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Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (Blu-ray)
Year: 0000
Rating: M
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood
Release Date: March 03, 2011
Distributor: Roadshow
The Film: 4.5
The Disc: 3.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5"...remains a cynical reminder that a far more superior release is waiting in the wings..."
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy remains one of cinema's most ambitious and successful properties in the difficult genre of high fantasy. And with J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit finally emerging from its long gestating development nightmare, The Lord of the Rings franchise is primed to capture a new audience more than a decade after The Fellowship of the Ring debuted in cinemas.
But in a move that harkens back to the darkest days of DVD double dipping, which saw studios cipher every last consumer dollar from a franchise, The Lord of the Rings trilogy again returns to Blu-ray as a new collected series, featuring The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, complete with the obligatory digital copies and a sampling of previously released extras.
Still offering only the theatrical editions of the films, (the Extended Editions are rumored to emerge when The Hobbit hits cinemas), fans have at least been offered around six hours of additional standard definition documentary footage, interviews, TV specials and featurettes harvested from the LordOfTheRings.net website.
And while it's refreshing to once again tap into Jackson's monolithic production and reconnect with the locations, story and characters of the trilogy, this Blu-ray release, complete with the satisfactory high def transfer of the previous releases, remains a cynical reminder that a far more superior release is waiting in the wings for a Blu-ray triple dip.
