Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Two Disc Limited Edition – DVD Review

Archive, Film, Reviews

Directed by:
Peter Jackson

Starring:
Elijah Wood …. Frodo Baggins
Ian McKellen …. Gandalf
Viggo Mortensen …. Aragorn
Sean Astin …. Sam
Billy Boyd …. Pippin
Dominic Monaghan …. Merry
Orlando Bloom …. Legolas
John Rhys-Davies …. Gimli
Sean Bean …. Boromir
Christopher Lee …. Saruman
Hugo Weaving …. Elrond
Liv Tyler …. Arwen
Cate Blanchett …. Galadriel

New Line Presents A Film Directed By Peter Jackson. Written By Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens And Jackson, Based On The Novel By J.R.R. Tolkien. Running Time: 178 Minutes. Rated PG-13 (For Epic Battle Sequences And Some Scary Images). Released on DVD: August 29, 2006.

The Movie


The Lord of the Rings has become the second most read book of the 20th century, only to place behind the bible. Which I’m sure validates the twelve years it took author J.R.R. Tolkien to finish the three part saga. Growing up in England, Tolkien was very well known for being angry over the countries lack of mythologies and folklore, the Norman invasion in 1066 pretty much eradicated any traces of them. The country instead “borrowed” mythologies from other lands to make up for it, King Arthur for example, was never about England yet over the years it’s been recognized as so. Many believe those things to be the reason why Tolkein set off to create his own world with its own intricate and textured back story – Middle Earth.

It’s almost impossible to not know the story by this point, but I’ll amuse you with a plot summary anyway. There was once a group of rings given to each race in middle earth (three to the elves, seven to the dwarf lords, and nine rings to the race of men), but none of them knew that a hidden master ring was forged in Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom. One that would bind all the others to it, giving it absolute control and the power to cover the world in darkness. The barer of that ring, the Dark Lord Sauron, was close to that goal once, until he was defeated and sent in to hiding. Biding his time while he becomes powerful enough to once again achieve physical forms. In the mean time, he rests in the Dark Tower where from there he sends his commands and waits for his Orc army to be ready, using the great eye to keep watch on Middle Earth.

Also making itself scarce, the powerful ring would lye dormant for many years, waiting for its masters call to be found. It hadn’t, however, intended to be discovered by an adventurous hobbit. Bilbo Baggins came in to possession of the ring and while he knew the ring had magical powers, he never knew it was the ring. Time had made the ring a myth, a fabrication that no one believed to be true.

When the time has come for Sauron to reclaim his possession and attempt to cover the world in darkness once again, the ring is left to Frodo, Bilbo’s younger cousin. Gandalf the wizard discovers that the one ring is being hunted and that Sauron knows of its location. He tells Frodo that the area is no longer safe for him and that he must leave, and that he’ll meet up with him after talking with old friend and fellow wizard Saruman. But Saruman has been possessed by the dark lord and has become one of his many minions.

Frodo leaves the shire with his close friend Samwise Gamgee and soon they’re joined by the always-up-to-no-good Merry and Pippin. The hobbits make their way to Rivendell where they are to meet up with Gandalf. There the elves have set-up a meeting with the men, dwarves, and elves of Middle-Earth to discuss the ring and how to destroy it. When nobody stands up and accept the task of bringing the ring in Mordor, Frodo volunteers himself. But he isn’t alone, the young hobbit is joined by Gandalf, Legolas the elf, Gimli the dwarf, the two men of Gondor; Aragorn and Boromir, and fellow hobbits Pippin, Merry and Sam to bring the ring to Mount Doom.

For some reason many casual film goers looked down on this movie, they didn’t care for the slow story telling and lack of action. Now with all three films released we can see why that slow – yet entertaining – pace was necessary. This being the first part of the journey, much of the film is setting up a relationship with the main character and making sure we understand the massive size of the quest he has ahead of him. The film does its job in establishing these things, along with slowly revealing the future stories of the other characters and their individual identities. The story isn’t filled with battles, its more the calm before the storm, the precursor to the sheer amount of pressure put on the characters in both Two Towers and Return of the King.

