LotR: RotK

[Occhidiangela]

Some Spoilers:



So, if you have not yet, go see the film, and Bishie, read the books! You will like them, methinks. :)






1. Yay for sparse Liv Tyler presence, the only actor besides Sean Astin in the film with American Orthodontically perfect teeth. Yay for the general exposition of imperfect teeth in the mouths of players, it is more "authentic" of the era before braces. ;) (I still find the film's Eowyn pretty and wonderful, even though Jackson almost squeezes her down to two dimensions.)

2. Paths of the Dead was . . . good enough, sad to see the Rangers and the Stone of Erech not included, but as it was done, it worked well enough.

3. OK, I can swallow Anduril being delivered to Aragorn, not the banner, but NOT BY ELROND! At least they did not send Arwen to deliver it. *barf* However, I understand why that was done too, movie wise. It passes. (UH, Arwen going cold and all that, I understand why that was done for movie explanation reasons.)

4. Too much weepy boy mouth open staring nonsense by various hobbits, which ate time that could have been spent on Denethor, Faramir and Eowyn, Saruman and Isengard, etc. It strikes me that Jackson wants to please the gay audience, (blast you Cassie Claire, you have ruined me forever! :lol: Sam will kill me if I try anything. ) and the "chick flick" audience. One of the RBD ladies advised me that LOTR was built as an estrogen fest, and yep, it is to a certain extent a "chick movie" masquerading as an action film. How about that, Jackson really does understand the current Tolkein fan base, so for that synthesis, he gets high marks. :).


5. The charge of the Rhohirrim across the Pelenor was nicely done, though 6000 appear to have turned into more. Dragons and Nazgul were good, but what up with the Craven Gondorian soldiers and archers???? That rubbed a raw nerve, TOlkein had them as braver than that. Excellent death of Witchking, excellent Eowyn and Merry pulling that off, but

DAMNIT

Theoden keeps stealing Eomer's lines! "Death" was for avenging Eowyn, whose near mortal wound by the Witch King is not given correct treatment. So as payback, Eomer gets to spear the Mamukil riding leader.

6. Faramir was heroic in the book, and Jackson screwed up the retreat from the walls, the sortie, and made Farimir into a hopeless rube, not a brave captain who many admired and who kept a retreat from turning into a rout. Bah, Faramir deserved better, and m ore backbone, than Jackson gave him, bah bah bah!

7. Gandalf with the light versus the Nazgul is right out of the book, and well done, during Farimir's retreat.

8. Good Mumakil surfing, even if it has naught to do with the book and only counts as one. :) Where was Imrahil and his mounted sortie? Where the archers taking down the oliphaunts? Nowhere . . . but I understand why the cast of characters was used as the focus. Depicting Faramir as suicidal, and his charge as "the charge of the light brigade" did not sit well. Bah again.

9. Damnit, why was there no in battle meeting of Eomer and Aragron, though a field of enemies stand between us??? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

10. After the "you bow to no one" scene, my son turned to me and said "it's over now, right?" Hah! But he was right. The way the film was written, from that to the Sam and Rosie wedding would have been a decent end . . .

11. Denethor: Jackson buggered that one badly, as in his character's treatment. His mental acuity and wisdom is not well represented, only his despair, and his atrocious table manners. (????) Unlike some, I rather liked his fiery suicide scene, The Denethor Plunge. The treatment of all that allowed Pippin to be a bit more useful in the saving of Faramir. Gandalf whacking Denethor with a stick seemed out of place, but he was possibly losing patience with idiots by that point in Jackson's view (I know how that feels). Oh, and orcs breaching the gate . . . whaaaaaaaaaaat? OK, it allows the dead army to come in and win that fight, I guess I can deal with that.

12. Scale and distance of the Black gate, the distance from Osgilliath, to the mountain, etc, was way off, but I understand why it was done. Had to, I suppose. But, what about standing on two slag heaps and the sea of orcs around them? OK, I can live with the way "Aragorn charges for Frodo."

13. The Eye as a search light that Sam could see? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

14. Shelob. That whole bit was very well done, though why there was light in the spider cave before Frodo brings out the light is a mystery to me.

15. Gollum was not screaming "Precious!" as he fell. Boooo, but I am being picky here. I LOVED the "Gollum fights invisible Frodo" bit. Liked the ring's letters lighting up before the great melt down.

16. A good bit of acting and camera work went into: "Frodo doing the same thing, and starting to look like, Isildur." The facial expressions and mimicry of the early film's scene were most excellent. Once again The Ring is the star of the scene.

17. The Eagles over the lava river was great, right out of the book.

18. Personally, loved the artistic license taken with the wraith-dragon teams. I thought it was a nice touch to have them mix it up that way, even if not canonical.

19. Scene at the Havens was TOO LONG! Elven boat out to sea was right out of either an Alan Lee or Jonathan Howe picture, I have seen that before. :)

20. Sam's courage generally well characterized. "And that one's for my old gaffer!" The climb up Oroduin very well done. Sam, go home? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? And Sam as a "sensitive new age guy?" Hmmm.

21. Minas Morgul: I thought that was extemely well done, that scene and its feel, even if not perfectly "from the book" insofar as the dragon versus a horse. (I was eerily reminded of the Dragon Lance books during that scene.)

22. Loved the entire watchfire lighting sequence. Well done, the Red Arrow was not needed, I don't care if it was not canonical.

All in all, a lot to like. We all know it is not canonical, but

Too much wasted time on weepy crap. With that complaint, I still liked the film enough to recommend it to a friend, although, Nico, your easy chair approach has much merit. They don't serve beer in American theatres, sad to say.