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Review:Fellowship of the Ring
Everyone has expectations about this movie. I imagine most of you have read the books. You all have ideas about what a Balrog looks like. What Gandalf is like. And yes, hell, even what the ring should look like. And you simply can't expect a movie to meet everyones ideas... but this thing came just as close as I could have hoped.
In short, there aren't many great movies that come out any more... but this is one of them. Everyone seems nearly perfectly cast. The special effects are nothing short of brilliant. The sets from the Shire on out look so wonderful and believable that you just wanna move in... until the Ring Wraiths show up and make everything all miserable.
Elijah Woods pulls off Frodo quite well. Yeah maybe he fell down one to many times, but the angst is believable. And Gandalf? His desire for the ring is intense and his actions are truly heroic.
I can't imagine a film adaptation of perhaps the best book ever written being done better. The first 45 minutes are a bit slow going, but once the Fellowship starts coming together I just didn't want to blink.
I could find things to nitpick about: some scenes the audio mix wasn't quite right, but that could partially have been the mediocre sound system in the theater: dialog was a bit muffled under the music. Some of the effects were noticably CG, but those were rare. Quite frankly nobody has done CG monsters as convincingly in a film to date. There was a handful of shots that looked faked, and all the rest seemed as perfect as could be.
God damn. The hype is warranted. The wait was worth it. But 12 months for the next one? At least I have my copy of FFX to keep me occupied during maybe 40 hours of the next 8,760 or so I have to wait. But who's counting?
At first I was dissapointed at the lack of Tom Bombadil (sp), but afterwords, I realzied he didn't play that big of a part, and it was probably good to cut the movie at 3 hours, instead of dragging it out. Thanks goes to the producers and screen play writers for thinking ahead...
Don't waste time... procrastinate now!
Hey, all of the great Greek plays were known to the audience, but people still turned out to see how it was portrayed on stage.
I bought tickets online for a United Artists theatre...I will never do it again, here is why (an email I sent to a friend about the problem):
About two weeks ago I called the UA to see if they were going to be doing
any advance ticket sales for FoTR...they told me that they weren't, all
advance ticket sales would have to be done over the internet. So, I went
to a webpage, and using matt's credit card, bought 4 tickets. Then, early
last week, I went down to the mall to pick up the tickets. (trip 1) They
said that I could not have the tickets unless I had both the credit card
and the owner of the credit card present (which is ridiculous, because I
already bought the credit cards...they should require ID...but not this
other crap since they don't even mention it on the webpage). I argued
half-heartedly with them for a few minutes, because there wasn't any time
when both matt and I could be there. I finally conceded and went home.
On Sunday, Matt called the UA (he was also disgruntled at the stupid
policy) and explained the situation and asked again if it would be
possible to just let me borrow the credit card and use that to get the
tickets. The woman said that no, it wasn't a problem.
So, today, after school, I headed down to the mall and attempted to get my
tickets (trip 2). They said no...I explained that matt had called and
explained my whole situation. I argued for quite some time about it and
almost ended up shouting. I kept my cool, but I made them mad because I
held up the line and explained in detail how retarded their so-called
policies were and explained that I was going to be late for work and
whatnot. The people in line agreed with me, making them more angry to the
point where they yelled at me and took me aside (no threats for security
yet). I finally left and they told me to come back after 8 when the
manager is there. I explained the time/money problem with driving that
far, but they obviously didn't care. I left, and came to work and explained it to matt. So, we are going in AGAIN momentarily. This is a
freaking pain. I am not leaving the UA till they give me my tickets for
FREE.
Worst part about this....they DO sell advance tickets! Bill bought his by
just stopping by. I have been lied to too many times! I am pretty pissed
about the whole thing.
After all of this, I went again, and was able to get my tickets and they gave me 4 free passes for anytime this month....but, it doesn't nearly make up for the waste of time/money and gas to make all the trips to the mall. I also don't really care about movie tickets...this is the only movie I really want to see...and if I watch it again, it will be in a DIFFERENT THEATER!!!
I still can't wait till I see it tonight though.
Relevant Link: PeterSwift.org/page.cgi?page=lotr
The anti-salmon
I got two things out of this review:
1) CmdrTaco likes his job.