What is there left to say when it comes to the acting in this film? The actors in each role have not only brought to life some of literatures greatest characters, but have also created some of the best the silver screen have seen in years. From Elijah Wood’s pure and noble Frodo, to Christopher Lee’s deliciously evil Saruman, everyone does a wonderful job that out performs and out classes just about any ensemble cast you can name.

Comparing the theatrical cut of the film to the extended edition, there is almost no comparison. While the theatrical cut gets everything in that it needs to have a complete film, the extended version gives us a more relaxed and leisurely pace. Allowing us to develop bonds with each of the characters introduced. And as Peter Jackson himself noted many times, the extended version allows for all the small moments that were cut due to time constraints to finally be viewed and enjoyed.

Director Peter Jackson tried getting this trilogy made for almost eight years, eventually penning a deal with Miramax to produce the trilogy as two films. When budget cuts at the studio lead to the series being condensed in to one single film the studio eventually just sold it off the New Line. Where they saw the potential of the series and expanded it in to three films, one for each book in Tolkein’s trilogy.

Shot over 18 months, the trilogy was by far New Lines biggest risk to date with the total spent on the trilogy reaching almost $300 million dollars, not a bad investment seeing as the trilogy yielded almost $3 billion worldwide at the box office alone. And in the hands of an unproven director such as Jackson, who’s only selling point to them was proving what passion he had for Tolkeins work. What Peter Jackson did with this franchise that many said would never get off the ground — let alone be good — is a true testament to his directorial abilities.

Theatrical Edition: 8/10
Extended Edition: 9/10

The DVD


Video:
(Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen)
The film is placed over a DVD-18 flipper disc which haven’t been used since the old days of the snapper case (unless we’re counting recent TV on DVD releases). Compression issues have caused noticeable edge enhancement in several scenes on this new DVD. Also, the rich detail that can be found on the Extended Edition DVD’s are slightly washed out, leaving a flatter looking image in some scenes. Up close images of faces and skin are very detailed with decent flesh tones. The DVD looks slightly better than the old two-disc theatrical edition DVD released back in 2002, but that can be chalked up more to advancement in compression software than anything else.

Audio:
(English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and 2.0 Stereo Surround Sound)
Both of these audio options appear to be the exact same ones used on the Extended Edition set. With the audio spread over two sides, the magnificent score by Howard Shore is given plenty of space to sound its absolute best. While still not as enveloping as the Extended Editions DTS 6.1 audio track, the 5.1 EX displays the film’s audio the best it can given the way the DVD was pressed. Overall I would say it has a slight advantage on the older two-disc DVD, but only due to the film being spread over two sides.

Extras:

The Fellowship of the Ring: Behind the Scenes (1:24:49) – This is what I’m sure you’re most interested in reading about, so lets get right down to it. Is the new documentary worth the price of picking this film up for a third time? No. It’s that simple. The documentary here is basically taking all the stuff left on the cutting room floor of the Extended Edition DVD and putting them all in one incoherent eighty-five minute piece. The doc is labeled as a “fly of the wall” type documentary, which I guess is code for bad editing. They reuse many of the material already presented on the old DVD set, which at times just makes you wish you’d watched those instead, since they have a coherent narrative of what it is they’re trying to show you about the film. Not this one, instead this is the fat that was cut out for good reasons. Peter Jackson has said before in interviews that there are still hours of behind the scenes stuff he has locked away, as things he could add down the road to a possible anniversary edition of the trilogy. If this is a taste of what he has in store for us, then there won’t be much of a reason to buy those new editions either.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Two Disc Limited Edition
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

See Above
THE VIDEO

8
THE AUDIO

7.5
THE EXTRAS

4
REPLAY VALUE

10
OVERALL
5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
If you own the Extended Edition version already then there isn’t a single reason to pick this up, as everything in those four discs trump this one in every way imaginable. Those who may only own the theatrical cuts on DVD, may as well go buy the Extended Edition rather than paying almost the exact same amount on this needless re-re-release. The new documentary is, at most, worth a rental but not at all worth adding the film to your collection for a third time.

Currently residing in Washington D.C., John Charles Thomas has been writing in the digital space since 2005. While he'd like to boast about the culture and scenery, he tends to be more of a procrastinating creative type with an ambitious recluse side. @NerdLmtd