The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition) [Blu-ray] [2001]

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For the third time, a Rings movie was a Best Picture Academy Award® nominee and for the first time it claimed that prize (plus 10 more).

Four Hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd) join up with a Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) an Elf (Orlando Bloom), a wizard (Ian McKellan) and two humans (Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen) to destroy a ring that controls the fate of the world. There are also two still galleries for design, broken into numerous subsections covering the people and the realms, with some of the stills coming with commentary. The result is a colorful, sublime presentation not seen since these films were in theaters, maybe not even then. New to the track are editors Jamie Selkirk and Annie Collins (different editors worked on each film so this is fitting). Our review of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition on Blu-ray follows after the jump.If this presentation is, indeed, struck from new HD-masters, then the increase in quality is far from significant.

Would I have preferred a single BD of extra features, rather than just brand new replicates of my previous SD-DVD extras discs? Bilbo and the Dwarves escape the giant Spiders and Wood-elves of Mirkwood before encountering the mysterious Bard, who smuggles them into Lake-town. The only major sequence added is the thing the fans of the book clamored for most: a flashback in which Faramir (Wenham) and Boromir (Sean Bean) confront their father Denethor (John Noble) — who treats Faramir as the lesser son — over who gets to go to Rivendell for the meeting held in Fellowship. Colour timing aside, I found the new transfer for The Fellowship of the Ring – remastered from a new 2K master – far more pleasing than the last HD edition.Meanwhile, Aragorn, drawing closer to his kingly destiny, rallies forces of good for the battles that must come. Peter Jackson didn't seem like the most natural pick when selecting a director for one of the most expensive and expansive film series ever created.