The film, of course, is magnificent. Featuring the denouement of all that has come before, with great actors to play the parts, gorgeous visuals to enchant us, fantastic special effects, and a glorious score throughout the film, "Return of the King" represents over 3 hours of cinematic genius. It is a nearly-perfect conclusion to the story that was begun in "Fellowship of the Ring" and continued in "The Two Towers." This should not be a surprise to anyone.The DVD presentation of "Return of the King" is of consistently high-quality with the previous two Theatrical version DVD releases. The colors and picture are crisp, and the sound is clear. The Special Features on Disc 2 are well-made and have at least a few moments which should delight most viewers (watch close for Gandalf saying "Bollocks!" in a featured outtake). The National Geographic special included on Disc 2 was a pretty interesting examination of how characters and events in "Lord of the Rings" mirror historical events and personages, such as William Wallace and Theodore Roosevelt. The two "Making Of" features are both good, but they have quite a bit of overlapped material. The featurettes are interesting but not particularly deep.
The film itself is simply a masterpiece, and worth buying this DVD just by itself. The Special Features are just gravy, really.
And now, finally, I can watch the whole thing, from beginning to end, in a nine-hour marathon!
Of course, I fully expect that the Extended Edition DVD to be released late 2004 will be an improvement upon this film, but for now, this version is more than good enough, and I'll be watching it at least a few more times. It's just too good!
