Techtite DVD Reviews

The Film: Consider how hard it is to make the third film of any trilogy even slightly as good as its two predecessors, then tell me whether or not director Peter Jackson deserved an Oscar. While Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was a magnificent spectacle that, according to Oscar, apparently directed itself (the film was nominated, but not Jackson), one can only wonder what drug tests would have to have been done had the Academy dared to snub Jackson a second time. Some spin doctors claimed that the Academy wanted to wait and see how this trilogy was ended, before awarding it any trophies. Well, once the finale to the trilogy was an irrefutable masterpiece...let's just say the film received 11 Oscars; tying for the most number of Oscars won for only two other films, Ben-Hur, and Titanic. That is totally outstanding...not unlike the film.

This is no mere fanboy rant. There simply is no compliment too overstated for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The only downside, in Hollywood terms, is that this is the sort of third film in a series that more often leads to three more films. It can't. This is the ending of the trilogy of books, and as such, is the end to the story. I suppose in Batman movie terms there would be a Lord of the Rings Forever! or a Return of the Lord of the Rings. Fortunately...no. Both fans as well as the film's cast & crew know better than to try to suffix the trilogy with an additional story that needn't be there. If only Hollywood knew better, too! How many film series would remain untarnished?

Did this film even require the prior films? Well...yes. There are a lot of times where if a person missed the prior two films (are there such people?), they may feel a bit astray. There is no schmaltzy prologue here where a narrator says something like, "Last time in Middle Earth..." This film picks up, for the most part, right where the last films ended. Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are still trying to sneak their way to the pit of Mount Doom; the only place hot enough to destroy The One Ring, the source of The Dark Lord Sauron's evil hold on this realm. Meanwhile, the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), the elf archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom), the axe-toting dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and the man-who-would-be-king, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), all prepare for the battle of all battles against Sauron's evil horde; a battle which shall decide the fate of all humankind.

Characters introduced at the midway point are still here as well. We see a lot more of Gollum (Andy Serkis), a shriveled wretch of a former Hobbit who possessed The One Ring for far too long, who is even part of the film's brilliant prologue, showing how he first obtained the ring, and how it slowly drained him of any form of real life. This enhances the story on several levels. One, we learn how far Gollum will go to possess --or repossess-- the ring; even if it means "guiding" Frodo and Sam to their deaths. In addition, it shows what will happen to Frodo, in time, if he does not get rid of the ring himself. This makes all the scenes of this Hobbit trio all the more effective.

Not that this is a mere "boy movie," as some women may shrug it off to be. Women will particularly love the character Eowyn (Miranda Otto); a fair maiden who wishes to fight alongside her fellow male soldiers, instead of simply staying home pining for news of the battle. She gets her chance to prove herself in a very big way, as her father is attacked by one of the presumed-invincible Shadow Wraiths, which legend insists that "no man can defeat." While I've said my share against female chauvinism in some movies lately, I love the idea here, that both men as well as women had a role in the saving all humankind. Her singular, definitive moment against this Shadow Wraith was one of my favorite scenes of the entire over-three-hour film.

I especially loved how this "medieval" battle is not robbed of a sense of grandeur; no small feat, when most film directors would've just had a simpler battle, with a lot of swords and arrows. Imagine your favorite battle in Star Wars, only this time, instead of giant walking tanks are humongous elephantine creatures with a fortress of archers on their backs. Instead of giant attack ships in the sky, there are shadow wraiths riding the backs of dragons larger than a 747 jet plane. The methodology of the humans as they fight these giant foes is all brilliantly played, and never did I see such feats of bravery with a "Oh, come on, now" attitude. In particular, the additional army Arogorn finds to help them in battle...? Brilliant. Notice in the background of one scene, where this newfound Army seems to horde on one of the elephantine creatures like a team of ants against a much larger insect. This is yet another movie by Peter Jackson where even the simplest background shot is outstanding.

Speaking of much larger insects, let's jump back to the Hobbit quest, much like the movie does, where Frodo and Sam must confront a giant spider which Gollum deviously leads them to. This spider scene will be forevermore known as the insect battle that all insect battles will be compared to. Think of the number of recent, CGI-inspired insect wars you've seen in cinema, be it Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, or Eight Legged Freaks, or even Arachnophobia, and realize how realistic this scene is by comparison. Never did I see this giant spider and think, "Oh that's just a stop-animation puppet" or "Oh that's just a CGI caricature." Few people won't be checking an itch for a possible spider after watching this pivotal scene.

