The Movies
I can only imagine the elation that fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's massive tome, The Lord of the Rings felt upon watching the big-screen, live-action adaptation unspool for the first time. Deemed all but unfilmable for its exotic locales and creatures, and its sheer scope, the wildly popular story (or at least portions thereof) had been attempted in a pair of disappointing animated efforts. Could anyone ever crack the second-best-selling novel of all time (behind Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities)?
The job went to a brave, inventive, and remarkably gifted young filmmaker name Peter Jackson, little known before his take on The Lord of the Rings but graduated to the rarified stratosphere of the industry ever since. Whereas Tolkien's original Trilogy deftly balanced plot, character and adventure, Jackson too was able to juggle all of the elements that make a great movie. He gave the world a three-part grander-than-grand epic that never lost sight of the human factor, even if the characters weren't all human. His keen eye and typewriter even found opportunities to inject humor, while his every frame fairly throbs with verisimilitude, despite being set in a world that never existed. Give some of the credit to his native New Zealand, its beautiful scenery exploited as a stand-in for Middle-Earth.
A darker and far more complex sequel to the kid-friendly The Hobbit, the three books (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King) were originally written during the late '30s through the 1940s, clearly influenced by the events of World War II, and by the author's own experiences in World War I no doubt. Our hero, a noble young Hobbit named Frodo, is called into service to travel far and face unspeakable hardship in order to save the world from dark forces. He's about the half the size of a human, underscoring his underdog status as he clings to an almost impossible hope of salvation.
Seems that the evil Lord Sauron, who once set out to conquer all of civilization by despicable means, was never truly destroyed as once thought, and now after thousands of years he is on the verge of resurfacing to finish what he started, unless his legendary One ring is delivered back to the mountain fortress where it was forged. It's a thankless, perilous task for Frodo and his fellowship, one that will test friendship, incite betrayal and frequently reveal the pettiness of man. A massive army is taking shape, preparing for a final confrontation between good and not-good, with no shortage of smaller confrontations along the way. There's plenty of action and macho bravado, but also many parallel subplots and even a love story.
Non-fans have to get past all of the made-up history and talk of wee-folk and the penchant for giving proper names to every sock and spoon, but this all becomes less distracting as the saga progresses. Perhaps that's why the third movie; a sort of deliverance, especially after the long journey we'd taken together; won a total of eleven Academy Awards including Best Picture. After decades of waiting, years of production and three films released over 24 months, The Return of the King was an incredible payoff.
The Picture
From the opening frames and on through the ensuing eleven hours or so, there is no mistaking this for a standard-def master. The 2.4:1 image pops with exquisite detail, the texture of a map, the intricate weave of the elaborate costumes. All three films were shot on film and then manipulated digitally to finish the extensive post-production, including the three-for-three Oscar-winning computer-generated visual effects. These new director/cinematographer-approved Blu-ray masters were created from the 2K digital movie masters.
I was always particularly fascinated by the intricacies of the Elf kingdom of Rivendell, so well-rendered here that it looks like a real-world vacation destination. The range of palettes is extraordinary, with different colors evoking different moods from scene to scene. Blacks are deep and inky. Even a black-clad character standing against shadows, out of focus in the background, might not be exceptionally nuanced, but still maintains a pleasing, natural film-like appearance.
There is so little noise, so little evident grain that it hardly seems worth mentioning, except to say that it most noticeable on Return of the King, possibly due to the increased compression necessary to accommodate the longest movie. Even so, each film is spread across two BD-50 platters, six Blu-rays total, offering home viewers a sumptuous presentation.
The Sound
The Lord of the Rings is a spectacle like no other, and as we would hope it is backed by spectacular audio. The fireworks alone make for an enthralling early showoff scene, filling the room with discrete cues and sharp power. Crowds might fill the home theater, or a bird or a dog or a horse making its presence known in one of the surrounds.
The mystical forces command our attention as well, with wind and eerie voices embracing the listener. Phasing between channels is subtly masterful. Echoes too are undeniably strong. Bass is generously utilized, with plentiful thundering hoofbeats and later for bursting bombs, among an arsenal of weapons that also includes whizzing arrows and clinking swords. Even the silence is used to great effect.
Howard Shore's expansive, memorable musical score sounds more glorious than ever in DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1. Even the silence here is utilized to great effect.
The Extras
The 15-disc total count of this boxed set is all the more impressive when you consider that the included Digital Copy (for iTunes or Windows Media) is made available via online download, which is to say that there are no physical Digital Copy discs, just a trio of unique codes. These, and the BD-Live connectivity across the six movie platters, plus a new videogame trailer (in HD) are the only new content. Curiously, one of the vintage Easter eggs has been upgraded to HD, but other than that all bonus material is in standard definition, whether tucked onto the Blu-rays or on one of the nine supplementary discs, which are all DVDs.
Home theater enthusiasts are likely familiar with the four-disc Extended Edition DVDs released for each movie, monumental in their day and still a highwater mark for both the quantity and quality of extras, tied to three movies that thoroughly deserved the love. All of that content, six themed "Appendices" produced by Michael Pellerin, is preserved here. Further, a trio of "Limited Edition" DVDs also snuck out, not as lavish as the Extended Editions but packing an exclusive feature-length documentary by filmmaker Costa Botes for each film, now available again here. These are more free-flowing, at times whimsical in contrast to Mr. Pellerin's work, and therefore quite an interesting complement.
Take note however that none of the extras from the Theatrical Edition Blu-rays is included in this set. I always found that material to be largely fluffy, but completists might want that, too.
The Blu-rays port over the four audio commentaries on each film, populated according to the participants' job descriptions: The Director and Writers, The Design Team, The Production/Post-Production Team and The Cast. Some of the lineups are rather crowded (individual names listed below, along with everything else) and so the active speaker's name appears on screen when a track is engaged.
Final Thoughts
The assorted DVD extras were actually so in-depth that I have to ask what else we might really have expected on Blu-ray. A preview of Jackson's The Hobbit? Too soon. Details about the messy behind-the-scenes squabbles following the release? Not likely. Happy to have what's here, even if the video remains maxed out at standard definition, in some cases non-anamorphic.
But the high-resolution audio is exceptional in every way, the video was a pleasant surprise for a recent catalog title, and the movies themselves continue to thrill and inspire, particularly in their superior Extended Editions.
Product Details
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