There and Back Again, Day 3: The Return of the King

Once Return of the King takes off, the film is simply incredible. The extended scenes really add to the movie and explain things which may have been cloudy.

Dec 14 - 06:18 PM

Brian Bowles

The Eowyn/Faramir romance wasn't just Jackson giving her a happy ending, it was exactly what happened in the book! The two meet in the Houses of Healing and eventually end up married. A good portion of a chapter is devoted to their relationship.

Dec 14 - 06:28 PM

Ryan Fujitani

Having not read the books, I suspected this might have been the case. That said, the way this was handled in the film was clumsy and rushed, in my opinion. They share a couple of glances, exchange a few lines of dialogue, and suddenly they're holding hands and gazing wistfully at each other. Given a little more attention, it could have worked, but it didn't... at least, not in PJ's version.

Dec 14 - 10:42 PM

Kevin Lehde

Probably unfilmable. The episode in the book takes place over the period of weeks, while the army marches to Mordor. Tolkien just takes a while to tell us what was happening with Eowyn/Faramir while the army is gone. Showing it in the rushed way in the movie was the mistake, but it wasn't important enough to keep coming back to it over and over either.

Dec 15 - 12:07 AM

jake suttles

since the extended cuts are for people who really care and thusly have likely read the books, they would know about Faramir and Eowyns romance, and be able to read between the lines from the little screen time that they should get more of.

Dec 15 - 06:26 AM

Paul Soldner

I agree. It would have needed a lot of cutting back & forth. Also, during that time there is a sizeable amount of things going on with the marching army that are not in the film for the same reasons.

Dec 15 - 08:56 PM

Josh Janney

I saw the extended cut before I read the book, but I always assumed their romance developed offscreen. The book does it better though.

Dec 15 - 03:09 PM

Gimhana Fernando

Strangely,I like this one the least.Not by much,however.All the films are so close in quality.The extended edition of this is rather tedious.

Dec 14 - 07:19 PM

Bradly Martin

Yeah I agree with you. I think certain parts of the film are Perfect and other parts Awful. It was a very conflicted viewing for me. Eowyn Stands up to the WITCH KING, AMAZING! Frodo Banishes Sam, WTF Terrible. FRODO Refusing to drop the Ring, AMAZING! Frodo's speech about forgiving Gollum omitted...WTF!

Dec 15 - 07:39 AM

King Simba

I actually liked the bit about Frodo banishing Sam. It really give you an idea about how corruptable the ring is and just how conniving Gollum is, which made the scene at the volcano incredibly tense. It also really helped display the loyalty Sam had for Frodo that he still came back to him afterwards.

Dec 16 - 03:46 AM

Bradly Martin

The reason I felt conflicted about the scene is it made Sam a flawless character. Jackson or who ever had majority control over the script made all his favorites flawless. Sam's deep rooted prejudice and dis-trust of people was suppose to be a Flaw not a virtue. Also Sam in the first film was going to drown in order to stay by Frodo's side. In the second film he would rather let his master stab in the face then fight with him. In this film he leaves with out argument over bread Crumbs? Not to mention it made Frodo look like a complete idiot. That's why I hate that scene.

Dec 16 - 06:17 AM

King Simba

It was more than the bread crumbs. Both Gollum and the Ring deluded Frodo into thinking that Sam was after the ring. And Frodo being fooled wasn't a sign of him being an idiot but of the power of the ring that it even managed to corrupt a peaceful Hobbit.

And I still think that Sam's prejudice was a flaw. Even if he ended up being right about Gollum, the fact is they would have never even entered Mordor without Gollum's help. And Sam's cruelty to Gollum was part of the reason why he eventually betrayed them.

Dec 16 - 09:19 AM

Sam George

Certainly the most annoying change was Gandalf essentially defeated by the witch king. In the book, Gandalf stood alone at the gates. Very dramatic and they should have left it the same.

Dec 14 - 08:26 PM

Bradly Martin

I was heart broken this was left out and it took me a long time to accept the film as magnificent for it's merits. Fan Boy Grudges you know? They are dangerous.

Dec 15 - 07:40 AM

Eric Nyberg

I agree. The most annoying thing for me was that Gandalf got "defeated" by the Witch King. I felt like Jackson didn't need to revise Tolkien that way. Keep it like it was in the book.

Dec 15 - 11:36 AM

Scott Abate

I didnt like this part at first since it was so different from the book. But after trying to think about it from the film makers point of view, making it compelling for someone who didnt read the book and know the overall outcome. I loved how it made the witch king seem almost invincible in the mind of the viewer, and the chance of victory pretty much gone. Which made the fight with Eowyn all the more tense and one of the most memorable moments of the film.

Dec 15 - 06:27 PM

Bradly Martin

Yeah Gandalf looked like a total putz that entire Film, In Retrospect how is it Gandalf the Grey can Smite the Balrog but Gandalf the White can't even hold his own against orcs and Nazgul. Nazgul that in the first film got freaking crushed by an Elf Chick and Aragorn. The Scene was awful.

