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By
WAYNE KLEIN
In the third part of Peter
Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's "Lord of the
Rings" trilogy, Frodo increasingly comes under the
sway of the One Ring and Gollum. As the Orcs storm
Gondor, Gandolf marshals the troops of the city to
defend it in the face of overwhelming odds.
Meanwhile, Aragorn seeks reinforcements and hopes
to arrive in time to save Gondor. If they are
successful, Aragorn and Gandolf along with the
remainder of the Fellowship must move forward and
challenge Sauron in hope that they can buy Frodo
and Sam enough time to complete their task and
destroy the One Ring.
Peter Jackson's massive project finally came to
completion with the release of "Return of the
King" last November. The third film in the series
may not be the best but it embodies the most
spectacle of the three films. Jackson has created
an amazing trio of films that captures the spirit
and literary essence of Tolkien's books while
remaining true to his cinematic interpretation of
the material. Jackson was finally rewarded for his
triumph with 11 well deserved Academy Awards.
Whether or not you're a fan of Tolkien's work,
Jackson's films or both, you have to admit that
Jackson's staggering production recalls the best
epic films that Hollywood produced during its
Golden Age
Although the film wasn't honored for its cast, the
performers bring these characters to life. The
casting and ensemble acting matches the best of
any of the films produced last year. Particular
kudos to Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Dominic
Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys Davies and Ian
McKellen for their underappreciated support work
in the film. Elijah Wood does a spectacular job as
Frodo continually commanding attention throughout
the trilogy and let's not forget the marvelous
Andy Serkis. Serkis' performance as Gollum (he
appears in the live action prologue before the
full transformation into Gollum occurs) manages to
synthesize the best of live action acting and CGI
in his unique portrayal.
Considering the complexity and density of the
images, I'm surprised and pleased to say that this
dual layer disc looks exceptional. Although there
are hints of the compression technology that
drives DVD, the film very, very good with sharp
clarity and bright vivid colors. The final battle
sequence is a particular challenge for the DVD and
the transfer passes the test with flying colors.
There was noticeable distortion during some of the
early passages of the film. The earlier 2 disc
edition of "The Two Towers" had similar problems
as well as a number of defective discs.
The sound for "Return of the King" doesn't fare as
well as the image. The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
mix sounds pretty good overall. There were
problems with distortion on two of the discs I
examined randomly. If you notice a flaw in your
copy, I'd suggest returning it vs. assuming its
your player. Howard Shore's marvelous score for
"Return" comes through crystal clear during much
of the film but during battle sequences where the
soundtrack is considerably busier, there were
hints of problems where the sound had no depth and
sounded flat. Overall, though, the transfer of the
soundtrack has been well handled.
Unlike the earlier releases, "Return of the King"
has considerably more in-depth bonus material. All
the bonus material has been put on disc two. The
National Geographic Special on the making of the
film is included (although that was available on
DVD when the film was released in theaters) as is
a nicely done documentary chronicling the creation
of the trilogy from beginning to end. There's also
a very well done "Making of" documentary on this
disc with lots of talking heads. I'd suggest
taking a break between the documentaries as they
tend to feature many of the same comments and
observations and, as a result, can be quite
repetitive.
If you get the feeling you've seen the featurettes
before, you probably have. We get a plethora of
featurettes originally produced for the website.
All of them are pretty good and focus on one or
two subjects with a short running time making them
the perfect length for viewers at the end of a
long day of work. Each touches on how the effects
were created and what the film director and his
technical staff were trying to accomplish. We also
get to see some of the unfinished CGI effects
which makes the finished project all the more
impressive. Most of the featurettes are designed
for short attention spans and make a perfect
companion piece for the average fan of the film.
New Line and Jackson have done an exceptional job
of putting together this two disc set of "Return
of the King." Considering the length of the film
and the texture of many of the images, the
transfer looks exceptionally good on the dual
layered first DVD. There's a good selection of
bonus documentaries and featurettes included on
the second DVD. While there wasn't any image
problem with the disc I viewed, there was
considerable problems with distortion throughout
the discs 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround soundtrack.
The regular Surround track didn't have these audio
blemishes. It'll be up to random chance if you get
one of these defective discs just be wary and
return it quickly if you did get one.
If you enjoyed the movie and don't feel the need
to pick up the "Special Edition" coming out in
November of this year (which will feature 45
minutes of additional footage as well as a trunk
load of extras), the two disc version of "Return
of the Kings" will satisfy you. If you want to
avoid the New Line double dip, I'd suggest renting
the film on DVD and then waiting until the
extended version comes out later in the year. |