The most impressive character in these Gollum/Frodo/Sam scenes, however, is Sam, brilliantly played by Sean Astin. He was sadly not nominated for an Oscar, and quite frankly, he was robbed. Sam knows of Gollum's trickery, but cannot get Frodo to feel the same. See; as the new bearer of The One Ring, Frodo sees Gollum as his possible fate. To believe that there is no hope for Gollum is for Frodo to believe there is no hope for himself. Of course, we have seen Gollum's murderous lifestyle in the prologue, so we know these are two completely different people. However, Gollum uses Frodo's lack of confidence to his advantage, and at one point, even tricks Frodo into disbelieving his friendship with Sam. It's these moments where Sam wrestles with his desire to help a friend, as well as his growing distaste for Gollum, that are among my favorite moments of the film. The scene when Sam gets practically banished from the trio thanks to Gollum is so well played by Astin, that to think he did not receive barely any Best Supporting Actor nominations is to wonder if he has been robbed by people even shiftier than Gollum.

Now, a lot has been said about the finale of this film being rather "long." Well...duh! Every single member of the original Fellowship of the Ring had a story to tell. Then The Two Towers came along and added even more characters. Each of these vivid, three-dimensional characters deserves an ending to their individual stories, and not just a simple "Hey, you participated in the final battle...? Cool." This is not the sort of epic tale you can finalize with a party of Ewoks (not that I don't love Star Wars, but you know what I mean). After three films, this is the sort of ending you anticipated yet wondered if it was even possible. It really is.

Of course, no review of reasonable length could possibly list all the superb nuances of this final film of the Lord of the Rings saga. This is because out of 201 minutes of film, there is very little not worth mentioning. Any review listing every single interesting moment would probably span 201 pages itself. The only question now is, will award shows finally show the intelligence they presume to have, or will they clutch onto a far punier, over-rated film, the same way Gollum holds his precious little gold ring? While such awards shows do not hold in their hands the fate of all humankind; they do hold their integrity in the balance. One can only hope these awards shows are led by more "Frodos" than "Gollums." We'll just have to wait and see.

The DVD: It's important to note that the following extras are for the "regular" DVD, not the "extended edition." The extended editions are great, really: two DVDs of extended footage re-integrated into the original film, plus two more DVDs of extras. Yet there really is no need to review such extended editions because they are mostly bought by fans, and if you're a fan you have little need for your fan-savvy extended edition to be reviewed, right? So, for the agnostic film viewers who want to know if they should get the DVD or the video of the original film; here's a short summary of what to expect.

First of all is the obvious caveat by now, of having an extended edition and a "regular" edition: no deleted scenes in the regular. Sure, of course this is true: they want you to buy/rent the extended edition so that means only a short teaser of that other edition in this edition. Does that make sense? Well actually it does. Let's just move right along.

The one great feature on this DVD is a collection of all the little video snippets they had for download at lordoftherings.net, as promos for the then-upcoming theatrical release. The best news, even for people with broadband, is that these videos are now full screen and in top DVD quality. That's more than enough reason to save up some hard drive space and get rid of their far lower resolution equivalent, if you still had the files on disk. They are preserved here, and in better quality.

Although the best behind the scenes featurettes are also in the extended edition, there is a lot of features here as well. One nice feature is quite clearly titled "The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision," while the more direct behind the scenes featurette is called even more simply "Making The Return of the King." What's really surprising to add here is a National geographic special about the film. That's a nice addition for everyone.

Yet for everything this regular DVD edition includes there's something it does not. The disc included the obligatory original theatrical trailers and televised commercials, plus a sneak peek at the video games based on Lord of the Rings. Yet no commentary track is offered, which I understand to be another feature saved for the extended edition, but let's not get silly here. Why no commentary track guys? None at all...?

Regardless of the limited-until-extended extras, this is a film that doesn't need such extras to sell. It's the irrefutable movie of the year for 2003. Even if you get the extended edition, I recommend the regular edition for two reasons. One; this is the edition that won the awards. Two: this is a whole lot easier to find time to watch, even at 200 minutes. Buy it today!

	Final Rating : Deep Impact. Ask any trilogy creator how hard it is to make a third film that not only meets, but often surpasses both its predecessors. That's the sort of masterpiece this is.
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Techtite's DVD Reviews!

The Lord of the Rings:

The Return of the King

A Techtite Review