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| Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellan,
Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies,
Ian Holm, Liv Tyler, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 EX |
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DTS 6.1 ES |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Frodo
(Elijah Wood): I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none
of this had happened.
Gandalf (Ian McKellen): So do all who live to see such times.
But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to
do with the time that is given to us.
In
the fantastical land of Middle-Earth, a young Hobbit comes to bear a
ring of evil power to the only place where it can be destroyed.
 Having
conquered the global box office last Christmas with the triumphant
release of the first part of its Tolkien trilogy, New Line orchestrated
another brilliant (if somewhat infuriating) marketing coup this
summer by releasing the theatrical cut of the film with some token
extras on DVD, only to be followed a few months later by the four-disc
Special Edition all the fans were really waiting for. The two biggest
selling points on this first bestselling release were actually
the 'sneak
previews' for the upcoming Extended Cut box set and the next theatrical
installment, giving most buyers the sneaking suspicion that they
had
just shelled out their hard-earned cash to buy a commercial for
the product they really wanted. To be fair, at least everyone
received
fair warning, with full specifications of the four-disc release
heavily publicized well in advance of the two-disc release. Of
course
the distributors were banking on many people's inability to wait
until November, ending up with both releases on the shelf out
of
sheer impatience.
And now the eagerly awaited 'Director's Extended Cut of the film
is finally revealed. Incorporating over 30 minutes of previously
unseen footage, this epic of over three-and-a-half hours long would
have been a daunting prospect for the average multiplex audience,
but
the home screen is a different story altogether. Building further
on a movie one must assume has been seen at least once by anyone
viewing the Extended Cut, Jackson uses this oppurtunity
to flesh out characters, offer better background information on
the
world of Middle-Earth, smoothen out some rough transitions, and
expand the larger action sequences. We've seen this kind of 'expanded
special
edition' before, most notably in James Cameron's films Aliens,
The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, each of
which resurfaced on home video in much longer versions, with rather
mixed results. The expanded cut of The Fellowship of the Ring
is a different story, however. Rather than a handful of
complete scenes reinserted at a few points in the previous cut,
this new
version is more accurately described as a complete re-edit of the
entire film.
 Besides
the major additions that have been heavily publicized ever since
the full specifications for this release were first announced,
new lines and shots have been added throughout the entire film,
sometimes adding just
a few seconds, but either clarifying a point of action (as in the
slaying of Isildur during the prologue) or fleshing out the character
relationships and motivations more fully (as in many new dialogues
between the members of the Fellowship). This makes the film a
fuller experience, without as much of a rushed, breathless feeling
as was experienced by many in the theatrical cut. The Lothlórien
sequence, which simply didn't work at all in the theatrical
version, benefits most greatly from the added footage, now
running
more than twice its original length. Scenes like the initial exchange
between Galadriel and the Fellowship members now finally make
sense, and
her character has a far greater impact thanks to her
much longer farewell scene. It's also good to have more scenes
between
Bilbo and Frodo, as Ian Holm's terrific performance was disappointingly
brief in the original cut.
But there are a few minor caveats as well: the Cave Troll fight,
which was already overlong, is now even longer, and the climactic
battle
at Amon Hen doesn't have quite the impeccable timing and flawless
buildup now that some additional shots have been added in and
the
score has been rewritten to accommodate the added material. And
although we now get a better sense of place and of distances being
travelled
(especially between Bree and Weathertop), the film is still
uneven, with some rather bumpy transitions. Part of this problem
simply stems from the fact that even at this longer running time,
it remains a hugely condensed adaptation of a vast, sprawling
book
that's packed with incident, history and character. The
expanded cut certainly may be considered a major improvement on
most points,
making this version probably as good a cinematic version of the
first book in the trilogy as we have any right to expect, and
making
the wait for The Two Towers all the more difficult. |
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Identical two-disc Special Editions
were released for Region 1 and Region 2 on August 6, 2002
with the
theatrical cut of the film on the first disc and numerous featurettes,
trailers and other extras on disc 2 [see seperate
review]. A four-disc set with a longer cut of the
film spread across the first two discs and other extras
on discs three and four
streets internationally on November 11. The four-disc release served
as a basis for this review.
The first DVD release of this film
already featured a stunning transfer that was close to reference level.
This new version, if anything, is even better, without any of the
mild edge enhancement that popped up occasionally on the previous DVD,
and further enriching the color pallette with bold, vibrant colors.
