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Summary: My Favorite of Some of the Greatest Films Ever Made!
Review: This is my favorite film in the trilogy and deserved all 11 Oscars that it won. People who don't like these films just hate them because they are popular, and popular films can't be as great as advertised. Well, these LOTR films are an obvious exception to that rule and will be watched by my grandchildren 50 years from now. I can't wait for the extended cut due out in November, and after that is released all of the LOTR legacy will be out to own. No more looking forward to the movie magic these films had previously produced this coming December.
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Summary: FANTASY, DRAMA, ODD TURNS.
Review: Well, I have read many of the rewiews from this masterpiece, but as simple as it comes, many people wouldn't want to read about the movie plot, because we all know it, as simple as it comes this is already a CLASSIC, becoming a sure rival to the ICON than STARWARS has become, THE LORD OF THE RING, RETURN OF THE KING, it's the conclution to a great story, to a great a production and it's undoubtly one of the best movies to come in a few years were fantasy meets reality. This movie elevates the spirit of courage of anyone, beating the odds on how come the supposed weaker breed could save the rest of the races, how come the little accomplished the success, this is an uplifting and great movie, nobody should pass the opportunitty to own it, because as said before this is and will always be a CLASSIC.
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Summary: Defective DVDs
Review: There are many defective DVDs of the Return of the King. We returned our to a local store and they had a stack of about 25 defective Return of the King DVDs. Ours had scratches on it and was freezing during many scenes
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, entertaining but not perfect.
Review: As Roger Ebert wrote 'That it falls shy of greatness, is perhaps, inevitable' (Theatrical Release), this is true. No movie could live up to the original work of Tolkien. This movie is wonderful and entertaining. The visual aspects of the movie are incredible, the battle scenes are beautifully choreographed. Jackson hit the mark with this movie, although certain aspects of the movie are undermined - ghosts from the Paths of the Dead, Green?! - running time - a massive 3 and 1/2 hours. Other than that, the movie is great, amazing, definite pickup.
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Summary: Finally the end
Review: Too much hype. Don't jump on the band wagon. Cool special effects, yes, great acting no. This DVD is already selling for $10 new in the box on half.com. Clocks in at over 3 hours. Too long. Not a very good digital transfer either. Definetly not up there with the 2nd Matrix DVD. Went thru 3 DVD players and an hour of setup trying to get it to look good. Very grainy overall. Some scenes have a yellow or gold hue. Some scenes too light some scenes too dark. Looks like they rushed this one thru the digitization process. They can't get our money soon enough. Read the books.
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Summary: How can you not like it?
Review: How cant you like these movies. These movies are not just about a Dark Lord trying to take control over everything in Midlearth but it is a fight for the Truth,not just another fight of good vs. evil it is a story of Christianty vs. the Devil and all his forces, written by one of the greatest auothors of all time J.R.R. Tolkien. A story of the fight to bring down Sauron and again have a time of peace without war or anything else. As for the people that do not like it I understand either you just don't like movies like these or you dont understand them so try reading the books they will explain to you more than anyone could tell you.
Rating:
Summary: DESERVES MORE THAN 11 OSCARS
Review: When one talks of the all time great movies, the Godfather Trilogy (well actually the first two), Schindlers List, Saving Private Ryan comes to mind. Now, add to that list the Lord of the Rings Movies by Peter Jackson. In fact it would be rude, nay, disrespectful to Prof Tolkien,if the entire three movie were not taken as one long 11 hour epic and judged based on that alone.
Return of the King (ROTK)continues the story immediately where the last movie left off about two little Hobbits' quest to destroy the evil One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. In the meantime, the humans are preparing for round two of the obsession by the evil Sauron to wipe them off the face of (Middle) Earth. if the battle at Helms Deep at the end of movie two set the future standard for battle sequences in film, the battle at Palennor Fields completely blows it away and redefines the mark. To many fans, this theatrical release is but an extended trailer for the inevitable [back aching] that is the Extended Edition that is slated at Christmas time. But this release is no slouch either clocking in at an incredible 200 minutes long.
