Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Special Extended DVD EditionAn extra 50 minutes has been added to the multiple Oscar winner—some of it good, some of it not. But the two extra discs, loaded with terrific bonus material, are worth the price of admission.By Mark Moring | posted 12/14/2004 12:00AM
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Editor's note: Rather than write a straight review of the extended version of the film, we are simply commenting on the added scenes and bonus material. For reviews of the theatrical version, check these two stories.
One of the bonus discs on the highly anticipated Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King special extended DVD edition, which releases today, includes a telling scene.
It's three weeks after the film has racked up an amazing 11 Oscars—including Best Picture—at the Academy Awards, and director Peter Jackson is working on a new shoot, adding extra footage to the scene of The Paths of the Dead. The mini-documentary cuts to Jackson before an editing screen, surrounded by members of his crew. Jackson cracks, "We've already won the Academy Award for this film." Everyone in the room snickers. "That's the best thing to do—win the Academy Award for Best Movie before you finish shooting the last shot. That's the best way to do it, isn't it?"
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There are yuks all around, but Jackson's rhetorical question does beg the question: Can one improve upon a multiple Oscar winner? Even if one has the opportunity, should he do it? And finally, are these additions necessarily improvements?
In the case of the 50 additional minutes of the ROTK special edition, that's debatable. Some of the additions and extended scenes unquestionably flesh out the story—and a few of the characters—making an already wonderful film even richer. But other additions—including several that undermine the dignity of some of the characters—do nothing to improve the film, making one ask, "Does this movie really have to be 250 minutes long, especially when the 200-minute theatrical version was clearly a winner?"
I'd say about half of the extra 50 minutes actually enhance the film. The other half don't add much at all, and indeed, they detract. Let's start with the "bad half" first.
The letdownsTwo extended scenes seem to reinforce the notion that Jackson apparently perceives the dwarf Gimli as little more than comic relief—like the annoying sidekick in many animated Disney movies. In one scene, "Return to Edoras," Legolas and Gimli are celebrating a battle victory with a drinking game—to see who can drink whom under the table first. As both guzzle their brews, Legolas remains unfazed while Gimli gets stupid drunk. When Legolas at last admits he feels a tingling in his fingertips, a cross-eyed Gimli slurs, "He can't hold his liquor!"—and then passes out, falling over backwards in his chair, slapstick style. Legolas practically winks at the camera when he says, "Game over." What in the world was Jackson thinking? I love Gimli's stouthearted—and yes, compulsive—character throughout the stories, but Peter Jackson seems determined to rob the noble dwarf of his dignity.
Aragorn confronts Sauron through the palantir in one new scene
In another extended scene, on the Paths of the Dead, we see ghosts' hands reaching up and grabbing for Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. The king-to-be and the elf steadfastly keep moving, while Gimli stands still, looking perplexed while he tries to blow the ghosts away, like so much cigarette smoke invading his personal space. Jackson clearly wants us to chuckle at this, but I didn't. The Paths of the Dead are arguably the most terrifying segment of the entire trilogy, and Jackson wants to play them up for laughs?
Jackson even manages to screw up an otherwise very cool new scene, "The Mouth of Sauron." In this scene, an army of men, led by Aragorn, are massed outside the Black Gate of Mordor. A hideous messenger—the Mouth of Sauron—walks out meet the delegation of men intending to "negotiate." He shows Frodo's coat of mithril, taunting the company of men, saying that Frodo has suffered greatly. When Aragorn rides forward, the Mouth mocks him: "And who is this? Isildur's heir? It takes more to make a king than a broken Elvish blade." In the book, Aragorn tries to negotiate with the messenger, but here, he shows no restraint and instead does something rash and impulsive—and quite "unkingly." Why? What was wrong with the way the scene was handled in the book—with Gandalf casting aside his cloak, sending forth a bright white light, making the messenger recoil in fear as Gandalf states, "We reject the terms completely!" The terrified messenger turns and runs back into Mordor. But in the film, after Aragorn's rash act, Gimli quips, "Well, I guess that concludes the negotiations." Ha ha—Gimli the court jester, again.
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