Again, it's been a while since I've posted a review, but I'm going to start doing that more and more. This review is on The Lord of the Rings: Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-Ray.
I'm not going to go into the story of the Lord of the Rings, because I'm pretty sure everybody knows about it. The people who have read the books and the people who have seen the movies know how it goes. Basically, I'm going to go over the more technical aspects of the films. The first thing that everyone should about the Blu-Ray release of Lord of the Rings is that this release contains the theatrical versions of the films, not the extended versions. This has caused a certain amount of controversy among fans, because a lot of fans, including myself feel that the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings movies are the better versions. The extended versions will hit Blu-Ray, no doubt about it, but they will be released in conjunction with the first of two Hobbit movies, produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo Del Toro. As it stands, the current Blu-Ray release is still impressive, at least movie wise.
The Fellowship of the Ring:
Video: Having seen all the films on Blu-Ray now, I can tell you that The Fellowship of the Ring is actually the worst of the bunch in terms of video quality, it's not as sharp as the other two. It's not bad, but certain details are not as clear.
Sound: One of the things that I like best about Blu-Ray is that the sound quality has improved a great deal, and The Lord of the Rings delivers in spades. Dialogue is clear, and the soundtrack has been pumped up to give a real "oomph" to the scenes, particularly in the Moria sequence, when the fellowship is being chased by the Balrog. And surround sound-wise, when things come crumbling down, it sounds like it's coming down all around you. It's incredible.
Special Features: Here is where this collection lets me down. On the Blu-Ray with the movie are the trailers for the Fellowship of the Ring as well as the Supertrailer for the entire trilogy. It also includes trailers for two games. Those are all in high-definition. The second disc for each film is the same second disc for the initial DVD releases of the Lord of the Rings. Same special features.
The Two Towers:
Video: The video for the second film in the trilogy is a large improvement over the Fellowship of the Ring. It's really sharp and you can pick out the really small details on each of the characters.
Sound: As stated before on the Fellowship of the Ring, the sound here is amazing, it's very clear, and it comes in all around you if you have surround sound.
Special Features: This is the same deal with the Fellowship of the Ring, first disc=high definition trailers. Second disc=DVD with special features.
The Return of the King:
Video: This is one is the best of the bunch. Even better than The Two Towers. The detail, particularly on the clothing of the characters comes in crystal-clear. The CGI stands out, but these movies are almost a decade old, but it's still pretty good today.
Sound: Definitely the best of the three as well. Particularly during the large-scale battle scenes, it just envelopes you, making you feel that you're right there in the midst of two large armies going at each other.
Special Features: Read above, same story.
The only other special feature that this release has is the Digital Copies for people who want to watch these movies on their ipods or laptops while they're on the go, other than that, what I have described is what you'll get. Overall, I have to say the Lord of the Rings: Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-Ray is worth getting, but I will understand people who would rather wait for the Extended Editions to come out on Blu-Ray, especially if they already have the Theatrical releases on DVD. I got rid of my Theatrical release DVDs when I got the Extended Editions, so it was kind of nice to see these films as they were originally released. With better video and sound, I still recommend this set to fans of Lord of the Rings and fans of Blu-Ray in general. Lord of the Rings has never looked or sounded better. In terms of special features, this set IS a bit of a letdown, as the features are the exact same as on the initial DVD releases of the films. I think the set is still worth the money. I paid 75 bucks for this set. I give it a 9.5/10. It gets marked down because I was expecting more in terms of special features.