2) CmdrTaco liked the movie.
Which is great (I'm glad you liked it.) But this review doesn't tell me anything about why I would like the movie, or even the #1 reason to see this movie according to CmdrTaco. It doesn't even go into detail of why CmdrTaco liked the characters, or which one was his favorite and why.
"I liked the movie and you should see it" is certainly passable for an elementary school show-and-tell, but for a popular geek website geared toward college students and adults, this doesn't cut it. Most of us have read the books, so even a little "This scene was like the book and that rocked" teaser would be helpful. At least give us one good reason to hand $8.75/person over to the movie theater!
--
SlashChick
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
Admittedly, Arwen's role is greatly expanded in the film (seemingly subsuming the role of Glorfindle at the ford near Rivendell, at least from what I can tell from the previews), but I wouldn't say that the romance between her and Aragorn isn't mentioned in the book. It is, however, only glancingly hinted at. Of course, the story of their romance is expanded upon in one of the appendices. Aragorn's love for Arwen is also the source of his discomfort upon meeting the lovely Eowyn in The Two Towers. Without coming right out and saying so at that point, Tolkien makes it clear that Aragorn feels somewhat guilty about finding Eowyn attractive when his heart already belongs to Arwen.
It's all in the books, but if you blink, you'll miss it. Subtle nuances that one misses reading the book for the first time as a nine-year-old, then catch years later upon subsequent re-readings as an adult...
As for omissions, that is entirely understandable. I can't imagine American audiences sitting through a five hour version just to see scenes such as those involving Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Wights (hmmm, wonder if those parts were actually filmed? DVD anyone?), which, while adding to the overall mythic feel of the story, don't really advance the plot or contribute to character development.
*** Quantum Mechanics: The Dreams of Which Stuff is Made ***
"If only the MPAA would go under." - CmdrTaco
(((But only after CmdrTaco sees this awesome movie! In a word, WOW!)))
"The only question is when will the MPAA give up? " - CmdrTaco
(((Hopefully not before CmdrTaco has a chance to see this great movie! God Damn!)))
"We should have the Stalin award for entities advancing the destruction of the first ammendment. We can nominate the evil organizations oppressing freedom of speech like the MPAA." - CmdrTaco
(((Freedom of speech? Who cares! LOTR RULES! WOW!)))
"long before CDA, RIAA, MPAA, DMCA, and the USPTO, there were other entities all too willing to block access to information." - CmdrTaco
(((As long as they don't block CmdrTaco's access to this AWESOME MOVIE! WOW!)))
Also, Tolkien is still extremely popular in Holland, and not just with geeks. Since 1981, there's even a Dutch Tolkien society called Unquendor.
The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. - ast
All digital sound if off the print. The film contains the information for two channel stereo, and may contain some cues to help out SRS. DTS, SDDS, and Dolby Digital use off-film CD media. There are some non-digital four channel formats that are on the film itself out there, but they are usually magnetic strips on a 70mm print.
It is not uncommon for a film produced in massive quantities such as this to have sound problems. Expect replacement sound media to be out within a week, if that is, in fact, the problem.
I used to work as a projectionist for Landmark Cinemas, if anybody cares.
- W. Blaine Dowler
http://www.bureau42.com
No, no, no. You need to reread the books. The first two books (the first volume, i.e. -- The Fellowship of the Ring) *IS* largely captured by the "bigger people". It's not until the 3rd-6th books that we see the valiance, stamina and strenghts of Hobbits in full-force. You're right in saying that Hobbits are center-stage. You're just wrong about FOTR.
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
Reminded me of wedding where you briefly meet alot of long lost relatives who become blurred in your memory. There were the nine in the Fellowship, a couple of Elf Lords, a flaky uncle, two big bad guys, and a token love interest. Thats 16 main characters without mentioning the minor ones. Everyone gets 15 seconds of fame and recedes into the background. If I hadn't read the book six times I would have been lost. Another recent movie- Oceans 11- has about the same number of major characters, yet I felt I knew them better.
People here are STILL willing to feed the beasts that bring you DMCA.
The only way to avoid AOHell Time wanker and the rest of the ilk from using your money to get things like the DMCA passed (and not be a pirate) is to wait for the DVD of this movie to show up in the used media store.