The new footage is wholly indistinguishable from the shots that were
already part of the film.
The Dolby
Digital 5.1 EX sound mix is also at least as good as that on
the initial release, delivering a hugely
powerful enveloping soundstage that puts the rear channels to frequent,
creative use and makes the subwoofer work overtime. Howard Shore's
powerful
score is very strongly presented, and the award-winning sound design
is nothing short of reference level in this superb 5.1 mix. The extended
cut
also includes a 2.0 Surround mix that does the job for those with an
antiquated ProLogic setup, but the true stunner on this release is
the new DTS 6.1 ES track,
which succeeds in setting a new standard for home cinema sound mixes
with its increased sense of directionality thanks to an even higher
level
of detail. High-end
audiophiles with seven-channel audio systems will reap the full benefits
of this incredible 6.1 track, but even without the extra speaker,
the sense of immersion is
so complete, one truly enters the world of the film.
With the ubiquitous collection of promotional fluff thankfully
done away with on the two-disc release of the theatrical cut,
this four-disc collection is geared exclusively toward the true
fan, with hour upon hour of amazing material, all produced exclusively
for this release. Those who couldn't resist picking up the first
DVD and are now wondering whether this Extended Cut merits a second
investment can rest assured: the extras alone are worth the price
of admission.
Working your way through these immensely packed four discs is
truly a daunting task, as the four audio commentary tracks
alone have a combined running time of 14 hours. Add to this
the
film itself and the extras on the other two discs, and you're
looking at a mind-numbing 25 hours of content in this collection.
All of this is presented in anamorphic widescreen, with user-friendly
'Play all' options for simply watching all the documentary
material
in one long session, and with only very little sense of repetition
or great redundancy. Starting with the commentaries, the first
track was recorded by writer/director Peter Jackson together
with his two screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
Their perspective
on the film is mostly focused on the challenges of adapting the
huge novel to the screen, discussing at length how certain
scenes
were changed, others were reinstated, and why the Extended Cut
material was removed from the theatrical version. For those
most
interested in the problems and choices they faced while adapting
the books for the screen, this commentary track will probably
hold the most interest. The second track features the design
team, including production designer Grant Major, conceptual
designers
Alan Lee and John Howe, and Weta Workshop supervisor Richard
Taylor (whose monotone, staccato nasal drone may irritate after
a while).
It focuses mostly on how the practical visualization of Middle-Earth
came about: the costumes, the props, the sets, the character
design,
all the practical design issues are served up along with some
entertaining reminiscences.
Commentary track three is brought to us by the production/post-production
team, and it's the most technical of the four. Producer Barrie
Osborne, director of photography Andrew Lesnie, composer Howard
Shore and editor John Gilbert are featured here along with three
other key members of the production crew. They spend most of
the track explaining how certain effects were achieved, often
at a
very technical level, but it never becomes inaccessible for the
more casual listener. The fourth and final track features the
entire main cast, and it's the most jovial track on the disc,
with lots of laughter and anecdotes about incidents from the
production.
The four actors who play the hobbits were recorded together,
with comments from the other actors edited in. Christopher Lee
tends
to chime in with specific comparisons between the scenes and
the source literature, while the other actors tend to limit
themselves
to recounting their personal memories. It's a fun and varied
listen, flawlessly edited to allow every actor to comment on
his or
her
own performance, but certainly the fluffiest one on the disc.
Like the other commentary tracks, speakers are identified by
titles that appear at the top of the screen, which is
wonderfully
helpful with so many contributors on a single audio track. Taken
together, these four tracks already present a fairly comprehensive
analysis of the entire production, There is quite a bit of redundancy
between the commentary tracks and the documentary material on
the third and fourth discs, but every commentary is so lively
and varied to listen to, we sure aren't complaining.
