The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Adventure, Fantasy, Action • 2h 59m
Overview
Frodo Baggins and the other members of the Fellowship continue on their sacred quest to destroy the One Ring--but on separate paths. Their destinies lie at two towers--Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where the corrupt wizard Saruman awaits, and Sauron's fortress at Barad-dur, deep within the dark lands of Mordor. Frodo and Sam are trekking to Mordor to destroy the One Ring of Power while Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn search for the orc-captured Merry and Pippin. All along, nefarious wizard Saruman awaits the Fellowship members at the Orthanc Tower in Isengard.
Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Craig Parker, Bruce Allpress, John Bach, Sala Baker, Jed Brophy, Sam Comery, Calum Gittins, Phil Grieve, Bruce Hopkins, Paris Howe Strewe, Nathaniel Lees, John Leigh, Robbie Magasiva, Robyn Malcolm, Bruce Phillips, Robert Pollock, Olivia Tennet, Raymond Trickitt, Stephen Ure, Billy Jackson, Katie Jackson, Victoria Beynon-Cole, Lee Hartley, Frazer Anderson, Ben Barrington, Jarl Benzon, Jørn Benzon, Owen Black, Dorothy Anne Bonner, Ben Britton, Riley Brophy, Alistair Browning, Alix Bushnell, Sean Button, Ryan Carey, Rodney Cook, Augie Davis, Mana Hira Davis, Shane Dawson, Karlos Drinkwater, Aron Eastwood, Frank Edwards, Clint Elvy, Alexia Fairbrother, Daniel Falconer, Siaosi Fonua, Kester Fordham, Michael Fowler, Ben Fransham, Frank Goldingham, Winham Hammond, Jonathan Harding, Lucas Hayward, Dan Hennah, Jason Hood, Lani Jackson, Peter Jackson, Gareth Jensen, Sam Kelly, Richard Knowles, Sandro Kopp, Sam La Hood, Don Langridge, Michael Lawrence, Alan Lee, Dra McKay, Joseph Mika-Hunt, Dean Morganty, Henry Mortensen, Francis Mountjoy, Paul Norell, Barrie M. Osborne, Allan Poppleton, Gareth Reeves, Miranda Rivers, Campbell Rousselle, Matthew J. Saville, Samuel E. Shore, Allan Smith, Greg Tozer, Piripi Waretini, Tim Wong, John Wraight, Kelley Kerr Young, Caleb Ross, Sean Bean, John Noble
WB 4K Blu-ray, caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray (the one without the green tint) may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
The 2011 Blu-ray notoriously had a green tint, the 2020 one removes it.
WB 4K Blu-ray, caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray (the one without the green tint) may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
The 2011 Blu-ray notoriously had a green tint, the 2020 one removes it.
4K Blu-ray caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
4K Blu-ray caveat: mostly great video but the 4K Blu-rays have had additional DNR applied in some scenes on top of the DNR that had been applied in post-production and was already present on the DVDs & Blu-rays
The 2020 Blu-ray may be better than the 4K Blu-ray?
New Line Blu-ray have the original 6.1 mixes
4K Blu-ray set is missing extras from the old Blu-ray/DVD releases
Director: Peter Jackson
Director: Peter Jackson
Director: Peter Jackson
Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased for many years, will come out once Turbine's exclusivity rights expire
Director: Peter Jackson
Arrow 4K Blu-ray teased for many years, will come out once Turbine's exclusivity rights expire
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
WB 4K Blu-ray is significant upgrades compared to the BDs, but has noticeable artificial sharpening
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Warner Bros 2011 Blu-ray
The older track sounds significantly more natural. The WAC BD uses a new mastering which sounds much worse. A lot of the dialogue sounds off, sort of echoey, garbled or even artifacted. Its overzealous click removal also erased some sounds. Its only positive is a new EQ that brings out the bass more making some of the score more effective.
It seems that the new mastering likely uses AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering, resulting in extended peaks despite losing real high end detail (most pronounced on sample 3).