Yet, with money in hand, you will help feed the media beast. So much for your beliefs.
if Gandalf had half the powers of Magneto, they would have been spared A LOT of fighting. He could have had all the orc's weapons attacking themselves, creating a shield around the Balrog, or forming a bridge for them to cross instead ofa falling down staircase.
I thought the movie was amazing when I watched it last night, but I did dislike a few things and have some comments about the post..
When action and dialog was added it seemed uniformly worse than the rest of the movie. I understand stuff had to be left out, but I would cite the example of the fight between Saruman (very nicely cast!) and Gandalf as very disapointing. Since this battle was only mentioned in the books and not described, they filled it up with some crap. Contrast this with the action and dialog that Gandalf uses when fighting the Balrog, much more stirring and exciting.
Pippin almost
seems a whipping-boy for Gandalf throughout the movie, but it's all because of his
foolishness.
Pippin is something of a whipping boy in the books for Gandalf. His comment in the Mines of Moria was straight out of the books. Gandalf is sort of encouraging him to mature, which he and Merry begin to do when they are with the Ents. Pippin really comes into his own and does some maturing and gets respect in Gandalf's eyes when he travels alone with Gandalf to Minas Tirith ...
Galadriel was too mystical.
Again, Galadriel was supposed to be very mystical and bewitching. I just think it is bad that they left the stuff about Gimli really changing his mind about her out. It is also too bad that they didn't talk about the lembas and cloaks (since the lembas is basically what keeps Frodo and Sam alive in Mordor) or that Legolas is a wood elf (and somewhat more primitive).
Aragorn. Aragorn was probably my second favorite character in the book (next to
Faramir), and I didn't like the way he was portrayed as bearing a family "weakness".
BTW, Faramir is my fave too. Aragorn is certainly portrayed as an amazing fighter. He defeats a whole bunch of Nazgul all by himself (not Frodo using the Barrow-wight knife). Arwen and Boromir's respect sort of makes one feel that he deserves that respect. This is just a matter of personal opinion though...
"Politics is for the moment, an equation lasts eternity" -A. Einstein
What the LoTR needs isn't creativity, it's craftsmanship. I want a movie that takes one of my favorite stories ever and recreates it faithfully. Accomplishing this task, in my opinion, would require more actual creativity than rewriting the story.
I agree with your opinion that LoTR doesn't need rewriting. I also agree that the movie is well done.
However, I believe that most of those who have replied to my original comment (as well as the moderators who have modded me as flamebait) have completely missed my original point. Perhaps if I hadn't been so rushed to get my post off so quickly (so that it would be at the top of the list) I would have communicated this better. Here goes.
There is a difference between a movie that does a great job meeting its objectives and audiences' expectations and a movie that is in itself great. It's one thing to do a job well and another thing to innovate.
LoTR the movie does a great job in what in seeks to do: to faithfully bring LoTR the books to the big screen. However, this does not break any new ground in Hollywood (other than perhaps on a few technical points such as raising CG standards).
LoTR the movie is probably about as good as it can be. However, epic movies have been around since Lawrence of Arabia and have become a genre. While epics remain entertaining, the format itself is no longer new. Similarly, the plot in LoTR poses nothing new for Hollywood nor do the stereotyped characters. Even the setting, while spectacularly filmed, is nothing new. Sure, the acting is near top notch, but none of the performances introduce anything new.
Here's my point: LoTR the movie is about as good as it could have been, and it may even win some nice awards (it should), but in the grand scheme of things, it has not introduced any new ideas that will change Hollywood (except that hopefully they'll start taking other fantasy/sci-fi books and series and adapting them for the silver screen).
Social Contract? I don't remember signing any Social Contract!
OK, stop the presses. I swore I wouldn't take a stance on this, but this just pushed my buttons.
I'm a long-time fan of Weis & Hickman....I got hipped to the Chronicles Trilogy when I was in the 7th grade, and have faithfully followed the stories of Tanis & Co. across every Dragonlance novel I could find. I remember being moved almost to tears by the events of Chronicles 2 and 3 (I won't spoil it for people that haven't read it), as well as the MANY heart wrenching moments in the Legends series that came after it. This is definitely excellent story-telling.
