DVD Reviews

Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, Return of the King - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Sep 17, 2010, 17:40 GMT

It is time. For Frodo to overcome the wickedness of Gollum, the horrifying attack of the colossal arachnid Shelob and the soul-twisting allure of a ring that resists destruction. For Aragorn to take up the sword of his forebears and the crown of his birthright. For the mighty clash that wizard Gandalf calls "the great battle of our time." And for the inspired culmination of the films based on J.R.R. ...more

“One ring to rule them all.”  Multiple releases the bind them.  As any Lord of the Rings fan knows, Peter Jackson’s sweeping, award winning film versions have had multiple releases on DVD.  So why would Blu-ray be different? 

First you bought the theatrical cut DVDs, the extended cut DVDs, and then the Blu-ray trilogy set.  Now each film is released on its own on Blu-ray for those that only want a particular film.   

The plot in a nutshell:  the dark lord Sauron had crafted in the fires of Mount Doom a powerful magic ring to rule over the rings of the other rulers of Middle Earth.  Sauron was defeated in battle and the ring was lost. 

It was found by Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm) and has been in his care ever since.  Bilbo is celebrating his 111th birthday and the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) is returning to both celebrate the day and check on the ring.  Gandalf convinces Bilbo to leave the ring for his nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) to find. 

I’m trying to keep it short, so let’s just say that Frodo, and his constant companion Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin), is charged with taking the ring to Mount Doom to throw it into the fires from whence it sprang to destroy it. 

He’s joined in his quest by a cast of characters: the aforementioned Gandalf, Hobbits Pip (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan), humans Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean), dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom).  He’s pursued by the forces of Darkness represented by the wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Gollum (Andy Serkis), the former owner of the ring who was corrupted by it and will stop at nothing to get it back.  

Other characters and actors of note: Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Arwen (Liv Tyler), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), Theoden (Bernard Hill), Eowyn (Miranda Otto), Eomer (Karl Urban), and many, many more.

The quest would stretch over three films, with three more extended cuts, and would earn much praise and much more money. 

Some might disagree, but I had to let loose a shriek of disappointment when Guillermo del Toro announced that he would have to drop his participation in the Hobbit movie. 

Too many delays thanks to MGM’s precarious financial situation had the director too long away from home and family so he decided to drop out (of course that changed to a shriek of delight when he announced his stewardship of a new Haunted Mansion film, from the Disney ride, that hopefully with have nothing of the disappointment of the Eddie Murphy vehicle - though only time will tell if that is so.

Some LOTR fans were howling with delight when it was announced that Warner was bringing the award winning films to Blu-ray in April 2010.  They were then howling with annoyance when it was learned that it would only be the theatrical cuts and not the extended editions and again when the only way to get them was to buy a box set that included all three films.  Personally, I’d want all three and in both cuts but some might only want a particular film from the set. 

Many are still holding out for those extended editions (me included), but Warner has decided to split up the box set and release each film separately.  You get the same content that you got in that box set excluding the digital copies. 

However, I’m about to howl a bit about that as I encountered some troubles with the copies that I was sent to review.  The Blu-rays were as promised but two films, Fellowship and Two Towers, didn’t contain the special features DVD listed on the back. 

What they had in their place was the supposedly excluded digital copy.  The Return of the King set was as promised, one Blu-ray and one special features DVD. 

I don’t know if this is a widespread error (I have seen it mentioned on other websites and Blu-ray forums), but it’s sure to raise the hackles of some. I’m sort’ve undecided since I’m pretty sure I have those special features on at least one of the LOTR sets I have or perhaps better special features. 

All three films are presented in 1080p high definition presentations (2.40:1).  I think they look great, but the transfers appear to improve with each film. 

The set and these separate releases can be seen as bridging releases to keep us interested because you know that when/if the Hobbit ever hits theaters that we’ll have another release.  More than likely, the extended editions may show up around the time that Hobbit comes to theaters (fingers crossed!). 

I adore the films and am happy to have them on Blu-ray.  However, I’m not sure how widespread the errors I detailed above are. 

Most fans will have the box set already, but these separate releases give you the opportunity to get just one or two of the films if the other doesn’t suit you or possibly pick up all three at a bit of a discount.  Be advised that I’d bet the farm that more releases are on the horizon.

Special features are things you may have seen before and are housed on a second disc that is a DVD. 

I’ll break down the special features below, but again only my copy of Return of the King had what was listed on the back of the case.

Visit the DVD database for more information.

Visit the DVD database for more information.

Visit the DVD database for more information.

Editor’s note: Lord of the Rings images in this review are not from Blu-ray release.