Rating: Summary: worth 10 stars......... Review: how could anyone above give this trilogy anything but raves?! they are masterpieces, and part 3 will prove to be the one that blows everyone out of the water, and, come next february, mr. jackson and his vision will receive every academy award they can offer-or should anyway! this trilogy will, like the legendary classics of yesteryear, set the standard and be the benchmark of how masterpieces are created-with love, vision, and perfection! already ordered this deluxe dts extended version, as i did last year for fotr! sound, picture quality are true perfection for the dvd format. bravo to everyone involved and to new line cinema for giving us the highest quality dvd sets ever.
Rating: Summary: Just my opinion Review: I know I will be labled a purist and told to just relax and enjoy the movie, but I can't! I tried, but every horrible decision to deviate from the book wrenched me outside of the movie. And besides the deviations there were many scenes just put in to Hollywoodize the movie. A list of my complaints in no specific order -- 1. Legolas riding the shield "skateboard style"! Give me a break. How X-treme sports can you get? Legolas walking on top of the snow, or flipping up on a horse, or walking on the cave troll's chain, yes!, but shield boarding, NO! 2. Gimli as comic relief. Why? Gimli would have found a nice vantage point at Helm's Deep. He wouldn't have complained about running long distances. He was a noble dwarf, not a bumbling moron! 3. Aragorn falling off the cliff. Why? Talk about causing a log jam in the stream of the movie! I thought the changes were made to make things move more movie-like. If they wanted the dream of Arwen, people do dream while they sleep, and Eowyn can still look longingly at Aragorn from afar to show she loves him. And even non-readers of the book knew he was alive and felt no tension, so Legolas and Gimli's sadness rang hollow. 4. The Ents. Yes I loved their attack on Helm's Deep, but they were misrepresented completely before that. They are the tree herders. They know when the forest is being cut down!! And why didn't the Entmoot decide to attack Orthanc? So the hobbits could show how cunning they are? Uh, lets go this way, duh! And then suddenly all the Ents in Middle Earth just pour out of Fangorn? Treebeard had to walk miles to get there, and I thought they knew nothing of the destruction Saruman was causing. 5. Gollum's split personality. Others might say this is just a natural extension of the book and they may be right, but when Gollum and Smeagol were having their conversation I lost all believablity. He never cast out his Gollum side. His personality struggled with good and evil, but that was who he was, not Sybyll. 6. Well, the most painful part of the movie was of course Faramir. Okay, Faramir taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath externalized the struggle. Good actors don't need that to happen! Faramir studied under Gandalf. He knew!!!! Yes, he wanted to do right for Gondor, but he knew the ring was not right. And taking them to Osgiliath just causes another break in their journey and they STILL haven't crossed into Mordor! Nothing happened in TTT. A big battle, yee haa! 7. The Elves at Helm's Deep. Yeah, they are cool, but is that the only reason to put them there? Elrond not giving up on Man is lost on me. And Haldir Lives!! 8. Frodo holding the ring up the Nazgul. Uh, that Nazgul sure gave up easy. 9. Sam's sappy speech that changed Faramir's mind. Too painful to watch. 10. Galadriel's speech in the middle to catch us up. I am watching the movie. I don't need your help. I would rather had PJ come on screen to apologize for turning The Two Towers into a hollywood crap fest. I am fine with adaptations. Sometimes they can be better than the originals, but it seems the changes were made for the wrong reasons. I didn't need the books dumbed down to the American public. And I don't think they did either, well, I hope not.