HOWEVER...
What John Robert Reule Tolkien did was take that kind of story-telling and make it EPIC, meaning it sucked you into an entire world, right down to the language. You cared not only about the Fellowship (as a group and as individuals) but about how their decisions affected the rest of the world. When you finish Return of the King, you KNOW that you have just borne witness to the passing of one age, and the beginning of another. The Lord of the Rings is great in that respect. It's like reading about the Japanese feudal period or the European Renaissance (if you're a history nut). THAT is why those books are great, and that is why they've stood the test of time.
Tolkien did that as well as made the story telling INTERESTING, made us care about what happened, rather thatn just dry storytelling. My heart was in my throat when Frodo finally reached the Cracks of Doom, I was sweating in anticipation to find out what was happening in the great battles taking place outside the gates of Mordor, as well as the conflict at Orthanc and at Minas Tirith (excuse me if I get the Two Towers and Return of the King mixed up). And I can't be the only one that was excited when the "Sword that was Broken" was renewed.
That is epic storytelling. These are excellent books. To say anything less says something about the reader.
El riesgo vive siempre!
This movie would have been a huge flop if AOL/TW hadn't put the entire might of it's marketing army behind it. The last product with this much hype was WindowsXP. Doesn't this bother you even a teeny little bit?
Tolkein was no Shakespeare, no Chaucer, no Hemingway, no Faulkner, etc.
... mishmash, baldly told, with little style. Moving on to Spenser, there's no doubt that Spenser's poetic and descriptive gifts are far above Tolkien's - when he's on. A good part of the Fairie Queen, however, is dull and lifeless, and if there's an overall plot to it, it got lost somewhere.
No, he wasn't, but then, few authors are. Tolkien's major relative failings are his prose style, which is servicible and clear, but rarely memorable, and his characterization, which is somewhat flat, without being too cliche'd. His strengths, however, put him among the greats of our century. If anyone has managed to create a complex world with a multi layered, epic mythology and married it seemlessly to a moving and relevant plot, it's escaped my attention. You've compared him to Malory, which is a good start - Malory takes the mishmash of Arturian myth and turns it into a
Moving on to Chretien DeTroyes, again, as far as I can tell in translation, he's a much better stylist, but his organizational skills were lacking. The Eddas and Sagas have a baldness of style that can be appealing but again, don't quite make a coherent whole. I could go on and on, hop, skipping and jumping in and out of the fantasy genre, but I'll save us some trouble by saying that I don't know of anyone in the field who's come up with a world of this kind of depth and integrated it so well into a meaningful story.
As far as the rest of modern literature is concerned, what are we comparing him to? SF novels? - not many can come close to him in that field, either. Mainstream literature? I don't suppose Tolkien had much to say about middle class angst in America or the joys of growing up in the ethnic subculture of the week, which seems to be what the modern novel has devolved into. There are a lot of good novelists around these days, but they have little to say that a lot of other good novelists aren't saying either. There were a lot of good novelists of the last century who aren't being read anymore. I can be fairly certain in 500 years that people will be reading Kafka, Joyce, and Faulkner, and to a lesser extent Hemingway. And yes, they'll be reading Tolkien. He's already had an enormous influence on culture - not just in the fantasy genre, but in the concept of creating a fictional world so thoroughly that the reader/viewer has no choice but to be caught up in it totally. He was the one who showed the creators of Star Wars, Star Trek and Dune how it had to be done. Anyone who wants to create a unique place for his characters to interact with depth HAS to study Tolkien and how he did it. He had his weaknesses as a writer, none of them fatal, but in the matter of world-making, he was the master.
I can't help but wonder how depressed Tolkein, a true scholar, would feel about the 'literary genre' he ended up founding.
When I try, I can visualize him delivering a significantly more intelligent and intense version of Shatner's 'get a life' anti-Trekkie rant.
He would DEFINITELY want nothing to do with all the drippy neopaganism that the genre has inspired.
To those who stayed until the end of the credits:
Right near the very end there were a couple of lines of what I presume to be elven text. Are there any elven-fluent Slashdotters who happen to know what they said?
I'm extremely curious, and haven't been find the answer anywhere...