Samples (WAC is mislabeled as UHD)
Commentary is mono on the Blu-rays and panned stereo on NTSC DVD (different channels for each speaker).
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Warner Bros 2011 Blu-ray
The older track sounds significantly more natural. The WAC BD uses a new mastering which sounds much worse. A lot of the dialogue sounds off, sort of echoey, garbled or even artifacted. Its overzealous click removal also erased some sounds. Its only positive is a new EQ that brings out the bass more making some of the score more effective.
It seems that the new mastering likely uses AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering, resulting in extended peaks despite losing real high end detail (most pronounced on sample 3).
Samples (WAC is mislabeled as UHD)
Commentary is mono on the Blu-rays and panned stereo on NTSC DVD (different channels for each speaker).
Director: George Pal
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
Director: George Pal
Warner Archive Blu-ray 4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
The old DVD's track has significantly better detail compared to BD, especially on the score. The BD has some extra detail on dialogue, but also exhibits strange artifacting (e.g. sample 3, 0:20) which suggests possible AI "enhancement" or some other form of aggressive filtering. In contrast, DVD appears to be completely unfiltered and sounds good throughout. Samples
As the BD is significantly rolled off, a lot of the detail (real or fabricated) is buried in the mix and not audible during normal playback.
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray from 12K scan
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
For the most part, the mono track available on the BD and UHD is fine, but there's an 8 minutes long segment which sounds terrible with artificially expanded frequency range causing very audible artifacting. The 5.1 remix doesn't have that issue. Sample
Director: Morton DaCosta
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray from 12K scan
Warner Bros NTSC DVD
For the most part, the mono track available on the BD and UHD is fine, but there's an 8 minutes long segment which sounds terrible with artificially expanded frequency range causing very audible artifacting. The 5.1 remix doesn't have that issue. Sample
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Arrow 4K Blu-ray Both cuts are excellent in 4K. See caps
Director's cut: 2007 WB Blu-ray; Arrow is a lossy transcode with dynamics compression.
2007 BD's AC-3 track with dynamic range compression enabled is nearly identical to Arrow's, see comparison
Theatrical cut is fine.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Arrow 4K Blu-ray Both cuts are excellent in 4K. See caps
Director's cut: 2007 WB Blu-ray; Arrow is a lossy transcode with dynamics compression.
2007 BD's AC-3 track with dynamic range compression enabled is nearly identical to Arrow's, see comparison
Theatrical cut is fine.
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: John Ford
1988/1990 WB Hi-Fi VHS, crystal clear, albeit with some distortion in louder areas
The 4K Blu-ray reuses the same poor mastering used on the 2006 WB Blu-ray, only with a completely unnecessary bass cut and extra noise reduction.
Even putting resolution aside, the Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray has the best video. The old Blu-ray master and earlier DVD both had massive issues with colour.
That said, picture on the 4K Blu-ray isn't perfect, with strange posterized magenta glints and some instances of DNR: https://bsky.app/profile/dagscott.bsky.social/post/3leahavqi7k2l
Director: Richard Linklater
Director: Richard Linklater
Directors: Sam Liu & Lauren Montgomery
Directors: Sam Liu & Lauren Montgomery
Director: Renny Harlin
Arrow 4K Blu-ray caps by cinemaniac. Gorgeous upgrade
Atmos track on Arrow cuts off the end credits music 1 minute before the credits end. 5.1 doesn't have this issue.
Digital 4K appears to be fixed. Could the International WB 4K Blu-ray also be fixed?
Director: Renny Harlin
Arrow 4K Blu-ray caps by cinemaniac. Gorgeous upgrade
Atmos track on Arrow cuts off the end credits music 1 minute before the credits end. 5.1 doesn't have this issue.
Digital 4K appears to be fixed. Could the International WB 4K Blu-ray also be fixed?
Director: Lee Cronin
Director: Lee Cronin
Director: Simon McQuoid
Director: Simon McQuoid
Edit History
Made with ❤️ 📀 by vanshady