Video Quality:
I have to admit at being worried that some compromises in quality had to be sacrificed to fit the entire movie on only one disc. However, the transfer was absolutely pristine and simply puts some of the other movie transfers at half the length to shame. Incredible. All said, there was some blurring in the fast moving battle-scenes but you'd have to be a pick-wit to notice. Reference quality.Sound Quality:
Like the previous two releases, the movie comes with Dolby Digital-EX surround and it absolutely rocks, my movie room was a earthquake zone when the movie was over. Lots of low frequency rumble will have your neighbours keeping 911 busy. All in an excellent sound field and sound transfer. It remains to be seen if the DTS version in the extended edition can top this excellent offering. The Extras:
I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at the offering in disc two where the extras are housed. The extras contained two documentaries which only newbies will really get excited about and a national Geographic special comparing LOTR characters and situations to real life events and characters like William Wallace and Benjamin Franklin etc. Missable. There are a few web featurettes and an introduction to the coming video strategy game by EA. Perhaps the BIGGEST disappointement is the absence of the music video of the Oscar winning song "Into The West" by annie Lennox. How hard can it be to put in a simple music video to complete the offering. If I were rating the extras I would definitely give it a 2 out of 10. Having the music video could have redeemed the lacklustre offering. But considering that I am getting my hands on the DVD two months early, its a small price to pay, although I feel that they should have put in the music video. Roll-on Extended Edition.
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Summary: There and Back Again-- What a Journey!
Review: The end of this film-- after all the fighting, the sacrifices of choice and hope and life itself-- is unspeakably sad, for two of literature's (and cinema's) greatest friends, Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee, are separated: the scene is meant to be a joyous one but it is hard not to share Sam's feelings, or his tears. It is, after all, not just the end of a magnificent friendship, but the end, finally, of the greatest motion-picture trilogy of all time. Although it is "the end of all things," as Frodo calls the grim conclusion of his Ring-quest, Return of the King begins, oddly, and endearingly, with the beginning-- the violent seizure of the Ring of Power by Smeagol (Andy Serkis, who has also provided the voice of Gollum for the trilogy), a Stoor who is forced to flee into the Misty Mountains with the Ring-- and the blood of his cousin, Deagol, on his hands. He devolves before our eyes, with his "precious," the Ring, his only remaining possession. It is a stark sequence that nicely sets the desolate tone for the film-- indeed, all the characters must wrestle with their idea of what is "precious," and the journeys they will undertake to have it. Fathers grieve lost sons; lovers grieve the miles between them; kings mourn nations lost, and on the brink of destruction. This theme-- the loss of "precious," whoever or whatever it may be-- underlines the entire saga, and gives a certain poignancy to the struggles of the Smeagol personality trapped in the murderous form of the creature called Gollum, whose treachery in pursuit of the Ring reaches chilling proportions in the closing minutes of the film. Truly this is Gollum's film; for all the awards the film rightly received, one was overlooked: Best Supporting Actor for Andy Serkis, who did more with his voice and 3-5 minutes of screen time, than many actors manage to accomplish in dozens of films, or entire careers. The doomed King of Rohan, Theoden (Bernard Hill, and excellent throughout), offers a rousing speech about the ending of an era and the imminence of death, and death stalks heavily through the film: it has been called the darkest chapter of the trilogy, and fairly so. The characters killed, maimed, or psychologically ruined by the events of the last hour of the film, are so many, that it is easier to count those not affected, on some level, by all that has gone before. This film more than makes up for the rather light, almost frivolous tone of Fellowship of the Ring. There are omissions, of course: Where is Saruman (Christopher Lee)? He is mentioned, briefly, but never seen. And where are Gimli and Legolas when the elves take their leave at the end of the story? And what of the role of Grima (Brad Dourif), who has a major part is resolving the "Scouring of the Shire"-- scenes never shown, or even alluded to, in the theatrical version of the film. I suspect at least some of these questions will be addressed with the extended-version DVD release later on this year. I hope so. The theatrical-release DVD contains a few making-of specials, a well-done mega-trailer covering the entire trilogy, but, sadly, none of the looked-for previews of the next film in the series: this is it....until, at least, Jackson announces the filming of The Hobbit. In the Academy Award-winning closing theme (sung beautifully by Annie Lennox), we are asked, "Why do you weep?" Because the long and wonderful journey has come to an end. But as it the bards of old wrote, in that plaintive old song sung by Bilbo Baggins for many years, "The Road goes ever on and on"-- and what a journey it has been.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie I have EVER seen
Review: THIS MOVIE IS ONE OF THE BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN. LIKE PETER JACKSON'S OTHER 2 "LORD OF THE RINGS" MOVIES THIS LIVES UP TO ITS NAME AND THEN SOME. IT WON 11 ACADEMY AWARDS AND HAS BEYOND GREAT SPECIAL EFFECTS, MUSIC, SCRIPT AND MANY OTHER THINGS
THIS IS THE MOVIE OF THE DECADE AND IF YOU DO NOT BUY OR SEE THIS MOVIE AND ITS 2 "BROTHER" MOVIES I FELL EXTREMLY SORRY FOR YOU!! 6 STARS
3 THUMBS UP
11 ACADEMY AWARDS
MY HARD TO GET APPROVAL
WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR?