~Matt
Did anyone notice:
1. The song Gandalf kept singing when he was int he Shire? "The Road Goes Ever On"...
2. The comments made (mainly in the Shire scenes) that were the titles to the chapters in the book?
I thought it was kinda neat...
Well, I'm enough of a geek to see it twice today. I'm well-acquainted with the books, but not such a nut that I've read the Silmarillion. Smiley. Here are some observations, with spoilers:
Honestly, I was a little disappointed the first time. The reasons may have been personal, since I know the books pretty well, but I nevertheless had this feeling. Some nitpicks --- the direction seemed too choppy in some places, to the extent that I wasn't buying a reasonable passage of time. Gandalf leaves the Shire, and is suddenly at Gondor (which was unnamed --- probably a mystery to any newbies). He then shows up back in the Shire. In the books, this takes something like 17 years before he pieces together evidence for Bilbo's ring to be the One. It is nowhere near that long here, but how long was it? Gandalf says the march through Moria will take 4 days, but it really seems like the same day that they emerge. I know we can't tell the passage of time easily in the mines, but maybe there could have been some short shots of eating and sleeping. My wife, a LOTR newbie, thought that they were only in Lothlorien overnight, when they were supposed to have been there a couple of weeks to rest and mourn. These are nitpicky things, but they added up to a rushed feel. There was no mention made that the Sword that was Broken was reforged. Maybe this is revealed later. It would have been nice to make more obvious how the Elves fate is bound to the quest --- that much of their power is derived from the 3 rings they own, and that will end when/if the One is destroyed. At Bree, Strider never mentions that he is Gandalf's friend, so one could wonder what the heck he is doing there, and why the hobbits should follow him at all. The thing that bothered me perhaps more than the others is the allegiance between Saruman and Sauron. Saruman even uses the Palantir to "talk" to Sauron and do his bidding. Didn't Saruman want the ring for himself in the books? It is much more interesting that way, and I can't imagine why that was changed.
All those nitpicks aside, the second viewing was wonderful. I knew the discrepancies the second time, and could sit back and enjoy the scenery and the score. The books are so dear to me that it is really hard to give the movie some kind of objective rating. Other than small things like the above, the movie matched very well my imaginings. It is now one of my favorites of all time, but that hasn't as much meaning as it would normally because I would probably love a movie consisting of two guys in t-shirts reading the book to each other. I have a hunch that with the next two, the pacing will improve. There just aren't as many different scenes and landscapes to cover, as well as no need for as much introductory material. The finished trilogy should be nothing short of tremendous.
Can't wait to see "Frodo Lives" spray-painted in the NYC subway system again :)
1) The movie didn't explicitly mention that Galadriel was wearing one of the Three Rings. That's important, as well as the fact that when the One Ring is destroyed, so will be the elven rings' powers.
2) Frodo stabbed one of the Dark Riders on the Hilltop before he was stabbed; he didn't just fall and cower from them. They didn't really need to make him look weaker in the first fight, did they?
3) It's OK they left out the long poems, but I think some of the essential Tolkien quality is missing, and I think it was some of the poetry. They snipped "All that is gold does not glitter / Not all those who wander are lost" which is my favorite Bilbo poem.
4) They didn't include Sauraman's magical cloak ("... an old man, swathed in a great cloak, the colour of which was not easy to tell, for it changed if they moved their eyes or if he stirred".) It would have been nice, cinematically, if when he was confronting Gandalf, he threw off his white cloak and had the multi-color cloak on underneith.
...Saw it at 10pm on Tuesday, since it got released earlier in Canada!
HOWTO get better dates on slashdot
Later I realized how appropriate it actually was, and I think Tolkein would've agreed. Arwen Undomiel is the great-great-granddaughter of the elvish princess Luthien Tinuviel who dared the gates of hell (Angband) to recover the Silmarillion and to be with her lover, the mortal man Beren. She was the great-granddaughter of the foresighted and brave elvish princess Idril Celebrindal, who led her people out of the doomed city of Gondolin during the War of the Silmarils. She was the granddaughter of Elwing, who threw herself into the sea rather than let her estranged relatives the sons of Feanor take the Silmaril by force. And last but hardly least, she was the granddaughter of Galadriel who helped lead the Noldor out of the Blessed Realm into Middle Earth to fight the War of the Silmarils.
