I own both the theatrical and the extended versions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've never been a fan of the extended cuts, which feel bogged down with unnecessary footage. Only The Fellowship of the Ring benefitted from the extra footage, in my opinion; The Two Towers and The Return of the King did not. Gimli, in particular, suffered from the addition of footage showing him as comic relief. I found Gimli to be, in the theatrical version, a good balance between comic relief and seriousness as his friendship with Legolas evolves. This balance is gone in the extended cut. The video below highlights even more reasons not to prize the extended cut above the theatrical cut. Your mileage may vary, but I know where I stand.
One unfortunate aspect of the extended cut that the thumbnail reminds me of is the fact that we get two charges of the army of the dead. Once was enough, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember why now, but I enjoyed the extended "Return of the King" version. The video says differently, and I get his point. I probably need to watch the originals again.
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