Dec 16 - 06:11 AM

Paul Soldner

Pretty much the only extended scene I didn't like

Dec 15 - 08:57 PM

Matthew Younker

The biggest thing that bugged me about this extended edition is that scenes and lines were changed. The line that Gandolf says "You're in the service of the stewart now. You'll have to do as you're told" was said plainly in the original version but in the extended he's coughing and choking his way through it. There are a few other ones with Gollum and other characters and it was just absolutely frustrating. I also felt that few of the numerous additions (over 50 minutes of extra footage) added to the film, I didn't care for the skull bits with the dead but loved the scene at the gate with the emissary. The whole plot piece with Frodo's vest was a huge element into the march of the gates being an act of faith and I thought it was a major contribution, one of the few in this edition.

Dec 15 - 01:19 AM

Eric Nyberg

Agreed. Similar "alternate takes" were present as well in the previous two movies. Often from different camera angles too, which were often substantially different/inferior to the original theatrical cuts. I think the reasons might have been that only one take (an inferior one) contained a certain bit of dialogue, or an additional transition of information for the extended version. But in some other places it's just inexplicable. I hear you on those!

Dec 15 - 11:43 AM

Tallulah Robinson

The meeting with the King of the Dead and Pippin's song with Denethor and Faramir are those kinds of scenes you remember in awed detail, though you've only seen the movie once about 8 years ago.

Dec 15 - 04:03 AM

Richard Francis

I went to our local XD theater last weekend to see the trilogy played out with the extended versions. Big screen, big sound, perfect. An amazing way to spend 13 hours! So glad I did that.

Dec 15 - 11:39 AM

Rachel Smith

I went to go see the extended LOTR trilogy in a movie theater the week before the Hobbit came out just because I've wanted to see all three films on screen (I only saw Return of the King in theaters) and I've been waiting 9 years to have someone play them all back to back in one day. There's something about seeing the battle scenes and certain CGI sequences on a big screen that just don't cut it on a standard big screen TV, not to mention the fact that the theater was also occupied by LOTR nerds who clapped and cheered at points of the movies I loved too. Nothing beats the communal movie watching experience, in my opinion. I wish more people and theaters would be more compelled to put together such events in the future: I see there ought to be a holiday where the trilogy is shown on Tolkien's birthday every year!

Dec 17 - 02:05 PM

Paul Soldner

While you are correct that the Eowyn-Faramir love story was over-rushed, that was due to time constraints. The book has about 2 chapters dedicated almost solely to that relationship.
Also, I like your idea of a Orc buddy-cop film. Once again in the books, there are 2 or 3 chapters that show things from an Orc's pov, and its EXACTLY how you describe it :D

Dec 15 - 08:53 PM

kristi pooler

i saw all three movies back to back. it was awesome, but i would have preferred to see them over three days. just saw "the hobbit" and it was great. the new characters were very entertaining. action cool. another winner!

Dec 16 - 02:01 AM

King Simba

Even if it didn't know when to end (though it speaks how invested I was in the story and world that I was actually glad to see the scenes with them returning to the Shire even if they weren't needed), this is still my favorite of the trilogy, though it's a very close call. The only trilogy I can think of where the quality was this consistent throughout would be Toy Story. It's also tied with Toy Story 3 as the best finale I've seen to a trilogy (I would say franchise, but of course now with The Hobbit trilogy I can't really call it the final film for the franchise). I loved how it was able to spend nearly two hours building up towards the battle of Minas Tirith while keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time and when the battle started it delivered beyond my highest expectations. This was the first fantasy film to win a best picture oscar and it deserved it (hell, I find it kind of dissapointing that it didn't get any acting oscars).

Dec 16 - 03:58 AM

Bradly Martin

For Return of the King, who would you give the acting Nom to?

Dec 16 - 06:25 AM

King Simba

It's hard to pick just one, as the film was filled with strong acting from top to bottom, but if forced I'd go with Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee.

Dec 16 - 09:32 AM

Bradly Martin

I can agree with that, I was actually hoping either him or Andy Serkis would get the nod and when I found out none of them did I was shocked. Even though Samwise was invovled in a lot of the scenes Sean Astin really brought that character to life better than imagined possible.

Dec 16 - 12:24 PM

King Simba

On a side note, wouldn't it be better to wait for The Hobbit Part 3 and then review all six films of the franchise? I mean, this isn't James Bond or the Marvel Cinematic Universe where there's no ending in sight. After The Hobbit the franchise will be complete.

Dec 16 - 04:01 AM

Giovanni Rodriguez

Extended cut....perfect. The size and scope of it, not just visually or with special effects but with mood and feeling trumps any other fantasy film that Hollywood would try to make...sure in 20 or so years you might get another classic fantasy tale as a movie but until then....its this one!

Dec 16 - 11:47 PM