Having her take the place of Glorfindel in fighting off the Ringwraiths is entirely in character.
"I his bow, and spun and wove, likes you." Vere de Vere out of my mould's mouth dragged me of the voluntary apes.
Just got back from the movie, it's 2:13AM and I have to work tommorow but I don't care, I think I'm going to be up until dawn reading Two Towers.
:) Confrontation between Frodo and Gandalf is BEAUTIFUL. McKellan (sp?) will almost certainly have a nomination for this movie, as should Holm for supporting. After the party is where they really start slicing and dicing. There's almost no sense of time passing between Bilbo leaving and when the shit hits the fan. After Gandalf entrusts the ring to Frodo, he leaves in a hurry, we see him surveying Mordor, and reading up on the ring inscription, then he's back in Bag End all freaked out, and convinces Frodo to leave at once, literally pick up a cloak and out the door. (The riders are already asking questions by this point) No long planning, selling Bag End, to the Sackville-Bagginses, etc.. all gone. Gandalf tells him (and Sam, with the whole window scene) to go to Bree where he will meet them at the Prancing Pony. He tells them he will consult Saruman on what to do and leaves, shortly later we see his battle and imprisonment at Isengard. Frodo and Sam just happen to run into Merry and Pippin stealing from Farmer Maggot's (whom we never meet) field. Then there are some scenes with them evading the riders (no encounter with the elven band), and then they are in Bree. No Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, Barrow Downs or Wights.
:)
:) Legolas is exactly as imagined, DAMN he's good with that bow. Bean's Boromir I thought was a trifle too evil and "spot the bad guy"-able, in the book I always got the impression he was the thoughtful, patriotic type, who only really falters briefly at the end.
:) Balrog is better :) The whole Bridge of Kazad-dum and flight from Moria is better than I could have imagined. No dwelling at Mirrormere though, and no Orc army pursuing the Fellowship and getting butchered by the Lothlorien Elves, which is a pity. No sleeping on a platform, no blindfolded walk through Lorien. The tree city is very cool though. I've read some complaints about Galadriel, but I thought she was excellent. Maybe a little bit more witchy than the book, for sure, but very effective regardless. Her speech to Gimli which has a very transforming effect in the book on his relationship with Legolas is missing. Frodo doesn't see the "figure in white" in Galadriel's mirror, which was always the one image that stuck out to me in the book. Also, Frodo doesn't discover she is a bearer of one of the Elf Rings. I bet Jackson didn't want to have to explain why the Ring-Wraiths became evil and twisted, but Galadriel is still good. I wish they had put a bit more effort into Lothlorien, I wonder if there will be a director's cut of this movie?
.... sleep.. no... must.. read.. farther.. my.. precioussss..... we cannot get out... they are coming...
This is not intended to be a review, just a random compilation of thoughts and perceptions concerning the movie in no particular order. Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors, I'm not going to take the time to proof read and correct anything after I write it. There will probably be SPOILERS, but the story's pretty widely known anyway, so what's the big deal?
I feel almost like I just woke up from the best dream I ever had, the movie has an almost dreamlike, surreal feel to it because it flows so fast, glosses over so many details, because it has to, the story and world is so vast, and they've packed so much in. I've been trying to replay the entire movie in my head ever since I walked out of the theatre, savouring every scene's memory before it fades. And I know I will get more from it another time through.
I have read the books before, a long time ago. I re-read Fellowship a few weeks before the movie, to have a fresh image for comparison. Watching the movie felt like reading the book, and that's the highest compliment I can pay it. Most of the dialog is changed, and tons is skipped, despite a blistering 3 hours where not a second is wasted.
OK I'm really going to get into some major SPOILERS now, last warning for anyone who hasn't seen the movie and wants maximum surprise.
