Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2888 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-25
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 192 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, triumphantly completed by the 11-Oscar-winning The Return of the King, sets out to show that Tolkien's epic work, once derided as mere adolescent escapism, is not just fodder for the best mass entertainment spectacle ever seen on the big screen, but is also replete with emotionally satisfying meditations on the human condition. What is the nature of true friendship? What constitutes real courage? Why is it important for us to care about people living beyond our borders? What does it mean to live in harmony with the environment and what are the consequences when we do not? When is war justifiable and when is it not? What things are really worth fighting for? These are the questions that resonate with a contemporary audience: to see our current social and political concerns mirrored--and here finally resolved--in Middle-earth is to recognise that Jackson's Lord of the Rings is both a parable for our times and magical cinematic escapism.

As before, in this concluding part of the trilogy the spectacle never dwarfs (sic) the characters, even during Shelob the spider's pitiless assault, for example, or the unparalleled Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where the white towers of Minas Tirith come under ferocious attack from Troll-powered siege weapons and--in a sequence reminiscent of the Imperial Walkers in The Empire Strikes Back--Mammoth-like Mumakil. The people and their feelings always remain in focus, as emphasised by Jackson's sensitive small touches: Gandalf reassuring a terrified Pippin in the midst of battle that death is not to be feared; Frodo's blazing anger at Sam's apparent betrayal; Faramir's desire to win the approval of his megalomaniac father; Gollum's tragic cupidity and his final, heartbreaking glee. And at the very epicentre of the film is the pure heart of Samwise Gamgee--the real hero of the story.

At over three hours, there are almost inevitably some lulls, and the film still feels as if some key scenes are missing: a problem doubtless to be rectified in the extended DVD edition. But the end, when it does finally arrive--set to Howard Shore's Wagnerian music score--brings us full circle, leaving the departing audience to wonder if they will ever find within themselves even a fraction of the courage of a hobbit. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
With the legions of darkness gathering, the once great kingdom of Gondor has never been in more desperate need of its king. But can Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) answer the call of his heritage and become what he was born to be? Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) urgently tries to rally Gondor’s broken army to action. He is aided by Rohan’s King Theoden (Bernard Hill), who unites his warriors for history’s biggest test. Yet even with their courage and passionate loyalty, the forces of men – with Eowyn (Miranda Otto) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) hidden among them – are no match for the enemies swarming against Gondor. Still, in the face of great losses, they charge forward into the battle of their lifetimes, tied together by their singular goal to keep Sauron distracted and give the Ring Bearer a chance to complete his quest.

Their hopes rest with Frodo (Elijah Wood), a determined hobbit making a perilous trip across treacherous enemy lands to cast the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. The closer Frodo gets to his final destination, the heavier his burden becomes and the more he must rely on his old friend Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin). But both the Ring itself and Frodo’s guide, the piteous former Ring Bearer, Gollum (Andy Serkis), will test the hobbit’s allegiances and ultimately, his humanity.

Special Features

• A Journey Completed: A Director's Vision
  
• A Filmmaker's Journey: Making "The Return of the King"
  
• The National Geographic special feature
  
• Multiple Lordoftherings.net featurettes:
  Aragorn's Destiny feature
  Minas Tirith feature
  Battle of Pelennor Fields feature
  Samwise the Brave feature
  Eowyn, White Lady of Rohan feature
  Digital Horses feature
  
• Original theatrical trailers and TV spots
  
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy super trailer
  
• Closer look at Electronic Arts video games
  
• DVD-ROM: Lord of the Rings weblink

DVD Technical Information:

• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer
  
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track, English Dolby Surround 2.0 track
  
• Running Time (feature): 3 hours 12 minutes approx.
  
• Region Code: 2
  
• Subtitles: English, Spanish

Customer Reviews

brilliant, masterful storytelling!!
It never fails to amaze me how well Fellowship, Two Towers and Return of the King fit together, yet each has their own pace, style and flavor.
The movie is AMAZING. 100s of reviews atest to that. So the question - are you rabid enough you cannot wait until the extended version? Okay, I am, so I preordered this. I will buy the extended version too, because as long as this movie is it does not begin to handle everything. If you would never watch the expected 5 hour version, go for this copy. Regular screen you LOSE TOO MUCH of the movie lopped off the sides.

All those of you who get this and intend to get the extended version as I shall - there is coupon to get bucks back so don't lose that.

Simply amazing to put all three movies on and let them runs one right after another.

Brilliance, magic, a century from now the power will still be there! This is the Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz and Star Wars of our era. Long may it reign!

Great Film of Tolkein the Radical
I've lived with the Pelennor Fields and the events on Mount Doom since I first read LOTR aged 15. Now I'm in my 40s. It's a remarkable thing that Jackson's film can give shape to one's imaginings after so long and not disappoint, but that's how I feel.

The film makes many small changes to the book's plot and some more substantial ones. In the great majority of cases, my feeling is that Jackson's alterations respect the logic of visual as against literary drama and therefore help the thing to work as well on celluloid as on paper. A few changes, however, go further and I would like to hear the views of others.

