LOTR: The Two Towers Extended Edition 5-Disc Set [Blu-ray]

For the most part The Two Towers is a seamless merging of the films in the trilogy. As the center film within three, The Two Towers ran the risk of getting lost a little between the newness of the first film and the conclusion of the third, but it may actually be better precisely because it is the center film. Where The Fellowship of the Ring must deal with a lengthy introduction to the series and The Return of the King must close all of its storylines out, The Two Towers is all action.

The Movie:

While The Fellowship of the Ring is a story about combining forces to meet a unique challenge, The Two Towers finds our heroes split apart and harried. Ultimately, they are still working to defeat Sauron, however, and although they split up, the bonds simply seem stretched rather than broken. Beyond this, the group?s various journeys allow us to see more of Middle-earth. This makes the world seem more vast and more dangerous, but also a creation so unique and varied that it is absolutely worth preserving, even if the nine are separated and fighting different battles along the way.

The Two Towers relies slightly more heavily on special effects (or at least creates a slew of different visions with special effects) than the first film in the trilogy, which actually proves to be a boon for the film. Battle intricacies and exquisite scenes featuring the bold-eyed Gollum (Andy Serkis) are the real standouts on the set. As Gollum, Serkis plays wretched and ghoulish perfectly, and in him we see the movements and textures of some important CGI characters that followed (think Harry Potter?s Dobby). As the design team notes in the commentary to the set, as a digital character, Gollum had to deliver as if he was a real performer on set, with the same range of movement and expressions. Gollum is a home run, but the character isn?t the only winning thing about the film.

There?s over forty minutes of extra footage with the film and with the extra time, nearly all of the characters are able to be fleshed out to more of an extent. Faramir gets the biggest bump that I?ve noticed in the extended edition, but it?s nice to see more from the hobbits and the other characters, as well.

When it was filmed, The Two Towers felt like a disaster to Jackson, the design crew, and the production crew. Not only was it difficult to translate the book into a script that would work for a theatrical film, it was difficult to build characterization when each of the characters was hopping from one location to another and there was more than one journey for the camera to follow at any given moment. This caused a lot of editing stress, and The Two Towers may be the film that is least close to Tolkien?s vision. However, sometimes stress can be inspiring. The Two Towers may not be perfect for series fans, but it?s cut together so well and it tells such compelling stories with such vivid action, for the less literary fan, it?s probably the easiest film in the trilogy to invest in, more intricate than the first film and less arduous than the third.

Are you looking for Cinema Blend?s reviews of the Extended Edition 5-Disc singles sets for The Fellowship of the Ring or The Return of the King? We?ve got them!

The Disc:

The first 2 discs in the 5-Disc Extended Edition set feature the movie, as well as commentaries with the cast, director and writer, production team, and design team. Because there are the aforementioned four commentaries accompanying the movie, and because it is the extended version of the film, the movie is split onto the two separate discs. The cast commentary is certainly the most jovial of the commentaries, followed by the Peter Jackson-oriented director?s commentary. However, if you are more excited about the tricks of the trade and the technical specifications, you?ll want to check out the other two.

There?s a whole set of features that look at how the book came together and ?J.R.R. Tolkien? Origins of Middle-earth? is a documentary about ?The Inklings,? which was a group of friends?including C.S. Lewis?that met to hang out and read one another?s works in progress. There was more of a challenge with writing The Two Towers for Tolkien and for the movie creators because the ending of The Fellowship of the Rings leaves its characters in a very complicated arc. Producers had to mix and match book elements a lot more during this film, which is why Faramir (David Wenham) ends up taking a different trip and even certain fighting scenes are displaced. Several segments take a look at the significance of Gollum in the book and films. Like the other extended sets, there is a Middle-earth map and a look at how New Zealand was transformed for the film.

For the film buffs, Disc 4 might be the most fascinating. There?s a documentary, called ?Filming the Two Towers,? that looks in depth at the making of the film, and following that, the disc looks at the editorial work, the music, and, the visual effects. Finally ?The Battle for Helm?s Deep is Over? discusses how negative the entire cast and crew were while filming The Two Towers due to the problems with the script and the up-in-the-air way everyone thought the film might be received. Luckily things went well, and by the time the film premiere for The Two Tower occurred, the buzz was high and the hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd), especially, had become super stars. This kind of helped to rejuvenate everyone?s mental state for some of the bonus feature interviews.

Disc 5 features a documentary by Costa Botes that features a lot of raw footage from the film production. While watching, I came to the realization that the behind-the-scenes look gives a lot of visual answers to how various special effects were achieved. Some of this stuff is even mentioned in the commentary, but to get a real visual of what the designers or Jackson had to accomplish really was invaluable.

The extras in The Two Towers Extended Edition 5-Disc set are mostly extras available with the regular DVD set. What you are trading up for this time around is remastered audio and a reworked picture. The set looks beautiful, and the menu is one of the most fun to navigate I have ever seen. Still, if you?ve doled out for the Extended Edition DVD, you may not want to risk the price. I would say it depends on how invested in the series you are.