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Bilbo's party was excellent, very true to the book. Wish they included more of his final speech. No flash-bang either from Gandalf, but all is forgiven for his fireworks
I imagined Aragorn with a deeper voice, but other than that tiny quibble, Viggo is perfect as Strider. Weathertop is great, the battle is actually on top. Frodo/Ring-Vision is very cool, everything is ethereal and ghostily flaming. Ringwraiths are genuinely creepy. They camp in the petrified Troll glade from The Hobbit but don't discuss it at all. Arwen replaces Glorfindel's role as Frodo's rescuer, and there are a few brief romance moments between her and Aragorn in Rivendell. Liv Tyler gives a very mature and believable performance; it actually stands out. I was surprised. The Council of Elrond was reeeeeeally short. No storytelling. I agree with other posts that I still see Agent Smith when I look at Weaving. Kept expecting him to pull out a cell phone and say "They have the ring. Find them and destroy them. I hate this place; this smell. I must leave--for the West." but I digress. He still does a good Elrond, it's just that he did such a great Agent Smith
John Rhyes-Davies is absolutely unrecognizable as a loud angry Gimli, he's great
One real gripe: Gimli was expecting a warm welcome at Moria, he had no sense of foreboding or worry at all. In the book he was hoping to find something, even though messages from Balin's little decorating team had ceased decades previously. In the movie he bellows confidently about dwarven hospitality and roaring fires and such they can expect, while Gandalf and Strider exchange knowing glances about the horrors of Moria. It just doesn't make any sense for their conflicting attitudes towards Moria, with no discussion or resolution.
The battle at Balin's tomb is greatly extended, in the book they essentially just throw the Orcs back momentarily with a flurry of flighting, retreat down some stairs and Gandalf brings down the ceiling. Cave Troll is cool
No gollum/log spotting on the Anduin. The giant Gondor King statues are breathtaking. They stray a bit into Two Towers with the Orc attack, Boromir's death, which is a better place to end it, I thought. It ends with Frodo and Sam on the brink of Mordor, and Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn in pursuit of the Orcs that captured Merry and Pippin. Saruman seems way more in league with Sauron than in the book... but I think it still likely he will chase his own ambition in the next two films.
Well I guess that's a long enough comparison of the book.. What would I give this movie? 98%. This is truly a unique movie... and to think that this is only a third of it, the other films should have the same momentum and feeling throughout. I can't wait to see it again, or the next two films.
Time to
"Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
Was I the only one who thought that Frodo was too passive and never given a chance to demonstrate his strenght & resolve? I don't understand why Jackson cut Frodo's defiance at Weathertop, Frodo's defiance at the Ford, Frodo's attack on the troll in the hall of records when Boromir's assult failed (wait, that one was to enable exciting computer graphics.) Frodo wasn't always effective, but at least (in the book) he was trying to direct his own fate rather than immediately falling back on others.
I don't know if this is correct or not, but me and my friends have been arguing about this one thing:
When someone [mortal] puts on the ring, don't they still cast a shadow? I remember at one point in The Hobbit when Bilbo is trying to esacpe from what I believe was a Goblin/Orc stronghold, he almost makes it out of the door, but his shadow is seen and chased after.
My friends arguments are that either this isn't a fact, or that it is, but the scenes where Frodo/Bilbo puts on the Ring are all shot at night/dark... I don't know, if there's light for scenery to be seen, there should be a shadow... It seems like an important feature of the ring, taking away everything but your shadow. I hope this thread isn't too old for anyone to see it, my friends and I need answers...
When I first stumbled out of the theatre at 3 am, chittering like a Tasmanian Devil on amphetamines... I came to Slashdot, to share my hyper-jittery ramblings with the world.
Luckily perhaps for the world, (and maybe due to my slightly 'altered state'*) I couldn't find a topic on Slashdot for FOTR.
So I spent 3 hours buzzing out by myself in my room.
(Yes.
It was a work day - not that I recall much of it.)
(*Just a lethally potent combination of V (an Energy Drink), Vodka, and Fellowship of the Rings)
How can I convey the emotions I felt?
It was Epic.
It was Legendary.
It was Big.
All other movies seem so small in comparison - plain and 2 dimensional (don't nit pick - I'm being metaphorical because I know they are all 2 dimensional).
Perhaps it was the scenery, perhaps the story line, perhaps the otherworldly setting so far removed from our everyday life...
When I reached home, I was consumed by a need to do *something*.
I wanted to see the movie again.
I wanted to see the next movie.
