I'm halfway through the trilogy, and holy Illuvatar does it look good!!! I've been having a blast watching it with my two sons. The 18-yr-old saw it when it first came out, so it's a bit of nostalgia for him. But the 10-yr-old has never seen it all the way through. Having him look at me with panic in his eyes as he asks, "
Is Gandalf dead?!?" is priceless.
There are a couple scenes that are so powerful, I found myself breathless as if it was the first time I'd seen it. The horse chase during the flight to the ford, then Arwen's defiant stance, and her calling forth the river was just beautiful. I don't care if it wasn't written that way, it's one of the best scenes in the movie. And then of course the Balrog/Gandalf scene is just stunning. Even after hearing "you shall not pass" jokes for 10 years (Southpark, etc.), that scene still kicks me in the ass. Tiny old man facing off against giant fire-demon on splinter of rock ... WOW.
The green tint did bother me in some scenes, especially the Shire. It is also darker, so that it looks like you're viewing Hobbiton with green-tinted sunglasses on. Very annoying. But the rest of the movie was gorgeous, and I think the color changes were a huge improvement. I put the DVD in one player, and the Blu-ray in another (yes, I have two players hooked up to my TV in order to do A/B comparisons ... I'm weird like that) and the differences were dramatic. Not only was the Blu-ray much more detailed and crisp, but for scenes like Rivendell, the color changes simply transformed the movie. That one scene where Frodo walks out to the balcony and briefly pauses while the camera frames a wide shot of Rivendell [the scene I painted, some might remember] ... it has lost all that orange glow which previously washed out the intricate colors. It's a VAST improvement. It looks more like my painting now (which was done looking at a version of that scene printed on a LOTR calandar, before the digital color grading was added to the original release back in 2001).
Here, see for yourselves:
images.blu-ray.com/reviews/4424_1_1080p.jpg
link
The second link is to a message board. Scroll down until you see the Frodo/Rivendell shot. It has the comparison between the EE Blu-ray and the Theatrical Edition Blu-ray. The difference between the former and the DVD will be even more pronounced, but this lets you get an idea, because the Theatrical Blu-ray contains the original color. Surprisingly, the EE Blu-ray has a shitload more detail than the Theatrical Blu-ray.
