The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Four-Disc Special Extended Edition)
by Joel Gallen, Michael Pellerin, Peter Jackson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Viggo MortensenDirector: Joel Gallen, Michael Pellerin, Peter Jackson
Writer: Michael Pellerin
Writer: Carter Bays
Writer: Craig Thomas
Writer: Fran Walsh
Writer: J.R.R. Tolkien
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 208 minutes
Published: 2002-11-12
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-12
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Line Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Four-Disc Special Extended Edition)
Movie Review: Movie history made! (details of the story and the film)
Summary: 5 Stars
The three Lord of the Rings films [all directed by Peter Jackson] have clearly made film history, chiefly due to their marked overall excellence. This film trilogy, shot entirely in New Zealand, is breathtaking at a minimum. Here, I'm reviewing the *Special Extended Edition* [as opposed to the much shorter Theatrical Version] of the first of these films on DVD, *The Fellowship of the Ring*.
I'm sure that the story is familiar to most who would show an interest in this film but, for the unindoctrinated, this adult fantasy trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien chronicles a group of travelers which includes a wizard, two men, a dwarf, an elf, and four hobbits, ergo: "The Fellowship". They are traveling because two evil wizards have joined forces to eventually conquer and enslave all inhabitants of Middle Earth. At the behest of these dark and nefarious sorcerers are orcs, trolls, wargs, and other heinous minions.
One of the hobbits [Frodo Baggins] has inherited a magic ring from an aged relative [Bilbo Baggins, of *The Hobbit* fame, a fantasy written by Tolkien for young people] and it soon becomes clear that this is The One Ring which rules all other magic rings of power. It was created by The Dark Lord [Sauron, the more powerful of the two evil wizards] but it was inadvertently lost for many years. As The Ring [which can render one invisible, with certain negative caveats] ultimately ends up in the hands of Frodo, it becomes his quest (along with the rest of The Fellowship) to destroy the ring at Mount Doom, a huge volcano which lies within Sauron's sinister and well-patrolled realm of Mordor.
In *The Fellowship of the Ring* the viewer only gets to watch so far as the initial segment of the quest culminates in a partial dissolution of The Fellowship - it's at this point that the film concludes; however, one is not left altogether hanging - there is a sort of conclusion to the film.
Director Peter Jackson, the cast, and the crew got ever better as they produced the three films. Jackson sort of viewed his task as making one long film, thus the scenes were not shot in sequence, quite typical of film-making, but noting also that most films are not nine hours in length. My point is, even though sequences from all three films were shot fairly early on, it was chiefly the first movie that they had to get out of the way since a release deadline was looming on the horizon. Naturally, many changes were adopted within the scripts of all three films as time rolled along... and thus each movie clearly became better than its predecessor.
I think that most of the *MAGIC* of this film trilogy came from Jackson's inclusion of multiple technologies and special effects techniques - he did not wholly depend upon Computer Generated Images but when he did they were effected in post-production with perfection. Additional film magic was manifested through Howard Shore's magnificent filmscore for the trilogy. Of course the Special Extended Editions contain much more original music than the theatrical versions and it's all a great joy to the ear, including the gloom and doom facets of the three soundtracks. They are available as three individual sets: The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring (The Complete Recordings), The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (The Complete Recordings), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (The Complete Recordings).
Perhaps the most important facet of my review is to encourage you to not bother with watching the theatrical versions of these films on DVD, and this is especially applicable if you've never read Tolkien's books. The theatrical versions are very good but they were meant more for theaters to collect from patrons for two showings per evening rather than to convey the details of Tolkien's complex story. The Special Extended Editions are perfectly edited to be both impressive and informative but they are never boring.
*The Fellowship of the Ring* provides us with a brief history of The One Ring of Power; an explanation of the need to destroy The Ring; the perilous flight of the four hobbits; The Council of Elrond, held within the safety of the realm of the Rivendell elves where decisions are made about the proposed quest; the commencement of this crusade of sorts, and; all the dangers and hazards which befall the Fellowship during this period. I mention all this to point out that the story is primarily a linear one where the viewer isn't bothered much with side trips or sub-plots. This aspect of the overall tale shifts radically over the course of the next two films, subsequent to the breaking up of The Fellowship.
Every facet of this film manifests the cutting edge of every aspect of film-making, from the technology, even extending to the acting [and motion capture] of Andy Serkis who plays the creature Gollum. We get to experience a broad range of acting styles from Orlando Bloom (who was cast for the role of the elf Legolis fresh out of acting school) to the venerable Christopher Lee [Saruman] who has made more films than anyone else that I'm aware of. To a person, all were magnificent in their perfectly cast roles.
This is probably a good juncture to detail what one gets in this boxed-set edition. There are two DVDs which make up the film and there are *multiple* sound tracks which can be brought up on each of these, depending upon whether you wish to watch the films themselves or listen to various available commentary tracks [for example, a track of cast member running remarks as the film progresses]. Two more DVDs make up the total of four: these are the appendices which beautifully depict exactly how this film was made, cast and crew interviews, details of the musical score, and so on. All this lasts for at least as long as would the film itself and it's all quite fascinating and well-done. Finally, the set comes with a small pamphlet inside which is a sort of map of what to look for on the DVDs and where.
I can hardly convey an adequate number of positive comments about this film except to say that the subsequent two movies [*The Two Towers* and *The Return of the King*] are even better! I won't say that this is the best film I've ever seen but I can honestly comment that I've never enjoyed any films *more* than those included in this Special Extended Edition trilogy.
Highly recommended.
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