuss differences from the book, point out cameos, and poke fun at himself and the extended-edition concept ("So this is the complete full strangulation, never seen before, here exclusively on DVD!"). The documentaries (some lasting 30 minutes or longer) are of their usual outstanding quality, and there's a riveting storyboard/animatic sequence of the climactic scene, which includes a one-on-one battle between Aragorn and Sauron. One DVD Set to Rule Them All
Peter Jackson's trilogy has set the standard for fantasy films by adapting the Holy Grail of fantasy stories with a combination of fidelity to the original source and his own vision, supplemented by outstanding writing, near-perfect casting, glorious special effects, and evocative New Zealand locales. The extended editions without exception have set the standard for the DVD medium by providing a richer film experience that pulls the three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a reference-quality home theater experience, and generous, intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi |
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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Almost perfect
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Rare is the movie that one can say has everything. Hollywood used to produce these during the 1960's; classics like Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Spartacus, and The Ten Commandments. But even these pale to the 4.5 hour epic that is Return of the King. The latter has everything; comedy, romance, action, suspense, drama, a great soundtrack, incredible cinematography, unrivaled special effects, a grand cast, and of course; a happy ending. Unlike other epic movies, this one contains numerous scenes that are of a climactic quality; whether it be the Ring's destruction; the triumphant charge of the Rohirrim on Pelennor Fields, the lighting of the torches from Gondor to Rohan, or even Faramir's charge at the behest of his father. The entire movie makes for an incredible emotional roller coaster. And unlike its two predecessors; this one did get Best Picture, along with 10 other Oscars; all of which were well deserved.
Now that I have heaped the praise, lets point out what could have been improved. First and foremost; for the length of the movie; it leaves out a lot of important material from the book. Better for the story and for the critics to include everything from the book, and brake it up into two separate movies. Conclude the first one with the death of Theoden, and include Sharky's (Saruman) conquest of the shire.
A second letdown was Faramir's defense of Osgiliath during the invasion of Sauron's army. It was portrayed very poorly. From the Fellowship of the Ring up to this point, one gets the feeling that Boromir was the swordsman who preferred intimate conflict while Faramir was the archer who'd rather act from afar. Yet when Faramir prepares his men to repel the Orc amphibious invasion, he has his men take up swords and fight on ground level. A more appropriate defense would be for the men to take refuge on the rooftops and decimate the invading orcs with arrows; nearly all the Gondorian soldiers had bows and arrows. They would have lasted a lot longer, and might have even repulsed the invasion.
The third major failing was Aragorn's triumphant entry onto Pelennor Fields with the Army of the Dead. It seems as if the orcs just line up to be killed by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. This contrasts greatly with every previous battle scene where the orcs are quite vicious and skilled in combat.
But for all its failings, this is probably the best movie released this decade; and by far the best movie to be directed by a non-American. My favorite part of this movie was its soundtrack. It is quite rare for an action movie to have memorable singing parts; this one had two. The first is by Merry in probably the most haunting scene of the movie. The second is by Aragorn on his coronation. Legend has it that both actors came up with the music themselves; a proud achievement for both of them if true. All in all, a great movie, a great DVD set, and a must own. |
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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) dvd movie.
