Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Extended Edition
First, a thank you to Cinemark Legacy in Plano (TX), and to Amberly (sic?) of New Line for allowing me to view the special screening as a stand-by in line. My daughter won a ticket to the screening, but opted to take her brother as her guest. I had to be there to drive them both home. The rest of the family came to see Santa Clause 2 – when it finished, Amberly also let the rest of the family come in (they saw about 3 hours of the film).
Second, this was the finest theater I have ever been in (including Cinerama Dome in Hollywood); this is the only DLP (Digital Light Processing, Texas Instruments) in the North Texas area. The video was beautiful, clear and unblemished (none of the scratches or end-reel burns of film); the sound system was incredible. I highly recommend to all that if you get the chance to view a film in one of these theaters, do it – you will be impressed. I met a man in line who had actually worked on the DLP engineering here in the Dallas area for TI; he explained some of the rudimentary techniques and principles. He was excited about seeing his product at work with this film (he also got in as a stand-by).
One more note before the review. Cinemark Legacy has not yet finalized their commitment to showing The Two Towers. I found out that one thing they are waiting on is word from New Line as to the availability of a digital version of the December 18th release. Apparently New Line is at least contemplating making a digital version for theatrical release.
On with the film (feature?, this was a digital version, no film was in the room).
First of all, this was NOT a showing of the DVD. This was a digital copy of the extended edition; no intermission or break of any kind. The viewing began right on time (6:00 p.m.) with the new Two Towers trailer – looked great on that screen, with that sound system.
Rather than review the details of the changes to the feature, I’ll just give my overall impressions and thoughts:
1) The additional scenes are evenly spread throughout the feature. I checked my watch throughout the viewing – the first half of the film (Pippin: Right! Where are we going?) originally timed at about 1 hour, 30 minutes – it is now at 1 hour, 45 minutes. The second half has also gone from about 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour, 45 minutes (including end credits). 2) The two most significant benefactors from the additional scenes are a) the Shire/Hobbits and b) Boromir. I realize there are other significant additions (Council of Elrond, the door to the Mines of Moria, Lothlorien), but the changes in the Shire and in Boromir most changed my impressions and expectations in this version (compared to the original release). In the Shire, Peter has completely recut our introduction to hobbits in general, and to the Baggins’ in particular. This refocusing really sets up the entire story line (all three films/books) and just what is at stake. Boromir’s character is given much more interplay with the entire fellowship; his own inner struggle with loyalty, honor and power is much more prominent. This, of course, further intensifies the emotional ending with his fall, repentance and personal sacrifice (girls, and maybe some guys, make sure your hankies are available). 3) The pace of the film is not nearly as frenetic. I didn’t think just 30 minutes interspersed throughout would make such a difference, but we now get opportunities to catch our breath and regroup our emotions (just as the characters do). My biggest critique (not complaint) with the original version is that Peter, due to time constraints, had to quickly pace the film; it moved so fast, it didn’t seem like three hours long. 4) In some ways, this reminded of comparing a long theatrical movie that gets shown on commercial television and is edited for time, against the full-length, uncut version of the film. Many years ago my wife and I would annually watch “The Sound of Music” on TV. This 178 minute film was somehow shown in a three-hour time frame including 45 minutes of commercials. We eventually watched the full-length version, and saw the directors’ intentions in certain responses from the actors. It was actually the short chunks that got cut which better enhanced the film when added back in. We saw the same thing last night – some of what you have already seen (close up actor’s looks, short responses) will have more context around them – I believe we are seeing a better representation of Peter’s vision and intention when he was actually filming the movie.
Overall, I consider the original release to be a wonderful, sufficient expression of the first book in the trilogy. That release is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time.
The extended edition fleshes out a story that already had skeleton, muscle and sinew. The original stood and walked on its’ own merit; the extended edition not only stands and walks, it runs all over any other fantasy/adventure competition. If choosing only one of the releases, this is the one to see.
Only 41 days until the Two Towers – see y’all in line.
Extended Edition Report, Los Angeles, November 5, 2002:
I won’t go into detail, as I expect so many other TORn reporters will cover the DVD in detail. Let me just say this:
This is a different movie. Footage has not merely been “dropped in” or added; scenes have been CHANGED, and in some case footage removed because of material added elsewhere. I hate to be a spoiler for those who might like the surprise of seeing this for themselves. So it merely remains to be said: watch every moment of this new version carefully, as you may be in for some real surprises!
Well, I am happy to report that FOTR, the extended version is the ONLY version I will ever watch again! It was pretty much everything I hoped for and more. With the original version my primary criticism was that it cut way too much out of the Shire and Lothlorien…..both of those issues are now are taken care of…..wonderfully!
