Review of Lord Of The Rings, The: The Fellowship Of The Ring (Widescreen)

Introduction

J. R. R. Tolkien`s children`s novel "The Hobbit" his subsequent "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (which is actually three sections of one volume) comprising "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" are four of the most popular books in literary history, read and loved by millions.

Many people considered that the "Lord of the Rings" was impossible to turn into a film for a number of reasons - the sheer depth of the story, the required locations and primarily because the books have been read by so many people who will have exceptionally high expectations.

New Line Cinema knew that if they got things right, the film would be guaranteed to be a success, such is Tolkien`s popularity, but if it was a disaster, would probably destroy anyone involved in the project. Many eyebrows were raised when New Line Cinema appointed New Zealand director Peter Jackson to direct the films (after all, Jackson`s previous work included the gross-out movie Bad Taste and the ultra gore fest Braindead). These eyebrows were raised even further when they decided to make all three parts of the trilogy at the same time. Expectations were high, could they deliver?

When the teaser trailers for "The Fellowship of the Ring" appeared on the internet and then on cinema screens, they fuelled huge interest in the film which opened in late December 2001 to rave reviews across the world. Any doubts were soon cast aside as the movie saw cinemas sold out, eventually taking some $860,000,000 worldwide at the box office, a total which will be added to substantially by this DVD release. The next two movies will help Lord of the Rings to become one of the most commercially successful trilogies in cinema history

Originally, I had only planned to buy the four-disc director`s cut limited edition boxset version of the DVD, but decided to also buy this two-disc version, as I couldn`t wait until November to watch the film again.

And so begins my 300th review for DVD Reviewer…

Video

One of Peter Jackson`s biggest problems with Lord of the Rings was how to translate Tolkien`s expertly crafted literary vision of Middle Earth from paper onto the screen. Everyone who has read the books will have a mental picture of the locations and scale - clearly the visual aspect of the film is crucial.

When I saw the film at the cinema, the scale of the movie left me speechless, incredible cinematography recreates Tolkien`s vision, from tranquil beauty of The Shire and Rivendell to the black menace of Mordor and the mines of Moria, the film looks absolutely incredible. I would rank the sequence in Moria to the Bridge of Khazad-dum as the most spectacular sequences of film I have ever seen, the scale is incredible, and best of all the shots are seamless.

Aside from the wonderful locations, the attention to detail in the sets and costumes is remarkable; everything in this movie looks perfect. This helped by some exceptional camerawork, with some excellent panning shots and aerial photography.

And, as you might expect, all of this visual splendour is presented exceptionally well on this DVD. The picture quality on the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen print is extremely good, very sharp and detailed, with no grain or dirt to be seen. I`m lucky enough to have a projector, and the scale of the locations translates well from the cinema to my (relatively) small 72" screen - I enjoyed Moria just as much at home. Colours are rich and vibrant when needed - in the Shire for example, and appropriately dark and menacing in Mordor or down in the mines.

Audio

We`ve already established that this film is a visual treat, and the good news is that sonically, this disc sets a new standard for DVD sound - the Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack is remarkable from start to finish, and if you have any trouble justifying you expensive home cinema sound system to anyone, once they`ve watched this film, they will moan no more. I watched the film with a friend who went out and bought a Dolby Digital/DTS system for himself the next day - he couldn`t bear watching his copy with TV speaker sound!

For the last year, the benchmark for Dolby Digital sound on a DVD has been Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - this disc can now be retired to the shelf having served well. Many benchmark films for sound are memorable for certain sequences - the opening battle in Saving Private Ryan, the Pod Race in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace for example. This is no longer the case - the sound in Fellowship of the Ring is of benchmark quality from start to finish - it really is that good.

There is so much power and range in the Dolby Digital track that you would be forgiven for wondering if a DTS track had made it onto the disc by accident. I actually had to adjust the bass setting on my amplifier as my house felt like it was about to jump off it`s foundations, such is the power of the soundtrack at times - it is remarkable. But good sound is not just about powerful battle scenes, it`s about music, dialogue, effects and atmosphere, and this movie has them all - it`s a sonic delight.

The Dolby Digital EX track is 5.1 with a matrixed sixth channel, so the middle rear speaker sound is created from the sound to the rear stereo pair, rather than the discrete rear centre channel of DTS-ES 6.1. However, this does not hinder the sixth channel from adding extra depth and direction to the soundstage.

Features

The real meat of extras for The Fellowship of the Rings comes in November with the four-disc edition, but this two-disc version does contain a very healthy list of bonus materials.

The extras come on the second disc, and comprise "Welcome to Middle Earth: Houghton Miffin In-Store Special"; "Quest for the Ring: FOX TV Special"; "A Passage to Middle Earth: SCI-FI TV Special"; lordoftherings.net featurettes; trailers; TV spots; an Enya music video; a preview of the director`s cut; a behind-the-scenes preview of "The Two Towers" and a preview of "The Two Towers" video game.

"Welcome to Middle Earth: Houghton Miffin In-Store Special" is a sixteen minute featurette from the publishers, which is quite interesting and looks at the publishing history of the books, and contains some behind-the-scenes material from the film.

"Quest for the Ring: FOX TV Special" is a twenty one minute featurette looking behind the scenes of the film and movie clips, again quiet interesting.

"A Passage to Middle Earth: SCI-FI TV Special" is a forty-one minute featurette, looking behind the scenes of the film and movie clips, again quiet interesting (although covering similar ground in some areas to the previous featurette).

The fifteen lordoftherings.net featurettes run for between two and five minutes and cover numerous aspects of the movie from Hobbiton to the cast. These are again interesting (although there is again some duplication from the other featurettes).

The trailers include the two teaser trailers and the theatrical trailers; all presented in widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1, which adds real authenticity.

There are six TV spots, covering a variety of networks, and each running for thirty seconds

Enya`s music video of the song "May It Be" is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0.

The preview of the director`s cut runs for about three minutes and shows some of the extra footage that will be contained in the four-disc version that is due out in November.

The behind-the-scenes preview of "The Two Towers" runs for ten minutes and gives a brief background to the second film, with some footage, and is well worth watching (although I don`t need any encouragement to go and see the second movie!). A real bonus is that the film footage comes in Dolby Digital 5.1.

And finally, the preview of the video game runs for three minutes and looks at the making of the "Two Towers" game.

The extras are accessible from a well animated and easy to use menu system.

The discs are packaged in a black Amaray case with in internal tray for the second disc. A leaflet inside details the 40 chapter breaks and instructions for using the DVD-ROM area of the disc to access on-line content.

Conclusion

After having to put up with incredibly high expectations for the cinema release, New Line and Peter Jackson also have to satisfy the desire of millions of rabid fans to own the DVD version of the film. You`ll have gathered from my review that they have succeeded in producing the best DVD I have seen and heard to date, with a great range of extras.

I have no hesitation in giving this disc top marks for content, video and sound, and nearly top marks for extras (the lack of a commentary is the only negative point - this will of course be present on the four-disc version).

I just wish that the four disc version wasn`t three months away, because I just can`t wait to hear the movie in DTS, at which point, we`ll need to revise our scoring system...

Go out and buy this disc immediately.