First of all this is a review of the "Extended Cut" of "The Return of the King." Normally I wouldn't bother doing a review of something that has 143 reviews before me (as of the last time I looked) but it seems Epinions isn't going to put a separate page up for the Extended DVD of ROTK any time soon, so am forced to put the review here. So... here goes.

I'm not going to get into a deep analysis of the basic movie. That has been done a dozen-dozen times before I got here. Refer to the previous reviews for that, please...

The original theater cut of LOTR:ROTK was 200 minutes long. Just about more than a human hindquarters can take. Well, the Extended Cut is a butt-busting four hours and ten minutes long (without credits.) Director Peter Jackson has restored the scenes that were regretfully deleted from the theater cut, and perhaps a few that were not so regretted as well.

Chief among the former category is the death of Saruman. Christopher Lee was quite dismayed that this sequence was deleted and so was I. The theatrical edit would have been a dozen or so minutes longer with it included but without it the feeling was one of artificiality, avoiding something difficult, which, of course, it was. In fact, if I had my 'druthers I would have filmed "The Scouring of the Shire" from the book, at least for the DVD, but I'm not going to dive into that pit here, Jackson omitted "Scouring" early on depositing it in the same bin with Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wights, his call.

Less missed is the rather silly and lengthy drinking contest scene between Gimili and Legolas. Gimili was already a little too much of a comedian for my tastes as things stood and the sequence adds several minutes to a slow section that is already a bit on the long side. Other scenes such as Aragorn confronting the Corsairs (with the obiligatory Peter Jackson cameo)could stay or go depending on your preferences and butt-blister tolerance. An exception here would be the Mouth of Sauron scene which is delightfully Clive Barker-esque. I agree with it's deletion from the theatrical cut but it would have been criminal to leave it out of the DVD.

Aside from restored scenes, what distinguishes this disc set from it's cheaper and shorter cousin is the commentary cuts and extras discs Tolkienishly called the Appendices. The extras cover two full discs with more than two hours of footage per disc. Each feature covers a different phase of the film's production. Most are about a half-hour in length with the exception of the "Cameras in Middle Earth" segment which is more than an hour long. First is the obligatory "Book to Film" segment. This segment maps out the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien using interview material with various Tolkien scholars including Tom Shippey and Patrick Curry the author of "Defending Middle Earth: Tolkien and Modernity" which I have reviewed elsewhere . "Designing Middle Earth" focuses on the design process for the film led by noted Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe.

The next features spotlight the departments at Jackson's WETA facility that make the oversized models and miniatures used in the filming. These models are so big that they were nicknamed "big-atures". Some of the city miniatures were 1/14th scale. The Minas Tirith model's size was limited solely by the height of the ceiling of the workshop where it was created. Director Jackson described the mood in the model shop by spiraling his finger against the side of his temple and saying "they got a little... screwy." Some of this video shows this, especially the video from the Shooting Day 666 bacchanal celebration. (Most miniatures shoots go for less than two months and the LOTR miniatures shop didn't wrap until after Day 1,000.) The atmosphere in the WETA Workshop was a bit more sedate scene. Every prop used on the LOTR movies was manufactured, nothing (or next to nothing, at least) seen on screen was taken off a shelf and Jackson was manic on authenticity. Thus craftsmen who could make swords, chainmail armor, jewelry, housewares, barrels, and so on ad infinitum. If you needed some chainmail made in New Zealand around the turn of the century, I guess you were out of luck.

The last feature on "Appendix Disc" One focuses on the work of the Costume Shop. Ngila Diskson (it's pronounced "NI-la") was the costume designer for New Zealand's last big thing in TV/Movies, the "Hercules" and "Xena" TV shows. Dickson is a very talented designer who was largely responsible for giving both productions their distinctive look. This feature is more interesting than it sounds.

The first disc closes out with a series of galleries of stills, sketches, etc.

Extras Disc Two centers on the actual filming and finishing of the movie. The "Cameras in Middle Earth" segment is quite lengthy, more than an hour. This segment covers the various shoots on location in various scenic and remote locations in the wilds on New Zealand as well as location shooting in studios. Jackson is the star of this show. One can tell he rather savors the camera's eye even though he spends most of the time on the other side of it. Jackson seems to be a perfectionist in the manner of Stanley Kubrick -- many takes. Often many, many, many takes. You can get a glimpse of this here. It would seem that the "making-of" feature cameras were present at all of the shoots (sometimes as many as seven shoots at any one time) and you get to see a lot of stuff. The Viggo Mortensen/Billy Boyd make-out scene (you just have to see it...) and the various Merry-and-Pippin-stoned-on-pipeweed takes are standouts.