I wanted to run away with some Elves.
I wanted to go camping*.
I wanted to play with fire**.
(* Yes it was between 3.30 am and 6 am on a workday - but see what I wrote further down about Middle Earth. I actually feel sorry for all the people who don't live here....
** I have a fire staff. http://incendium.org/movies4.htm - but I was gonna burn if I played while in that state...)
The scenery amazed. Yes there was CGI effects, but the real landscape covered in the movie contributed to that whole 'big' feeling. The Shire, Hills, flatlands, Mountains, Snow and Forests...
You do get that feeling sometimes...
If you go to the wilderness areas of New Zealand. Like the National Parks.
Watching dawn burning away a misty/ghostly veil over tussockland at dawn, or tree-moss and ferns in the glowing in the green light of the forest.
You forget you're soaked through, have spent the night under a mere tarpaulin, are carrying a horrible heavy pack.
I've lived here my whole life and still, sometimes it's purely mystical.
I didn't know if the movie would be able to capture that, but when I was watching the movie, I was just filled with amazement because...
I live in Middle Earth.
(Yes, I live in New Zealand. The movie was entirely made here (if you were unaware...)
But I still hope that people in other countries sometimes... 'see a bit of Middle Earth' in their homelands too.)
I am not in a position to debate departures from the 'Canon' of the book - because I have not read LOTR, (long explanation, but I do read Raymond E. Feist, Guy Gavriel Kay, David Eddings, David Gemmell, Sara Douglass, etc, etc, etc...).
From what I have heard, Peter Jackson has stuck pretty close to the original story, but has adapted and moved various details in order to better keep the soul of the story intact in a very different, visual medium.
The characters - were all amazing, although Liv Tyler seemed a little too like Liv Tyler rather than Arwen (although subtle effects like the 'elf glow' when Frodo saw her first, and looking more human at other times - stuck in my head for some reason), Gimli seemed like a good character - but he didn't have much of a role in this movie, and Legolas...
Well he also didn't say very much - and yet I still came down with a rather nasty elf fetish.
<waxing lyrical about male elves>
Yes, you heard me - til now I'd resisted that particular allure (it's almost as bad/sad as the common Vampire or Dragon fetishes/obsessions) - but FOTR... got me bad.
Grace, Nobility, catlike features - I'm put in mind of mind of the animals of the wild such as Eagles, Stags, Wildcats and Panthers...
In other words,
Legolas is one fricken sexy beast.
As they say in Quenya* "Mano mardenna?" and "A helta ar caita caimanna!"
(*see further down)
<negative gossip> :P
That isn't to say I'm completely associating the actor with the character - Orlando Bloom was apparently kinda sleazy to a woman here in Nelson, New Zealand. I don't know how drunk he was, but fairly un-good behaviour...
</negative gossip>
</waxing lyrical about elves>
What is the most awful thing about the movie?
Yep, the whole year till the sequel.
So, what do you do while waiting for the sequel?
I'm gonna go watch the movie repeatedly of course...
and get the Directors Cut from somewhere...
and finally read the damn books....
Oh, and there's also Sindarin, Quenya etc.
:)
For those of you that don't know, Tolkien invented several languages for his books including Sindarin, Quenya and also written forms of both... see http://www.forodrim.org/daeron/md_parl.html for more info. The swords and other things in the movie have proper meaningful inscriptions on them. So why not go totally geek and learn a near-pointless language just because... umm, 1. you'll know something other people won't, 2. it sounds and looks beautiful, and... 3. you clocked FFX already...
And what about Archery? :)
Way kickass... I'm getting a friend of mine is going to show me how to use an (admittedly more modern-style) compound bow when he's next in town
Although, perhaps I didn't just get that from the movie:
I mentioned the archery thing to my Mother, she told me about a little flat she'd lived in....
They had no TV, no money, but they did have a very long, thin, main room - and a crossbow.
Hmmmm, and here I was thinking that was the sort of thing only my friends would do?!?
She's said if ever get rich, I have to buy her a Crossbow...
Cool.
Okay, I'm ending the incoherent ramblings now.
:)
I've got to find out when FOTR is next showing...
Namárie
---- I've fallen, and I can't get up.