Product Description
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The Fellowship of the Ring; A meek hobbit of the Shire and eight
companions set out on a journey to Doom to destroy the One
Ring and the dark lord Sauron. The Two Towers: While Frodo and
Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the
divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron's new ally,
Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard. The Return of the King:
Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army
to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Doom
with the One Ring. Peter Jackson directs these action adventure
movies starring Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean
Astin, Cate Blanchet and more. This special edition of The Lord
of the Rings Trilogy includes extended edition of the movies on
15 Blu-Ray discs.
.com
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As the triumphant start of a trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring leaves you begging for more. By necessity,
Peter Jackson's ambitious epic compresses J.R.R. Tolkien's
classic The Lord of the Rings, but this robust adaptation
maintains reverent allegiance to Tolkien's creation, instantly
qualifying as one of the greatest fantasy films ever made. At 178
minutes, it's long enough to establish the myriad inhabitants of
Middle-earth, the legendary Rings of Power, and the fellowship of
hobbits, elves, dwarves, and humans--led by the wizard Gandalf
(Ian McKellen) and the brave hobbit Frodo (Elijah Wood)--who must
battle terrifying forces of evil on their perilous journey to
destroy the One Ring in the land of Mordor. Superbly paced, the
film is both epic and , offering astonishing special
effects and production design while emphasizing the emotional
intensity of Frodo's adventure, and ends on a perfect note of
heroic loyalty and rich anticipation.
After the breaking of the Fellowship, Frodo and Sam journey to
Mordor with the creature Gollum as their guide in The Two Towers.
Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom),
and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) join in the defense of the people of
Rohan, who are the first target in the eradication of the race of
Men by the renegade wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) and the dark
lord Sauron. Fantastic creatures, astounding visual effects, and
a climactic battle at the fortress of Helm's Deep make The Two
Towers a worthy successor to The Fellowship of the Ring, grander
in scale but retaining the story's emotional intimacy.
With The Return of the King, the greatest fantasy epic in film
history draws to a grand and glorious conclusion. The trilogy
could never fully satisfy those who remain exclusively loyal to
Tolkien's expansive literature, but as a showcase for physical
and technical craftsmanship it is unsurpassed in pure scale and
ambition, setting milestone after cinematic milestone as Frodo
and Sam continue their mission to Mordor to destroy the
soul-corrupting One Ring. While the heir to the kingdom of Men,
Aragorn, endures the massive battle at Minas Tirith with the
allegiance of Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf, Frodo and Sam must
survive the schizoid deceptions of Gollum, who remains utterly
convincing as a hybrid of performance (by Andy Serkis) and subtly
nuanced computer animation. Jackson and cowriters Fran Walsh and
Philippa Boyens have much ground to cover; that they do so with
intense pacing and epic sweep is impressive enough, but by
investing greater depth and consequence in the actions of fellow
hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), they
ensure that The Return of the King maintains the trilogy's
emphasis on fellowship and remains faithful to Tolkien's
overall vision. By ending the LOTR trilogy with noble integrity
and faith in the power of imaginative storytelling, The Return of
the King, like its predecessors, will stand as an adventure for
the ages. --Jeff Shannon and David Horiuchi
Our Review of the Extended Edition on DVD (Dec. 14, 2004):
The extended editions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings
present the greatest trilogy in film history in the most
ambitious sets in DVD history. In bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's
nearly unfilmable work to the screen, Jackson benefited from
extraordinary special effects, evocative New Zealand locales, and
an exceptionally well-chosen cast, but most of all from his own
adaptation with co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens,
preserving Tolkien's vision and often his very words, but also
making logical changes to accommodate the medium of film. While
purists complained about these changes and about characters and
scenes left out of the films, the almost two additional hours of
material in the extended editions (about 11 hours total) help
appease them by delving more deeply into Tolkien's music, the
characters, and loose ends that enrich the story, such as an
explanation of the Faramir-Denethor relationship, and the
appearance of the Mouth of Sauron at the gates of Mordor. In
addition, the extended editions offer more bridge material
between the films, further confirming that the trilogy is really
one long film presented in three pieces (which is why it's the
greatest trilogy ever--there's no weak link). The scene of
Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship added to the first film
proves significant over the course of the story, while the new
Faramir scene at the end of the second film helps set up the
third and the new Saruman scene at the beginning of the third
film helps conclude the plot of the second.
To top it all off, the extended editions offer four discs per
film: two for the longer movie, plus four commentary tracks and
stupendous DTS 6.1 ES sound; and two for the bonus material,
which covers just about everything from script creation to
special effects. The argument was that fans would need both
versions because the bonus material is completely different, but
the features on the theatrical releases are so vastly inferior
that the only reason a fan would need them would be if they
wanted to watch the shorter versions they saw in theaters (the
last of which, The Return of the King, merely won 11 Os). The
LOTR extended editions without exception have set the DVD
standard by providing a richer film experience that pulls the
three films together and further embraces Tolkien's world, a
reference-quality home theater experience, and generous,
intelligent, and engrossing bonus features. --David Horiuchi
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Review
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Jackson surpasses the expectations anyone might have had for him
with The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment of his
trilogy devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork. --Charlotte
Observer, Lawrence Toppman
Moviegoers should be almost as entranced by the teeming, glorious
landscapes and dark, bloody battlegrounds of Two Towers:
astonishing midpoint of an epic movie fantasy journey for the
ages. --Chicago Tribune, Michael Wilmington
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