The other important difference is character depth……Boromir especially, but also just about everyone else had more depth…….the hobbits, Gandalf, Aragorn, Arwen, Galadriel, Gimili, Legolas……it was great to see those interrelationships between characters come to life!
On the technical side, I would say that the sound has been greatly enhanced and the digital transfer was very clean. I noticed much more surround effect and and the dialog was clearer. The Mines of Moria, the Balrog and the drums of Moria were all noticeably more tense. The sound of the Moria drums actually made my chest rattle and feel heavy…..it was really cool! Hopefully this comes through on my DVD surround system at home!
There was also some great additional fighting footage which was excellent! It really made the scenes flow better and less confusing. The sequence of events in each fight scene is much clearer. The fighting also made it clear that our hobbits are a little tougher than what they appeared to be in the original! Wow! The fight scene at Amon Hen is extended beautifully and we see some great extended action of Legolas’s bow work, Gimli’s Axe and Boromir’s courageous stand.
I could go on and on but then I would be giving too much away…….suffice to say that it was an extraordinary evening and makes me even more enthusiastic to see The Two Towers………this time I think Peter will get pretty much all he wants with no constraints from the studio.
41 days to go! I can’t wait! There is a Santa Claus and his name is Peter Jackson!
My husband and I got to view the digital projection of the Fellowship of the Ring Extended version at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles.
We were able to get reasonable seats ( center back ) even though a large central area was taped off for VIPs. I was surprised that the theater wasn’t completely filled. I was expecting a real crowd for something like this. Those who didn’t come really missed out.
We were really impressed with the digital projection. We have seen FOTR many times before, but never with this much clarity and sharpness. It was really beautiful! And each new scene seemed like a new gift, like finding something more under the Christmas tree after you thought everything had been opened.
We liked most of the additional scenes… the sections on the Hobbits and the Shire, more camping out on the trail, more on Lothlorien, more Gimli. The two scenes we weren’t too sure about: the addition to the Council of Elrond and the extended scene of Boramir and Aragon in Rivendale looking at the shards. I am not sure wether or not the actions of the characters made as much sense with the new edit. But, they were a lot of fun to see.
I didn’t feel the film was too long, even for sitting in a theater. Of course, being fairly familiar with something can make it seem to go by faster, so it is hard to know how I would feel if it had been released this way.
However, I do remember that I wished the first release was longer, giving more time to fulfilling the richness of the books. This extended version goes a long way to reaching that goal. It also has more humor in it, with the scene leaving Rivendale my favorite humorous addition.
I hope “The Two Towers” will be shown digitally, because that is definitely the way to see it.
My son and I were one of the lucky people who got to see the extended DVD at the Chicago location.
The extra footage was funny (the extra Hobbiton stuff is a hoot!), touching (Aragorn singing the Lay of Luthien), scary (was Haldir going to turn them back at the border?), beautiful (the first view of “Elvendom on Earth”!), and sweet (Sam and Frodo talking about Rosie on the way out of the tavern).
We loved every minute of it. It’s got all the frosting on the cake now, and they should have put it out this way in the first place.
As wonderful as it was to sit in a room full of maybe 300 other people just as crazy about LOTR as we are, I could have lived without the teenage girls behind us screaming every time Sean Bean entered the scene. To say nothing of CRYING when Boromir died! But of course, they won’t be in my living room when I buy it on Tuesday. (My son’s remark – did they think he was going to pull through this time?!)
I don’t think I will ever watch the original theatrical release again. This one was too incredible.
Just wanted to say that the Miami report on the sound quality of the THX sound and the experience of seeing the movie in digital was spot on. I saw it at McClurg Court in Chicago, and was finally able to see and hear things I had missed in all previous viewings (for example: the “Ashes on my tomatoes!” line, and the bird’s nest in the eye of the Argonath (sp?) statue.
Also, same feeling about the scenes – definitely should have had the longer Lothlorien in the original, while the other additions made it a richer, deeper, and (often) funnier movie! Viewers like myself who wanted more of the hobbits will be happy with the extra small bits.
The addition of scenes of Frodo with Bilbo, Sam, and Gandalf added to the appreciation of Frodo’s character, as the added Aragorn scenes did for Aragorn. And thank heavens they showed the TTT preview beforehand! I had not been able to manage to see it until then. Thank you Moviefone! Only disappointment: I had hoped it would be a bigger “event”, but it was very sedate. Still – I hope that they can use digital projection and THX sound in more theatres for TTT!