Rating: Summary: A Kingly Treasure for Tolkien fans! Review: In reviewing anything, the benchmark is simply this: Did the creator accomplish what he set out to do? In this case, for less than $30 bucks, you get FOUR DVDs that were not packaged as an afterthought product to make a quick buck -- as is often the case -- but integrated as part of Peter Jackson's vision for his film trilogy. As he said, he has "interpreted" Tolkien's trilogy, which meant that, for a film trilogy that cost $300 million to make, he bears final responsibility for what appears on the screen. And for most fans -- especially movie-goers and Tolkien fans alike -- that interpretation satisfies more than it displeases; in fact, with this extended DVD set, in which you get the film version with added footage seamlessly integrated in the original footage AND a rescored soundtrack, you get a great buy for your buck. Peter Jackson, on the extended DVD of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, said that he's not a big fan of the term "Director's Cut" because if implies that what was on the screen wasn't what he had intended; in his case, what appeared on the screen WAS what he intended, so he's happy with that. That said, the extended DVD of FELLOWSHIP is an enhancement, adding footage that fleshes out the original footage. As for the bonus material: it's supplementary and there if you want to see it, but the main course is the extended DVD footage itself. Regardless of whether or not Jackson is recognized with an Oscar for what is, in terms of films, a crowning achievement -- three films that will stand the test of time, and set a high watermark for film epics -- the fact remains that he'll be the king of the boxoffice this year. As for the complaints heard from some Tolkien fans that Jackson has not slavishly followed the text: You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. I recall that even when the initial casting was announced, some fans complained long and hard that THIS actor of THAT actor wasn't right for the part, without even giving the actor a chance to show his stuff on screen! In retrospect, the casting was inspired and it is indeed an ensemble cast -- a term used far too freely in the film community, which has cheapened its use. Trust me on this one, folks: Jackson spent hundreds of millions to give you a visual translation of Tolkien's epic, and you get it for, essentially, pocket change. He could have simply released the theatrical version and left it at that, but he didn't: He gave us more, much more, with the extended DVD. In the end, perhaps Tolkien himself, in a foreword to THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, said it best: "Some who have read the book, or at any rate reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible.... It is perhaps not possible in a long tale to please everybody at all points, nor to displease everybody at the same points; for I find from the letters that I have received that the passages or chapters that are to some a blemish are all by others specially approved." I recently had the pleasure of recently publishing a book about Tolkien and concluded that, after looking at thousands of items with a Tolkien tie-in, that the DVDs are great values for the money. As I wrote in my book, "...Sit back and let the movie take you away to Tolkien's imaginative universe, as envisioned by Peter Jackson, who has carefully and lovingly brought the book to the screen--and, by doing so, has introduced millions of people to the wondrous world of Middle-earth." More than that, no author can ask; and more than that, no fan should demand.
Rating: Summary: Pure Brilliance Review: It was said that Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring couldn't be topped. It was. It was said that J.R.R. Tolkien's literary masterpiece, which has been widely agknowledged as one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time, couldn't be made into a film. It was. It was said that any movie so good would need a DVD to match. And there is. This film, one of the best ever made, has made its seemless transition to the small screen. Though the film has obviously lost some of its sweeping grandeur, it is no less perfect when viewed at home - if not more so, because it is easier to appreciate such great art with others that you know. The picture quality here is amazing, and the sound design is brilliant, especially if you have a surround sound system. It sounds as though you're actually in a movie theater. This is a DVD worth the money, even if you're not a fan of the book or movies. When the Extended Edition DVD comes out, I'll be buying that one too.
Rating: Summary: I Am A HUGE Fan! Review: O.k., I'll admit it. I am not a fan of author J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy. But I am a huge fan of director Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is a great fantasy movie and so is its sequel "The Two Towers". Both of these movies are increadibly stunning and breath-taking! I can't wait to see how awsome "The Return of the King" will be!
