Home :: DVD :: Science Fiction & Fantasy :: Fantasy  

Alien Invasion
Aliens
Animation
Classic Sci-Fi
Comedy
Cult Classics
Fantasy

Futuristic
General
Kids & Family
Monsters & Mutants
Robots & Androids
Sci-Fi Action
Series & Sequels
Space Adventure
Star Trek
Television
The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Full Screen Edition)

The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 .. 84 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: TRILOGY'S END HAS EPIC SWEEP AND STUNNING PICTURE QUALITY!
Review: In scale, ambition and extensive use of the latest CGI digital effects, director, Peter Jackson's "The Return of the King" effectively brings to a close his awe-inspiring adaptation of J.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." Tying up the loose ends: Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) prepare for their massive battle at Minas Tirith; Frodo's (Elijah Wood) mission to Mordor grows more dark and sinister as he nears the molten lava of Mount Doom; Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) confronts Gollum in the most compelling and subtly nuanced digital manipulation. There are a couple of curiosities, including the inexplicable absence of Saruman (Christopher Lee) who will appear in the extended version DVD at a later date, and the reduction of several roles that were previously rather weighty, to mere cameo status. Jackson had a lot of ground to cover in this final installment and his editorial acumen was working overtime. The film is slick and polished, masterfully told and faithful to Tolkien's vision. Still, "The Return of the King" does tend to suffer from too many endings in its attempt to be loyally inclusive to all of the characters.
THE TRANSFER: Stunning. No less was to be expected and no less is offered in this beautifully rendered picture. Truly, there is nothing to complain about in this anamorphically enhanced presentation. Colors are stylized, bold, rich and vibrant. Contrast and shadow delineation is nicely rendered. Blacks are deep, rich and solid with an incredible amount of fine detail present, even during the darkest scenes and battle sequences. The audio is 5.1 and extremely powerful. The rich musical score sweeps across all audio channels with an enveloping presence. Dialogue is very dimensional.
EXTRAS: As with the previous two films, this one comes with a host of extra features, including three substantial documentaries (the National Geographic one being the best) and six extremely short "featurettes" which play more like extended trailers for the film.
BOTTOM LINE: Is this the BEST PICTURE of last year? Arguably, yes. It certainly is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy and an exceptional DVD presentation for your home theater. Add this one to your collection today.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Glorious Epic Finish
Review: Acclaimed director Peter Jackson closes the final chapter to his award-winning fantasy epic with the astonishing blockbuster "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". As Sauron's ring poisons Frodo's (Elijah Wood) soul, Sam (Sean Astin) aids his cursed friend against the many dangers of the dark land of Mordor, but the devilish Gollum plots against them to steal back his precious ring. With their fate in the hands of their two hobbit friends, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) unite the armies of Middle Earth against the fearsome legions of the Dark Lord. "The Return of the King" is a spectacular, edge-of-your-seat masterpiece from the creative minds of Peter Jackson and his top-notch crew. This exciting fantasy spectacle features a powerful and moving story, memorable characters, a rich music score and strong emotional subplots. Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin and Ian McKellen deliver some fine performances. Its thrilling action sequences and amazing special effects are incredibly breathtaking. The gripping battle of Gondor is a remarkable, heart-pounding visual achievement to behold.

Like the previous "Lord of the Rings" DVDs, "The Return of the King" 2-Disc Edition is definitely one of the best New Line DVDs ever released. The award-winning blockbuster is presented in its original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen format. Its picture quality is simply outstanding with stunning sharpness and excellent contrast. The 5.1-EX Dolby Digital sound delivers such amazing clarity and powerful surround effects. The DVD contains three in-depth behind-the-scenes documentaries, six short web featurettes, two theatrical trailers, TV spots, the seven-minute Lord of the Rings trilogy super trailer and bright animated menus. Though many fans anxiously wait for its Extended Edition in November, "The Return of the King" 2-Disc Edition is a worthy DVD purchase and gets an "A".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing
Review: Bravo, anything less would never satisfy the true Tolkien fans. Peter Jackson has created a landmark in film history.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: How could anyone give this film less than 5 stars?!!
Review: I have read the trilogy twice, and I saw this film in the theater three times, each instance surrounded by moviegoers completely enamored with everything in this film. There was communal laughter and even applause. So I pose the question again: How could anyone give this film less than 5 stars? This is what all films should aspire to be: extraodinary filmmaking with incredible entertainment value. I knew, after so much that was in the book "The Two Towers" was saved for the finale, that the third film was going to be amazing! The cast received the Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding performance as a whole, and in the end the film won all 11 Oscars in which it was nominated. After "The Fellowship of the Ring" lost both Best Picture and Best Director(blasphemy!!!), and "The Two Towers" was also passed over, it was genuinely surprising to see "The Return of the King" showered with Oscars. As a film on its own, "The Return of the King" is the closest to a flawless film since "Lawrence of Arabia" in 1962. There has not been a film series like this, affecting viewers on a cultural level, since the original "Star Wars" trilogy. The visual effects in this film, in particular, are huge. This film is a benchmark for all future CGI effects. In a theater setting(first time viewers must see this on a large-screen television) the visual effects are overwhelming. There was another surprise in the third film that was absent from the first two films: singing. In the books there is poetry and song throughout and it was a welcome and excellent addition to the epic grandeur of the film. Without a doubt, this is a 5 star film. Those who disagree should be subjected to psychoanalysis due to obvious insanity.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
Review: The third of the trilogy. As the shadow of Mordor grows, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) is revealed as the hidden heir to the ancient kings. As he, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the other members of the broken fellowship struggle to save Gondor from Sauron's forces, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) bring the One Ring ever closer to the heart of the dark lord's realm. Director Peter Jackson's epic won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing!!!!!!!!!
Review: The best movie in the world. i left the theater crying as did many others. it is the most emmotionly captivating movie ever created. i love the way the actors made the movie their own. it did make no sense that they didn't win any oscars or anything for their parts in the movie. they made the movie what it is. the actors were outstanding, the graphics intense, and don't forget the point that it is based at least 99.9% of the book! i could go on forever about how wonderful it is but that would last forever! it's the best, but dont take my word for it go out, buy, and watch this movie

