there will be some discussion next week on TheOneRing.net and up at YouTube about 4K debut of LOTR + Hobbit Trilogy.
I watched the two towers DVD last weekend and really enjoyed it. It had been years since I had seen any of the movies, and this one was one gigantic set of puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly. Even watching it on DVD with my monster screen TV was not a disappointment.
Watched the trilogy many times, just last month actually, but never read the books first. Probably not the proper sequence to experience these things. Still amazed at the effects, especially since I just bought a larger flatscreen TV.
Definitely worth reading the books. I'd be interested in the perspective of anyone who read the books after watching the movies. I had to get over my annoyance of a few changes in order to enjoy the movies, and I go back to the books every couple of years to enjoy the 'proper' full story.
I haven't seen the movies since I bought the extended editions on DVD and then sold them 10 years ago. I've thought about rereading the books but really don't have the time. I'd like to reread Dune before the movie is released.
That 17 year gap between Bilbo's party and Gandalf finally telling Frodo to get a move on would have played real awkward on film. I hope that's not something you were missing from the film
The movies hold up because of some astonishingly good performances: Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm are all superb. The music is extraordinary. The sense of an actual complex world, and I know that comes from Tolkien, but the production design picks up the gauntlet beautifully, and the adaptation choices taken by Jackson and his writers made them movies for everyone.
People who have seen the new versions say that this is a fair indication of what it looks like compared to the old blu-ray's. Lord of the Rings, The: The Motion Picture Trilogy (4K UHD Review IN PROGRESS) Blu-ray extended version. Blu-ray theatrical version 4k version
Looks like a pretty standard improvement relative to most 1080p to 4K content. I ordered the LotR set, but I really wish a better director would re-do it. The stupid dwarf comedy and the Legolas surfing down stairs and shooting arrows at point blank range just gets really old. The emphasis on CGI magic tricks and video game tactics gives short shrift to the relationships between the characters.
Yikes. Talk about oversaturated colors! That is pretty disgusting. By far, the theatrical Blu-Ray looks the best.
Those are screenshots and/or photos of a screen. Should look better and "more natural" in motion. But like I said, it's just a rough guide line to show some of the difference between the versions(according to those who has seen the 4k)
Jackson got a bit carried away with cgi and dopey stuff for almost every movie after Fellowship. It feels like he was surrounded by to many "yes man" by the time he assembled RotK in the studio. King Kong was his last good film. I like it a lot. But it sure has it's share of problems. I don't ever want to see The Hobbit trilogy or that other film he did before that ever again. I wonder if he has turned into a documentary director full time now?
I watched the "Fellowship" 4K yesterday and thought it went back to a "non-green" version of the colors. They seemed well-rendered to me - ie, not overdone or gaudy. The HDR adds to the palette but doesn't seem over the top. Others' MMV!
Nope. Look at the snow. The screenshot of the Blu-ray theatrical looks green-tinted and veiled relative to the 4K . The Hobbit in some ways I could stomach better than LotR because by that time we all knew what we'd be getting and there was no pretense about it being anything more than a vehicle for the nonstop video game production. I hope we do get a remake of Hobbit as well. Maybe Villenueve could tackle it after Dune at some point.
It's the Extended BD that has the green, not Theatrical. The captions for those pics are confusing, but 1st pic is Extended BD, 2nd is Theatrical BD, 3rd is 4K...
Yeah, I get that. I was referring to the theatrical BD. Relative to the 4K, it still appears veiled and green-tinted, just nowhere near as green as the extended BD. Still, for those of us who have stood on a snow-covered mountain on a sunny day, there is no doubt which image is the most realistic.
Even if a rough guide, that last one is brutal! In motion or not, the colors will look as ridiculous if it's half as saturated as this. Either the end result will look significantly different or some major color correction will need to be applied to make it halfway fun to watch.
Like I mentioned, I thought the colors looked fine - not crazy or extreme. Seems to me that studios went kinda nuts with HDR in the first couple of years of 4K but they've toned down since then. As I said, YMMV. I don't see garish or extreme colors on these 4Ks...
The press materials don't make reference to re-rendering, so I'm guessing uprez. I'd think they'd have made a big deal out of all the work involved with re-rendering, so my gut say it's still a 2K product uprezzed to 4K. Looks good anyway you cut it! Though the higher capabilities of 4k reveal some of the "flaws" I didn't notice on DVD or BD - meaning shots that didn't seem soft on those formats but now seem a little soft. These are exceedingly minor, though. Reviews for all 3, in case people are interested: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [4K UHD] (2001) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [4K UHD] (2002) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [4K UHD] (2003)
Thanks Colin. Didn’t realize your review was already up! I didn’t expect him to re-render (due to the cost) but had hoped he had for some of the less convincing visuals. I still enjoy it either way.