Rating: Summary: "I liked white better..." Review: The two most painful movie-watching experiances I've had were sitting through Jackson's first two adaptations of the trilogy. It's rather sad that Bakashi, with half the screen time to work with, was able to be more faithful in adapting JRRT's plot and dialogue for FotR. Yet as horrific as Jackson's first movie was, his second was a crime against the soul of the book. It's a shame that generations of people will be getting their first view of JRRT's work through Jackson's adaptations rather than the books and JRRT's own vision and words. John
Rating: Summary: Great movie, but not the book Review: I really enjoyed LOTR books, and so far, have enjoyed the movies. Some people don't like this movie because they haven't read the books and have the attention span of a gnat (not their fault, but still there). Some people didn't like it because it wasn't "Tolkien enough". A few things I have noticed about other reviews and what they meant to me.... "Faramir not being noble and wise". Some people have stated that they thought that Faramir taking Frodo to Osgiliath(sp?) meant that his character was betrayed. No, it didn't happen in the book, but Yes, it's still Faramir. If Faramir was not wise and noble, he wouldn't have let Frodo leave at all. Love it or hate it, the only reason that Mr. Jackson did it this way was because it gives him a more human character. He thinks that taking the ring back is a good idea, has some time to think about it and realizes that it needs to be destroyed. If he were just to say "I don't want it" it would have reduced the impact that Boromir had when he succumbed to power of the Ring, just making Boromir weak and easily swooned. This way, it shows that Faramir was wise and noble by showing a conflict and him overcoming the temptation to take the ring. Also, many people think it should have stayed true to the book more, but how Peter saw it (and Christopher Lee, who was said to read the books once a year, and is a MAJOR purist) and how I see it is that there are so many things in the books that either would detract from the story, or would just be plain stupid put on screen (I see Tom Bombadil being like this... I mean, it would be Barney-esk), so they didn't include them. Anything they added has been to add a little more intruque/conflict/interest for people that haven't read the book. 80% of the book is intact, 20% new stuff added. Actually, for the first time this has ever come to the screen, it has been done masterfully. I will leave with this point: If you don't like how it was done and want to bash it, where's your version of it? Take it for what it is, not what you want it to be. "Those who expect everything will be sorely disappointed, those who expect nothing will be pleasantly surprised."
Rating: Summary: EXACTLY as I imagined Review: Look, I don't know about the rest of you, but when I read, and re-read these books (and others) growing up, I would always imagine it in my head. As I read the text, I created a little movie in my head about what the characters looked like, how they acted, the scenery, the mannerisms, and everything about them. Now, usually, when a book is turned into a movie, it's horrible. It crushes my "mind movie" and I have to make allowances for the director's "Interpretation." The beauty and genius of this series, is, I have seen my mind unfold on screen. Peter Jackson et all has made my imagination become a reality. These movies are made SO CLOSE to what I imagined, frankly, it's a little scary! And, through the magic of DVD, we are able to see the Uncut versions of the movie. Directors always have to allow for "economics" and annoying people that don't want to sit through long movies. So, you end up with a chopped up piece of a movie. With these, you get to see it the way the DIRECTOR intended it. And in this case, the director is an absolute genius. I want this man to re-create ALL future movies for me. There simply has never been, and until VR is better, probably never WILL BE a better adaptation from the books. I am in awe of this team, and grateful that they made my childhood fantasies a very stunning reality.
Rating: Summary: What a marvelous movie!! Review: Hi, i'm Iris Guenevere Harrison. ...i think this movie is great!... but still, very exciting!! You have to see Gimli,Aragorn, Legolas, and Frodo. You'll recognize if you have seen the first one. i think you are going to love this movie at all the time! Plus, DO NOT MISS "RETURN OF THE KING"! My whole family loved this movie. You will see some wonderful backgrounds of New Zealand. I just hope you will like this movie! *^^*
Rating: Summary: LOTR: TTT Special Extended DVD Edition ROCKS!!! Review: I got an early copy of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' Special Extended DVD Edition. Let me tell you this: IT IS WAY BETTER THAN THE ORIGIONAL VERSION! Most of the extra scenes in the movie are wonderful parts from the book which I will not tell you about because it would literally spoil the surprise for those of you who await this "Extended DVD Edition" to be released on November 18nth. 'The Two Towers' Special Extended DVD Edition is a product I highly recommend you buy!
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