I Figured Out What I Didn't Like About ROTK (SPOILER WARNING)

[THUNDER HANDS]

I had to sleep on it, thinking about the movie last night - because something kept bugging me.

The reason I walked away from ROTK not feeling like my every need was met was because certain things in the movie bothered me.

Namely, that so much time was spent in the last 30 minutes wrapping everything up that it cut out major parts of the movie that could have used more time.

Such as the walk through Mordor by Frodo and Sam. From how I remember the book they spent a good one or two days walking through that place before they got to the mountain.

Such as the Aragorn scene with him and the dead soldiers. I mean, did an hour have to go by before we saw them again. Then once they return the fight scenes go by so quick you're like...wait, the 10,000-army Helms Deep battle lasted 40 minutes, why does this 200,000-army at Minas Tirith last about the same time?

Such as the scene with Faramir and Denethor - both of whom added nothing to the picture. I know it's in the book, but this could have been saved for the extended version.

Okay, those are my quibbles. I'm probably going to see the film again tomorrow or Saturday - so maybe I'm just still getting over my initial reaction to the film I so eagerly awaited.

[cocoabeach]

1. Did Peter Jackson leave Liv in the story because she

was a popular character? That is a change (along with others.

BTW, I went to the theater last night w/ intentions of rooting for Gollum. But he turned out to be a real shit head.

The extended version is an hour long (due out next Fall) and it explains more about Borimer and his brother's relationship with their father.

[NashVegas]

9. Nah, I think it was cause they wanted another cleavage shot

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[everythingsxen]

2. I know what you mean..**SPOILER WARNING**

I didn't think the ending could have lasted any longer.

The audience in my theatre thought it was over several times.

Gah.

I was glad to see everyone was ok, but sheesh. There were a lot of moments that could have been cut.

Still... moments like the Lich-King rising up out of his city and letting loose his army.

Sheoloth(sp?) : her whole sequence was tres cool.

The full fury of Saurons army on the field. Wow.

My biggest disappointment with the film: Although I can't remember if it was in the book or not (I think it was not), it was in the cartoon version of RotK.... and that is... the orcs singing.... "Where there's a whip there's a way!". I love that song. :evilgrin:

[JCMach1]

3. I LOVE that song too...

[HereSince1628]

4. I thought the long ending was much like the book...

otherwise, like the rest of the films, it was great on action scenes and short on the richness of legend and lore that made the book a hit for so many decades.

[mikehiggins]

5. But as a movie, on its own terms,

it's great!

There have been differences from the opening sequences of the Fellowship movie. As a continous epic in filmic format, however, this is as much Jackson's vision as Tolkein's, and from that point of view it's just fine.

Many of the deviations from canon (for you non fan-boys, "canon" in this context refers to absolute adherence to the original text, thus SPiderman could not turn out to be gay, for example, and remain true to "canon") were decisions based on cinematic traditions, and IMHO they almost invariably worked.

Starting with the excision of Tom Bombadil and carrying forward to the last closing of the last door, there have been drastic changes made but so what? I've been waiting 38 years to see that door close on that little family (what cute little babies) and I'm damn happy with what Jackson did.

Spending more time on the guy/girl things than JRRT did makes sense to me. Such considerations weren't as much de rigeur (sp? Fr) in JRRT's context but these films were made for these days. If PJ dropped that last sequence on us out of the blue, who would have had a clue how significant it was? Nope. PJ did a great job of translating a great text into another language (i.e. film) and deserves every bit of acclaim he gets for his accomplishment.

[jpgray]

6. Parts you found lacking are specially approved by others--like the books

A lot of people think Tom Bombadil is a stupid waste of time, and other people love him to death. The sign of a truly great film or book or rock band is when there *is* no agreed-upon set of great and worthless parts.

:)

For example, I don't care for "A Day in the Life", but I really like "Fixing a Hole." Crazy? I dunno, that's just the way it works for me.

[oinkment]

7. Mind-blowing but not as focused (SPOILERS)

I thought there were some mind-blowing scenes in ROTK, but that overall the quality wasn't as good as the first two. Party because there was so much CGI in this picture and it wasn't entirely convincing in a few places. Also, the story and pacing weren't as focused and forward-moving.

For example, the Arwen subplot just didn't pay off. Poor Liv Tyler basically cries in every scene, then her dad turns up to say she's dying because of the evil or something, then she pops up at the end looking fine. I realize that there's not much there in the books, either, but given how they built her character up in the first two pictures, I thought she would be more important in the final movie. Likewise, the love triangle with Eowyn. I was expecting a slightly more dramatic end to her crush on Aragorn than him just saying, "Sorry, I'm not interested." I'm hoping that the DVD version will show more of her and Faramir falling in love, because it really does help resolve that plot line.

I was actually glad that they kept the Sam & Frodo slogging through Mordor stuff to a minimum because that always seems to drag on and on in the book. Likewise Tom Bombadil. I'm definitely in the "good riddance" camp on that one. And yes, the ending is long, but somehow a 30-minute farewell seems appropriate for an 11-hour movie.

That said, the third movie only suffers by comparison to the first two. On its own merits it totally rocks. Eowyn's battle with the Nazgul was worth the price of admission alone. And I thought Billy Boyd stole the show.

[TXlib]

8. Who was Billy Boyd???

[NashVegas]

10. If You're Going to Pay Money to See It Again

How bothered can you really be?

[DS1]

11. I think any time you go into a movie knowing the story has

but a few hours left, there's no wondering about what happens next. It's "Oh, OK". There was still a war to fight and a ring to deliver at the end of TT, nothing could live up to the anticipation and hype.