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The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) (2004)
Amazing final chapter
Before I go into more details let me first say this:
if you are a Tolkien purist and you didn't like the theatrical edition of The return of the king and you hope this extended edition will "fix" it, you'll be quite disappointed. Alltough this movie re-inserts many scenes cut from the book, gives us more depht and insight to character motivation and has a more even pacing, it doesn't "fix" anything but rather expands on what was allready there.
However, if you, like me, loved the original edition, you'll certainly love this version even more (and yes, I've read the book).
Most of the new scenes aren't vital, but still add more depht and background into the story. The pacing is slowed down a bit, so the viewer has actually some time to breathe between all the intense epic battles.
I'll mention the things I found worth noting below (skip it if you don't like spoilers or long reads).
The voice of Saruman - yes it's back. In the original movie Isengard is dealt with in only a few minutes. Now there's a quite long confrontation with the now defeated Saruman. It's a great scene that both gives resolution to an important character, explains how the palantir got in the water and foreshadows what's to come in the next 4 hours. I'm glad Jackson didn't go for another wizard fight (save for one fireball) but focusses on the dialogue instead - indeed lots of Tolkiens original dialogue made the cut. Even the way Saruman dies is quite true to the book, alltough it happens at Isengard instead of the Shire now. Great addition.
The next part of the movie is a bit of silence before the storm and feels like a transition between The two towers and Return of the king, both tying up the loose ends of TTT and foreshadowing what's going to happen in the last chapter.
Gandalf arrival at Minas Tirith is where The Return of the king really starts (of course all 3 parts are basically 1 very long movie, but still). And from there, the movie is pure gold.
All the extra Minas Tirth footage sure is welcome. It gives us more background about the city and the characters Faramir and Denethor get some more attention. While Denethor still is torn by despair and grief from the start (we never see his noble side - no pun intended) we get more insight into his motives. Same goes for Faramir - there's a great scene between him and Pippin, which makes his suicide charge even more moving. The battle for Minas Tirith has only a few extra footage, but still remains one of the most spectactular battles ever seen on screen.
Something that really improved is the whole "paths of the dead" section. There's more build-up, and it's made very clear that the dead aren't very reliable allies that will do everything Aragorn wants them to do. He should be glad that they finally decided to help him out in the first place (so that's why the army of death can't be used at the black gates!). It ends perfectly with the king of the dead saying "we fight!"(what should have been left out tough is the scene where the corsairs get whiped out, it's a useless scene and only spoils the surprise later on).
Another major improvement is the part between Pellenor and the final climax at the black gate/mount doom. Thanks to a few small scenes, the "victory" at Pellenor feels a lot more bittersweet now. Pippin looking for Merry at the battlefield between all the corpses and destruction is expanded and really moving now. The houses of healing is a much needed breather between all the intense fighting.
The journey trough Mordor of Frodo and Sam is also improved and expanded. There's a nice scene where they are mistaken for orcs and have to march with them towards the black gates (and finally escape after a while).
The Mouth of Sauron is also back in (quite creepy scene). This all provides more and better build-up to the final climax, which remains utterly breathtaking.
To sum it up: the extended edition of The Return of the king improves on an allready awesome film so I highly recommend it. If you didn't like the original version tough, this film likely won't change your mind.
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