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Will be best DVD ever (until november that is)
Review: One of the best movies of this era easily. If you have been reading other reviews then the upsides are almost a given: astounding CGI, huge battle scenes, amazing portrayal of Gollum and Shelob, truly emotional endings etc... But just for my take on these things here we go.

Many have said that the CGI in these movies is just annoying,obvious, or ugly. I whole heartedly disagree with this claim because in my opinion CGI is the only way to realize tolkiens words on scree. Tolkien describes hundreds of thousands of orcs attacking minas tirith, how in the world could that be done practically? Hire the entire population of wellington, NZ? Probably not. Also, shelob looks magnificent and would not look so realitic if she was rubber or a puppey. Gollum continues to amaze me now with even more facial structure and small detatails not seen in TTT that truly add to his believabilty and make him just another actor. Serkis conveys great emotion and character in Gollum in the film making him one of my faveorite characters.

As for the emotion of the film it is really amazing. I am not an outwardly emotional person but i had tears in my eyes during sam and frodos scenes in Minas Morgul and Mount Doom.

Now then, after reading some of the bad reviews of this title i just want to interject some thought on the "bad" things about this movie.

First of all Saruman being cut is not necassarily smart but if you want to see him then rent the extended cut coming out at the end of this year. He was obviosly not impotrtant to this part of the story. Infact in the books he tries to persuade people to join him but gandalf breaks his staff and wormtongue throws the palentir which is the only part of this scene which changes the story in any way. Therefore it was not a hard scene to cut.

Also the houses of healing must be on the extended cut as well and unless you care a lot about seeing another reasons Aragorn is the rightful king they arn't needed by the non tolkien enthusiest.

As to people who complain about how easily the orcs were defeated with the coming of the Army of the Dead, it was made a necassary change from the books by the screenwriters. First of all, in the book there was an Army but they only conquered the ports where the Black Ships of Umbar were in order to allow Aragorn and co with i belive at least a thousand new troops recruited from surrounding villages to take said ships to the battle. However tolkien had a bit less Orcs at the battle allowing this small troop to being the reason for Saurons defeat. Jackson upped the number a bit meaning he needed the army of the dead to win the battle. These are the reasons (pretty resonable reason in my opinion) for the triumph of the Army of the dead.

I only list these faults becuase i wanted to explain to people who are angered by them why they shouldn't be.

Anyway brief summary of what to expect from the movie: Aragorn Legolas, Gandalf and Gimli must travel to Minas Tirith stronghold of men to prepare for battle against Sauron. While this is happening Frodo Sam and Gollum travel through Minas morgul on their way to try to destroy the one ring of power and bring down the evil in Middle-earth.

The theatrical DVD is not the definitive version but if you are like me you will buy it anyway just for the small amount of behind the scenes stuff and the movie itself to own it for four months before buying the EE in November with at least 10 hrs of behind the seens

So all in all wonderful movie mostly true to the books and amazing visual effects. BUY IT

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Destiny of true friendship, courage and valor.
Review: This is the greatest movie ever made in my opinion. To see these books come to life was indeed a small miracle to me. Peter Jackson knows how to bring out the best in his actors. If you are afraid to delve too deeply into the books or don't have the time. Watch the movies, but make sure you get the extended versions and watch them at least three times to get the full impact of middle earth. Then read read read the books. Good overcomes evil at it's best! author - The Country Gourmet, Easy Country Recipes & Memories of Mama.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Outstanding.......
Review: There isn't much more I can say about this movie or the previous two that hasn't already been said. I was skeptical about seeing the Lord of the Rings trilogy at first because I heard it was about "Dungeons and Dragons". Well, if this is D & D, sign me up. This is, without a doubt, the most intriguing and fantastic movie and series I have ever seen. I have watched the first two films as Platinum edition series on DVD over 50 times already and I will continue to watch them for some time to come. I have more than 100 DVDs and I always come back to LOTR DVDs every time. After watching them I can't even imagine watching anything else. I never thought I would enjoy this type of movie, but the overall development and production of these films is an absolute masterpiece. Peter Jackson is a genius. I hope we can expect to see movies on this grand scale again and I wouldn't mind if Jackson was again at the helm.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best movie ever seen in along time
Review: This is the coolest and the best movie I have seen in a long time.All the fight scenes are mindblowing.Oh i'm sorry the whole movie is mindblowing.If you don't like this then you don't like movies at all.


<< 1 .. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 .. 84 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates