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| Elijah
Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean,
Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard
Hill, Miranda Otto, Brad Dourif, Liv Tyler, Billy Boyd,
Dominic Monaghan |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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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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Pippin (Billy Boyd): Is there any
hope, Gandalf, for Frodo and Sam?
Gandalf (Ian McKellen): There never was much hope. Just a fool's hope.
The former Fellowship of the Ring
prepare for the final battle for Middle Earth, while Frodo and
Sam approach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring..
 [Click
here for my review of the theatrical cut of The Return of the
King.]
After the third
installment's epitome of critical acclaim and commercial success, something
of a minor backlash against the third chapter in Peter Jackson's
epic home movie was perhaps inevitable. Perhaps after the three
years the Hobbits have simply worn out their welcome with some,
or maybe too many people were ultimately put off by the much-maligned
succession of endings that brought the trilogy to a close.
Adding to this current of malcontent as the long-expected Extended
Edition is the fifty minutes of additional material, which in this
case doesn't so much improve the film dramatically as simply make
it a little longer. With the characters firmly established in the
preceding seven-plus hours, The Return of the King is
a film charged with bringing this historic trilogy to a suitably
spectacular close, and it already did so efficiently
and not a little gracefully.
 Starting
with Saruman's much-publicized final scene, which wraps up that subplot
nicely but does indeed make for an awkward start, the rest of the added
footage consists mostly of more leisurely character-building moments,
many of which are welcome, but some of which overstate their points
(like the scene between Pippin and Faramir in which the hobbit bolsters
the long-suffering captain's confidence). Somewhat less comprehensible
is the filmmakers' failure to include the true reason for Denthor's
madness, which remains nothing but an oblique reference and fails to
properly motivate his final acts. An essential inclusion on the other
hand is the showdown between Gandalf and the Witch King, not only paying
off the 'I will break him' line, but also setting up the arrival of
the Rohirrim more dramatically.
But with or without the extra scenes, The Return of the King is
that rarest of things: a mammoth production created with passion, dedication
and true belief, that brings to a more than satisfying end the most
successful film trilogy yet created, and one of the biggest, most universally
accessible mythic tales ever committed to film. |
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Following the two disc release
of the theatrical cut of the film in early summer 2004, the
extended edition of the third film in the trilogy was released
internationally in identical four-disc box sets, which are
also available as gift sets that include a miniature replica
of Minas Tirith and a fifth disc that focuses exclusively
on Howard Shore and his Lord of the Rings Symphony.
Even though it squeezed
a three-and-a-half hour movie onto a single disc, the image
quality on the theatrical cut's DVD release
was so good that it left precious little room for improvement.
Fine detail on this four-disc set however does seem to be
slightly more detailed, and colors just a bit richer. It
is in any case a transfer of absolute reference quality,
boasting the best image quality of the three sets and offering
the finest, richest transfer short of true hi-def.
The new DTS audio mix once again complements an almost equally impressive
Dolby Digital 5.1 track as well as a Dolby Surround 2.0 mix. The DTS
track is once again the true stunner, featuring a startling use of
directional effects across the surround sound field during the major
battle scenes, and a beautifully detailed, subtly mixed soundtrack
throughout the picture.
 As
the film itself skillfully wraps up the trilogy's plot, so
do the six-plus hours of documentary material in the 'appendices'
on the third and fourth disc bring the complete story of
the saga's making to a satisfying finish. Following the format
established by the first film's four-disc release, the supplements
chart the major elements of the third film as they were developed
across the six-year production period, and how Peter Jackson
raised the bar for the third film to punishing heights. As
the pressure on all the technical departments continued to
mount while the release date approached, we witness the fascinating
kind of horror story that makes for the very best type of
'making-of' (as illustrated by the behind-the-scenes stories
of such legendarily daunting productions as The Abyss, Apocalypse
Now and the first three Alien films). For the
first time in the trilogy, we begin to pick up a sense of
bitterness among some of the main contributors, overworked
to simply ridiculous lengths by Jackson's neverending list
of improvements and new ideas. We also get to see Peter Jackson
on the defensive as he discusses the much-criticized series
of endings that closes out the film, while Elijah Wood's
recollection of Jack Nicholson's reaction to the film's finale
is simply priceless.
The film itself is once again accompanied by four audio commentaries,
the first of which (from Jackson with his co-writers/producers/directors
Philippa Walsh and Fran Boyens) is again the most rewarding,
as it offers their thoughts and motivations for many interesting
and/or controversial creative choices they made. The second
and third track once again are edited together from members
of the production and design team, while the fourth track,
featuring most of the cast, is perhaps the most generally
accessible commentary, though it commits the grievous error
of allowing Andy Serkis to engage in desperately unfunny
dual Smeagol/Gollum commentary bits. The usual wealth of
design galleries, multiple-angle breakdowns and other assorted
goodies round out this worthy final entry in this hugely
impressive DVD collection.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: January
10, 2005
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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