 Moving
on to the 'Appendices' contained on disc 3 and 4, the unparallelled
scale of this DVD production is slowly but surely revealed. In
an optional introduction to Appendix I: From Book to Vision,
Peter Jackson very quickly explains the contents of these two
discs and the concept behind these two discs, also elaborating
on the 'Play all' option, which he personally prefers over
browsing
through screen after screen making selections. Selecting this
option on disc 3 will yield over two-and-a-half hours of documentary
material in the following order:
- J.R.R. Tolkien: Creator of Middle Earth featurette (22 mins)
- From Book to Script featurette (20 mins)
- Storyboards and Pre-Viz: Making Words into Images featurette
(20 mins)
- Designing Middle-Earth documentary (41 mins)
- Bag End Set Test (6 mins)
- Weta Workshop documentary (43 mins)
- Costume Design featurette (12 mins)
 There
aren't really any weak spots in any of these featurettes, but
the standouts are the first documentary on Tolkien, which offers
surprisingly lucid insight into the thematics of the source literature,
and the entire Designing Middle-Earth documentary, in which we
follow the conceptual designers through the process of initial
visualization of the screenplay. But there's quite a bit more
than these two-and-a-half hours of documentary material on this
disc:
- 19 production design galleries (on the peoples and realms
of Middle-Earth)
- 3 early storyboards (Prologue, Orc Pursuit into Lothlorien
and Sarn Gebir Rapids Chase - 11 mins total)
- 2 pre-viz animatics (Gandalf Rides to Orthanc and The Stairs
of Khazad-Dûm - 3 mins total)
- multi-angle storyboard-to-film comparison (Nazgûl Attack
at Bree - 2 mins)
- multi-angle pre-viz-to-film comparison (Bridge of Khazad-Dûm
- 2 mins)
- interactive Middle-Earth Atlas
- interactive New Zealand as Middle-Earth map with location
video (8 mins total)
 The
exhaustive image galleries have audio remarks from the designers
for many of the sketches, all of which are immaculately presented.
As is usually the case, the best-sounding item turns out to be
the most useless, as the 'Interactive Middle-Earth Atlas' presents
a map of all the locations visited in the film, which can be selected
to show a quick clip from the film at that setting. More revealing
is the New Zealand map, which holds several short featurettes
about specific locations.
Moving on to the final disc, Appendix II - From Vision to
Reality, we first encounter another quick introduction, from
Elijah Wood this time, giving us a run-through on the fourth disc's
features similar to Jackson's introduction to disc three. The
'Play all' option on this disc brings us even more material, totaling
three-and-a-half hours and presented in the following order:
- The Fellowship of the Cast documentary (35 mins)
- A Day in the Life of a Hobbit featurette (13 mins)
- Cameras in Middle-Earth documentary (50 mins)
- Scale featurette (15 mins)
- 'Big-atures' featurette (16 mins)
- WETA Digital featurette (25 mins)
- Editorial: Assembling an Epic featurette (13 mins)
- Digital Grading featurette (12 mins)
- The Soundscapes of Middle-Earth featurette (13 mins)
- Music for Middle-Earth featurette (12 mins)
- The Road Goes Ever On... featurette (7 mins)
 Once
again, there aren't really any low points in this collection,
as we are moved swiftly, thorougly and methodically through every
part of the production process. The documentary about the cast
is the most entertaining, with a huge number of amusing anecdotes
the actors tell about themselves and each other. The featurettes
dealing with the sound design and the music score are beautifully
presented with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, including isolated effects
and music cues. Some of the items are so densely packed with information
(the exhaustive 'Cameras in Middle-Earth' documentary in particular)
that I wouldn't recommend going through all of these items in
a single session. But even non-fans can hardly fail to acknowledge
the immense accomplishment presented in this collection. Besides
the above documentary material, there are a few galleries and
demonstrations to be found in the other menu screens:
- production photo gallery
- multi-angle editorial demonstration (Council of Elrond - 1
min)
- 6 'big-atures' galleries
The galleries again include relevant comments from participants.
All in all, it's hard to argue with the accomplishment presented
here. DVD addicts may have grown spoiled over the past year, with
multi-disc special editions quickly becoming all but the norm
for any major box office success. More often than not, they turn
out to be packed with disappointingly flat and repetitive promotional
material or unrelated extra features. This four-disc collection
presents an entertaining, immaculately produced, hugely informative
and wholly comprehensive overview of this historic production.
With reference-level video, audio and supplements, this is one
DVD release that's truly hard to beat.
 The
subtly animated menu screens for all four discs are designed like
the index pages of a book, with swift fades to the following screens.
A nice touch is the initial menu screen for disc 2, containing
the
second half of the feature: rather than the expected introductory
animation screen, simple white text on a black background offers
the options
either to continue watching the film or to continue listening to
a commentary track. Only after starting the film will the Menu
key bring forth a full
menu screen with all the usual options. An excellent choice that
helps the viewer to view the entire feature with only minimal
interruption.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: October 28, 2002
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.
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