Lord of the Rings, The: Book IV - The Journey of the Ringbearers

Review by white43 — May 17, 2009 @ 12:38 pm

I downloaded and watched the AVI version last night.

I can happily report that the kerr’s seemless editing is still highly present

I noted no issues as such with audio or video editing at all. For an AVI, the picture quality was great – but I’m not so bothered anyway as the DVD will inevitably follow.

I felt the story flowed rather well. Pacing was good and I certainly didn’t bore of Sam and Frodo for an hour odd. There were a couple changes that I was really looking forward to –

- Faramir lets the Hobbits go and doesn’t take them to Osgiliath
- Frodo doesn’t tell Sam to leave while climbing to Shelob’s lair.

These changes work impressively well. I was really surprised at how well the latter worked. Aside it being a little odd that Sam seems to take ages to catch up with Gollum and Frodo at the entrance to Shelob’s lair, the next cut which then shows Sam threatening Gollum, Gollum screeching and Sam then plumetting down the steps is excellent. Well done!

Other things I liked was Frodo not falling in the water, Smeagol’s tale being placed after Frodo calls Gollum Smeagol and less fighting with Shelob for Sam.

Of course Faramir letting them go early was good as well. All in all I actually enjoed this a little better than Book 3 which for me had a couple issues. This one didn’t at all.

So 10/10 from me – I look forward to the DVD.

Review by spelledaren — May 14, 2009 @ 2:13 pm

I really appriciate the work done here. Sam being pushed down the stairs actually worked, though the images didn’t fit exactly right with each other in the scenes before. The beginning has an odd pacing, but nothing can be done about this. That feeling of epicness doesn’t really show up, and we have a hard time tracking how much time has passed.

I’m going for 7 out of 10 here. This gives respect to Tolkien’s work, and I was happy to see the re-arranged scenes. But the oddness of some shots and few fast sound changes get in the way somewhat.

Thanks, and keep bringing them on!

Update Sep 29, 2012

Added ratings for the categories.

Review by kboy930 — May 14, 2009 @ 1:19 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Review by searcher — May 14, 2009 @ 12:05 pm

Well I have read the above comments and I feel it deserves a 9, no its not as intertaining but that is no fault of the editor the edit itself is flawless and very well put together. Look forward to the remaining two edits. 9/10

Review by buddythegoon — May 14, 2009 @ 6:15 am

Man this is hard. I’ve been throwing out 9′s and 10′s up until now. It breaks my heart to do this, but this one’s an 8. It’s almost unfair, because Kerr had so little with which to work. He did the best he could, and I’m not docking any points for technical flaws, but it’s all in the entertainment. This chapter just isn’t as entertaining as what has come before. It’s Sam and Frodo walking; then Sam, Frodo and Smeagol walk some; then Faramir is mostly marginalized, mainly because PJ decided the Ringbearers should take a nice long trek to Osgiliath (how in the F did that ever fit into the timeline!?).

Clever move separating Sam from Frodo before Shelob’s cave – still a bit awkward, but I won’t spoil it. Again, I feel really bad about this, but as unfair as it is to Kerr in light of the source material, it would be more unfair to give it a 10 when I just didn’t feel the same about it as with its predecessors.