LOTR: The Two Towers Extended Edition 5-Disc Set [Blu-ray] DetailsStarring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellanProduced by: Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne, Fran WalshWritten by: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair

View the original article here

LOTR: The Fellowship Of The Ring Extended Edition 5-Disc Set [Blu-ray]

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is available in multiple formats and editions, each with their own flair, features, and cover art. Depending on whether you are a casual LOTR fan or an avid one, different sets are available to suit your Blu-ray or DVD needs. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition 5-Disc single set is for the superfans, featuring the best picture and number of bonus features that money can buy.

The Movie:

The Fellowship of the Ring is one of the most widely recognized books and films in the world. Its story, about Frodo?s journey to destroy the One Ring, is a tale of friendship and trials, joy and pain. In The Fellowship of the Ring, nine beings set out to save the day, and all nine are important to the ultimate outcome. It?s a strategy other hero stories have employed in the past and in the time since, but the bonds forged in The Fellowship of the Ring are especially compelling.

It?s been over a decade since Peter Jackson completed the first film in his trilogy. At the time, studios and fans alike waited?and hoped?expectantly that Jackson?s vision could match the intentions of Tolkien and still provide a great storytelling narrative on film. Anyone who expected a movie to feature every single moment from a thousand page book was probably sorely disappointed by the results, but also probably a little crazy to begin with. Creating a word-for-word copy was never Jackson?s intention. Creating a masterful retelling that maintained the integrity of the novel?s characters and the book?s lush landscape was. If The Fellowship of the Ring hasn?t become a classic already, it will be, and watching the film in 1080 p with remastered audio only serves to supplement its epic status.

Are you looking for Cinema Blend?s reviews of the Extended Edition 5-Disc singles sets for The Two Towers or The Return of the King? We?ve got them!

The Disc:

The 5-disc Fellowship of the Ring set offers bonus features on every disc, which is a feat, but even the menu page is prettily done and easy to navigate through. After finishing the film, fans can look into commentary that runs throughout the entire movie. There are four options to choose from: ?Director and Writer Commentary?, ?Cast Commentary,? ?Production Team Commentary,? and ?Design Team Commentary.? Each of these is interesting in its own right, and features different sorts of information due to the different experiences of the cast and crew members.

It?s fascinating to watch the film from different angles of the process, but it would probably be better to tackle these at different times rather than all in a row, like I foolishly attempted. One cool feature within the commentary: if you are partially through the movie and want to switch from one commentary to the other, you can simply pull up the menu and switch commentary without starting the movie over again! Because the movie is so long, it has to be split up into two discs, like an old school DVD set. This isn?t really inconvenient with the commentary, but it was far more annoying when I was in the middle of watching the flick.

Disc 3 is titled ?From Book to Vision.? This features a slew of extras about Tolkien, Middle-earth, and creating the story in a New Zealand landscape. ?J.R.R. Tolkien ? Creator of Middle-earth,? is a biography of the late author that discusses his early life, his never-ending quest to work on stories about Middle-earth, and his disdain for editing. ?From Book to Script,? ?Visualizing the Story,? ?Designing and Building Middle-earth? pretty much provide every detail concerning creating a visual world from the terms and stories in Tolkien?s works. The latter segment even has a design gallery that can be viewed as a slideshow. Plus, some of those designs even had audio commentary. Seriously, this set takes hours to get through, but it?s quite the adventure.

The final features on Disc 3 are some of the coolest with the set, at least if you are a person that has a compulsion to buy any books that come with a map in the front or back. The segments ?New Zealand as Middle-earth? and ?Middle-earth Atlas? feature maps that are interactive. Details emerge as you click on locations. The map locations in the ?New Zealand? bonus feature look at how filming locations were chosen to fit the landscape of the scene. The ?Middle-earth Atlas? map allows buyers to click on locations and see timeline-specific film sequences, as well as trace Frodo and Gandalf?s journeys.

Disc 4 spends time looking at the actual filmmaking process. ?Filming The Fellowship of the Ring? has several segments within the section. Cast interactions are discussed, and they all sort of crack jokes about Elijah Wood constantly sleeping on set. There are so many great details and stories I don?t have space to relate, here, but needless to say, everyone seems to have been fairly close knit.

Also on Disc 4, there is a really awesome set of post-production sequences that show how scenes were filmed from multiple angles and then placed together into the final footage. You can even watch each camera angle individually. ?Digital Grading? ?Sound and Music? and ?The Road Goes Ever On? offer similar segments that discuss different aspects of putting together the film in detail.

Disc 5 is mainly around for its raw documentary. Different aspects of shooting are uncovered and some of the challenges and interesting shooting tactics used when filming are looked at. This is cut together pretty well, but be forewarned ?The Fellowship of the Ring Behind-the-Scenes? segment means it when it says ?raw footage.?

This set is arduous, but in a fun way. There?s a lot to get through, and even some extras-within-extras, and it is probably best when taken at a leisurely pace. However, if there was ever a series that had the fan base to contain so many extras, the Lord of the Rings trilogy would certainly be it. For fans with a true depth of caring, I can?t imagine a set with more information and appeal.

LOTR: The Fellowship Of The Ring Extended Edition 5-Disc Set [Blu-ray] DetailsStarring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee, Viggo MortensenProduced by: Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne, Tim Sanders, Fran WalshWritten by: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens

View the original article here