First up, Frodo plays a bigger part in destroying the ring in film than book. In the book Frodo fails at the brink and the final victory is delivered by Gollum's crazed celebrations unaided. Frodo is thus more the hero in the film than the novel, with more now depending on his returning to the fight with Gollum and thus less on his earlier act of mercy. For me, this diminishes the (positive) ambiguity of the ending where Frodo cannot make a real return to his Hobbit life because he has not fully purged himself of evil. Anyone any thoughts ?

Jackson also builds up the theme of "Will Aragorn accept his destiny ?" and adds a drama unknown to the book on the theme - will Arwen stay true ? I think Jackson's instincts here are largely sound: the book's Aragorn never takes a step wrong and thus is not that interesting dramatically. The problem is that we never for a moment doubt where Arwen will end up, and in fact she seems to have made her decision in both Fellowship and Towers, so that when she makes it yet again in Return there isn't much surprise or relief. Similarly, Jackson moves the symbolic reforging of the sword to the last movie but does anyone really feel he has been hiding from his destiny before that point ?

Eowyn's act of heroism stands out less in the film than the book because the shock of a woman on the battlefield is reduced both by our real history and by Jackson's handling. In the book her action is as much scandal as triumph, as witnessed by the Gondorian soldier who asks amazed whether Rohan even sends its women to war. One of the most distinctive aspects of Tolkein's vision is that, while in the Silmarillion and the LOTR Appendicies he created a static and hierarchical world, in the LOTR narrative he undermined this by having the weak and the dispossessed intervene to change history. To this theme, Eowyn is as important as Frodo or Sam. This is where you find Tolkein the radical rather than Tolkein the conservative. I can see why Jackson wanted to reduce the "males only" atmosphere of much of the novel, but ironically it undermines the greatest female scene.

LOTR the novel has now long been a popular classic and has won that status in the face of literary establishment disapproval. At its core, it is a modern parable about the power of ordinary people to change history. Peter Jackson deserves our thanks for respecting and embodying that vision.

A Symphony of the Senses
One important thing to keep in mind when watching The Return of the King, is that like all the other Lord of the Rings theatrical releases, this is not quite the complete and finished product. The final part of the trilogy moves at a much faster pace than the previous two chapters and although it makes for exciting viewing, you somehow do feel there are some scenes missing, especially if you’re familiar with the story. Luckily, most of the people (myself included) who have come to care about the series have learnt to accept this fact about the theatrical versions and are able to enjoy them as a cinematic experience, which is definitely what you get with this finale. The Return of the King is like a three hour climax in which almost every scene is imbued with a sense of impending resolution for the better or worse of Middle Earth. “The board is set, the pieces are moving” Gandalf explains to Pippin, as the penultimate conflict for the fate of a world is about to begin in front of your eyes. The emotional intensity and drama witnessed on screen would not be out of place in a Wagnerian opera, but it is complemented by some of the most epic sights ever beheld in cinema. The battle on the Pelennor Fields is like nothing seen before and even if many of the super wide shots of the armies are noticeably computer generated, they are nonetheless very impressive on the merit of their ambitiousness alone. It seems that when the heart and mind are not being engaged, the senses are being assaulted, so that not a moment of the 3h 21 min feels wasted.

All the main actors have by now confidently settled into their roles and their character’s development is really embodied through their performance. It’s remarkable how these protagonist have transformed over the ten and a half hour course of these movies, compared to when we first meet them in The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens especially need to be commended for giving all the important characters that kind of substantiality, by paying attention to the personal journeys taken and showing the genuine growth undergone by each of them.

In technical terms The Return of the King is undeniably the most accomplished film in the trilogy. All the post production and art departments really present their best work of the series here, from the special effects, the costume designs, through to the breathtaking miniatures. The cinematography is especially noteworthy, experimenting with unconventional, exciting points of view and subtle colour grading that help to deliver even more memorable shots than in the first two movies. A word also has to be said about the music, because it has been the backbone of the trilogy in many ways. Howard Shore has brilliantly captured the depth and scope of Tolkien’s world since the first soundtrack and has developed this vision from movie to movie creating a film score magnum opus. He has been particularly successful in rendering the operatic epic-ness of The Lord of the Rings and this characteristic truly comes to shine in the third instalment.

It must be remembered, that an essential contributing factor for the success of this final part is the effectiveness of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers to generate the level of anticipation and narrative tension, that makes the climax so emotionally involving and rewarding. The sense of closure is in every respect satisfying and considered as one creative achievement from beginning to end, it becomes clear what a cinematic triumph the trilogy really is. It has become the film event of our generation, with all three among the top ten highest grossing movies of all time and the popular passion with which they all have been received. The Return of the King sets a new benchmark for the fantasy/adventure genre and The Lord of the Rings has given new meaning to the concept of epic filmmaking. It has arguably become the best trilogy of them all. A title it will deservedly keep for a very long time.