The segment on the innovative visual effects sequences will turn techies on. We all know that Gollum was digitally created but did you know that the Pelennor Fields battle was "shot" in a completely digital environment. All of the live action was filmed against "green screens" and inserted with the computer-created mayhem later.

For a series of films that were five years or so in the making, the post-production process for ROTK was certainly an... umm... tailbones and elbows affair. Sixteen, seventeen, more hour days, seven days a week assembling the edit, scoring the film and finishing the effects. All at the same time. You're not supposed to do it that way, Peter!. Props to poor Howard Shore who had to write, and re-write, and record and re-record the music score as the edit changed and changed. And changed. When the print was finished and delivered Jackson hadn't actually seen the whole thing yet. Somebody must have been looking after this production because all of that should have been a disaster.

Particularly poignant are the various "lasts", the last shot of principal photography, where Jackson shot up every last foot of film in his magazine, not wanting it all to end; the last shot of additional filming (called "pick-ups" in the trade). The last effects model shot, well not last shot, this is Peter Jackson here! The final film exposed for the DVD cut was skulls.

How do you get the sound of an elephant the size of a small mountain hitting the ground? The WETA sound effects people know how and they're here to show you. There is also an extensive record of the production of the scenes involving non-digital horses. Some of the actors were already horse people (Viggo Mortensen) and some were not (Dominic Monaghan).

The last segment on the movie was "The End of All Things. Here Jackson closes out the series. All of the various premiere and such are shown. The members of the cast give their closing thoughts and then it's over. There are also picture galleries and a Animatic scene of a projected Aragorn/Sauron battle that was (thankfully) dropped.

Next it's important to mention the two short films by Kiwi filmmaker Cameron Duncan. When I was finishing up my first time through the film I decided to turn on the Director's Commentary during the end titles. Jackson, along with co-writers, producers, whatever, Fran Walsh (also his wife) and Phillipa Boyens were talking about the closeing title song "Into the West" sung by former Eurythmics member Annie Lennox. They were discussing a young film maker they knew named Cameron Duncan. The way they described him, he seemed like a hell of a kid, but.. he had bone cancer. And they were using the past tense. Cameron "was" this... And I knew... Cameron didn't make it.

Bummer.

"DFK6498" and "Strike Zone" are two short films that were made by Duncan. They revolve around the central verity in Cameron Duncan's life...cancer. "DFK6498" is striking and minimalist with overtones of Kafka. "Strike Zone" uses softball as a metaphor for Duncan's struggle with his disease but manages to be kind of goofy fun at the same time. If you watch nothing else on the extras discs, you must see these films. I recommend looking at Peter Jackson's introductions. The world was robbed of a promising talent with Cameron Duncan's death.

It has been said that the LOTR movie series could never have been made in Hollywood. This is clearly true. Consider the Paths of the Dead sequence with the skull avalanche. After every take (and Jackson needed more than one, you know...) everybody, grips, actors, etc. pitched in to pick several hundred styrofoam skulls up and put them into bags. In Hollywood some union guy would come up and say, "It says here in the Stage Hands' Binding Arbitration Agreement, Article XIX, Paragraph 6(d)(i)(4): 'any prop skulls, bones or other osseous objects must be handled only by members in good standing of the Stage Hands and Propmasters Union and for every 150 skulls (or portion thereof), bones or other osseous prop objects one (1) fully qualified Propmaster must be in attendance at all times...'" You get the idea. Maybe the LOTR movies could have been made in Hollywood but it would have taken 15 years and cost $2 billion.

The whole ambiance of the extras disc is like a cohesive team of people who are working hard toward a goal they all think matters. Nobody seems to feel they have a really crappy job, The closest anybody comes is probably those poor schlubs in "The Two Towers" extra discs who spent two years manually crimping metal rings for chainmail. They didn't seem to mind, though. OK, I know this is very much an Official, Approved, Version of things but still... I've always wondered what it's like to have a job you love, I've never had one myself and I have to respect people who have figured out how to do it.

The other reason to buy this set over the theatrical cut of ROTK is the commentary tracks. I've got to admit that I've only listened to about one-third of the director's track. However, judging from this and the commentary by Jackson, Walsh and Boyens on the previous "extended cut" DVD sets, the commentary is light and stimulating without descending too deeply into film school techno-babble. There are also tracks from the cast members, the producers and the SFX crew chiefs.

Now the question is: should you buy this set or the cheaper and shorter theatrical cut. Basically this set is for rabid fans of the movies only. It is possible that well-heeled special effects nerds with time on their hands will be interested in the extras even if they're not so hot on the movie, but I don't know where that's at, so... If you love Peter Jackson's LOTR movies and you have the cash, spend it here. If you just like them or you have a short attention span buy the shorter cut or rent this one.

Thanks, Pete, it's been a great ride.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older