Rating:
Summary: Will Jackson film The Hobbt next?
Review: With Peter Jackson's final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he has more than crushed the concerns that the "Return of the King" would be subject to the same trilogy/sequel woes as "The Matrix" or "Star Wars." Jackson truly saved his best work for last, and even long-time readers of Tolkien's series (which I am) will have very little to complain about. In "Return of the King" he gave us the most spectacular battle scene ever filmed, industry-changing special effects, a true adaptation that rarely deviated from the source (and when it did deviate it generally helped the story), and fine direction, getting brilliant performances out of every cast member fortunate enough to be involved with this masterpiece. The standout in this movie is Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee. Jackson has an intimate understanding of Tolkien's story, and expertly let's it blossom over three movies until we gradually realize, as we did in the books, that this is Sam's story and Sam's quest more than it is Frodo's. "I may not be able to carry it for you, Mr. Frodo. But I can carry you," a teary-eyed Sam pronounces near the film's end. This is one of the better moments in the history of movie-making. Astin's performance is flawless throughout this three and a half hour epic, but somehow seems to get even better as it goes on. I felt "Return of the King" was far superior to "The Two Towers" in many respects. "The Two Towers" often felt disjointed and never really found its groove. Just as you were getting into the battle scenes, you were suddenly with Treebeard in dead silence, moving at a snail's pace through the forest. Jackson was able to interweave the many storylines of ROTK seamlessly, masterfully leading us to the next logical place, making the audience feel as though that's where the story *should* go, not question why it *did* go there. ROTK will probably not please everyone. Fans of Orlando Bloom will be disappointed that he is not featured, getting very little screen time. Those who criticized Jackson for using Gimli only as comic relief in "The Two Towers" won't find any comfort in ROTK. He probably has only one or two lines that aren't meant to inspire laughter. However, for what it's worth, I found him very funny and overall there is a much greater humor presence in ROTK than any of the other movies. Then there's the beginning, which I will agree is very slow. Unlike the testosterone-injected opening of "The Two Towers," ROTK starts with a character exposition of Smeagol. I think the opening would've benefited from some more intense action. Devotees to Tolkien will surely have their pick of plots that Jackson altered, added or omitted, but I don't think they'll have much of a leg to stand on. The major changes from the books were first, the timing of the stories. The ending of "The Two Towers" novel actually occurs in the middle of ROTK, but this is just a function of how he chose to tell it- it doesn't necessarily alter the story, just what events appear under what title. Second, he added a conflict between Sam and Frodo, where Gollum is corrupting Frodo to turn against Sam. This however, adds a great deal of dramatic tension to the plot and doesn't change any of the character intent of Tolkien. It only magnified tensions that were already there between the two Hobbits. Then there was the scene with Shelob (the spider), which was slightly altered. In the novel Sam (and the reader) didn't find out until much later that Frodo wasn't dead but only paralyzed. Again, this didn't bother me and I'm willing to give Jackson these liberties as long as it helps his story along, not to mention the spider scene was so bone-chilling that I barely noticed any changes. Lastly though - and here I might find some merit of the critics - is the issue of Aragorn and the Palantir (the glass ball with the eye of Sauron). In the novel, Aragorn makes the decision to look into the ball deliberately in order to deceive Sauron and draw his attention from Frodo. This was very important to his character and led to him coming to terms with who he was as the King of Gondor. This was omitted almost entirely from the movie, with only a casual reference made by Gandalf. It certainly wasn't something that hurt the movie for me, and though I don't fully understand why Jackson chose this, he's more than earned the benefit of the doubt. The DVD is predictably impoverished, and I'd expect there to be at least two more packages where this is availeble. One will be the extended special features edition, and the next will be the Trilogy. If you can hold off from buying, it may be worth it, but remember that they usually structure the special features so that you'll get bonuses in this version that you won't get in others. ROTK has laugh out loud comedy, some of the most courageous acts we've seen on film, and action and effects beyond my ability to describe. What more could we possibly ask for? How about The Hobbit? Please?
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