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Rimjaw · 12-21-2002, 01:50 PM

*SPOILERS*

Caught it on Friday, one of the best films of the year although some serious flaws bring it down a bit. At three hours long, the plot still ends short of the actual novel. By the end of the movie Merry and Pippin still haven’t been reunited with the rest of the gang, Gandalf still hasn’t confronted Saruman and Frodo still hasn’t gotten himself captured by Shelob yet. It’s going to be awfully crammed in Return of the King. Despite the lengthy duration already, considerable time is wasted on documentary-style panning landscape shots of the New Zealand scenery as well as melodramatics between Frodo and Sam.

With the exception of Aragorn, there’s also a lot less characterization in this installment. Although Legolas gets the best action sequences, by the end of the movie you still haven’t really learnt anything new about his character. Gimli is comic relief. Period.

The movie more or less revolves around The battle at Helms Deep and the movie is has a lot more action than FotR. Lines appear to be rushed in order to go to the next scene. And although Mortenson, Bloom and Davies do an convincing job of acting out their parts (Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli) convincingly, the camaraderie between these three seemed forced at times. The action scenes and the battle were very entertaining except for some cheesy moments such as the ‘snowboarding’ scene, the Olympics parody and the dwarf tossing (Guess who). And it was a bit hard to believe that Aragorn and Gimli could single-handedly hold of the entire army to buy time for Theoden’s men to repair the gate.

Peter Jackson also takes PLENTY of liberty with the novel as compared to the previous installment. Some of the new changes pay off and some don’t.

Arwen/Aragorn: OK, I know a lot of people are complaining about this but I felt it gave the character of Aragorn some depth and made the Aragorn/Arwen/Eowyn love triangle more convincing.

Ents: In the movie the Ents initially decide not to attack Isengard as they do not wish the upset the natural order of things but change their mind after Merry shows them the damage Saruman has done to the local fauna. Had they stuck with the book, which had the Ents decide to attack Isengard straight away, valuable screen time could have been saved.

Faramir: He was one of my favorite characters in the book. Having him be seduced by the ring (like Boromir) and capturing Frodo completely deviated by his character in the book. In fact, his action are more debased than Boromir. I recall him saying something like “Time for Faramir the Captain to prove his quality.” when finding about the ring and deciding to keep Frodo and Sam as prisoners. Which translates to the fact that he’s thinking about himself, at least Boromir had the survival of Gondor at heart. He then takes the duo to Osgiliath in a scene which serves no purpose.

Galadriel: Why is she even in here?!

Gollum: Giving the former hobbit a dual personality disorder was brilliant. Gollum stole the show here.

Elves showing up at Helms Deep: What a waste of elves…and screen time. This totally undermines the efforts of the Rohirrim. And Haldir got the axe (literally).

Frodo vs the Nazgul: I don’t get the added scene with Frodo getting seen by the dragonriding Ringwraith near the end. The idea to sneak into Mordor while Sauron suspected them of taking the Ring to Minas Tirith instead. Wouldn’t Sauron be a bit suspicious of Frodo hanging just outside his border?

Shelob: Adding the Shelob cliffhanger ending would have been a nice touch. But I forgive them.

Bottom line: A must see. But be aware of the flaws.

[ 12-21-2002, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Rimjaw ]

12-21-2002, 01:50 PM	#8
Rimjaw Red Wizard of Thay Join Date: May 24, 2002 Location: East Coast, Singapore Age: 42 Posts: 890	SPOILERS Caught it on Friday, one of the best films of the year although some serious flaws bring it down a bit. At three hours long, the plot still ends short of the actual novel. By the end of the movie Merry and Pippin still haven’t been reunited with the rest of the gang, Gandalf still hasn’t confronted Saruman and Frodo still hasn’t gotten himself captured by Shelob yet. It’s going to be awfully crammed in Return of the King. Despite the lengthy duration already, considerable time is wasted on documentary-style panning landscape shots of the New Zealand scenery as well as melodramatics between Frodo and Sam. With the exception of Aragorn, there’s also a lot less characterization in this installment. Although Legolas gets the best action sequences, by the end of the movie you still haven’t really learnt anything new about his character. Gimli is comic relief. Period. The movie more or less revolves around The battle at Helms Deep and the movie is has a lot more action than FotR. Lines appear to be rushed in order to go to the next scene. And although Mortenson, Bloom and Davies do an convincing job of acting out their parts (Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli) convincingly, the camaraderie between these three seemed forced at times. The action scenes and the battle were very entertaining except for some cheesy moments such as the ‘snowboarding’ scene, the Olympics parody and the dwarf tossing (Guess who). And it was a bit hard to believe that Aragorn and Gimli could single-handedly hold of the entire army to buy time for Theoden’s men to repair the gate. Peter Jackson also takes PLENTY of liberty with the novel as compared to the previous installment. Some of the new changes pay off and some don’t. Arwen/Aragorn: OK, I know a lot of people are complaining about this but I felt it gave the character of Aragorn some depth and made the Aragorn/Arwen/Eowyn love triangle more convincing. Ents: In the movie the Ents initially decide not to attack Isengard as they do not wish the upset the natural order of things but change their mind after Merry shows them the damage Saruman has done to the local fauna. Had they stuck with the book, which had the Ents decide to attack Isengard straight away, valuable screen time could have been saved. Faramir: He was one of my favorite characters in the book. Having him be seduced by the ring (like Boromir) and capturing Frodo completely deviated by his character in the book. In fact, his action are more debased than Boromir. I recall him saying something like “Time for Faramir the Captain to prove his quality.” when finding about the ring and deciding to keep Frodo and Sam as prisoners. Which translates to the fact that he’s thinking about himself, at least Boromir had the survival of Gondor at heart. He then takes the duo to Osgiliath in a scene which serves no purpose. Galadriel: Why is she even in here?! Gollum: Giving the former hobbit a dual personality disorder was brilliant. Gollum stole the show here. Elves showing up at Helms Deep: What a waste of elves…and screen time. This totally undermines the efforts of the Rohirrim. And Haldir got the axe (literally). Frodo vs the Nazgul: I don’t get the added scene with Frodo getting seen by the dragonriding Ringwraith near the end. The idea to sneak into Mordor while Sauron suspected them of taking the Ring to Minas Tirith instead. Wouldn’t Sauron be a bit suspicious of Frodo hanging just outside his border? Shelob: Adding the Shelob cliffhanger ending would have been a nice touch. But I forgive them. Bottom line: A must see. But be aware of the flaws. [ 12-21-2002, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Rimjaw ]