LotR Takes Top Spot on IMDB
Dwarf_Sibling writes "Hard to believe but with over 11,000 votes tallied LoTR:FoTR has displaced "The Godfather" as the highest rated movie at IMDB. Over time I'd guess this will fall lower, but this is an amazing accomplishment for a fantasy movie."
Votes can only be made by registered users, who are emailed a random password on registration. Also the 'Top 250' only includes voters that regulary vote.
So one not so mediocre kid with a not so mediocre script.
Saruman did join forces with Sauron in the book. Quote:
"A great power is arising. Against it the old policies and allies will not avail us at all...We may join with that power. It would be wise, Gandalf".
which gets the reply
"Saruman, I have heard such policies before, but only from the mouths of emmiseries sent by Mordor. I cannot think you have brought me so far to weary my ears."
Saruman did look into forging his own ring, yes, but the book clearly states he joins forces with Saruman.
Cheers,
Ian
It's interesting how Jackson did the script - a friend and I argued about how many scenes were shifted around. I said that very few were (we're not counting skipped or combined scenes [1]), whereas he said that they were all switched around.
Eventually we came to realize that I was referring to the actual timeline of events as they occured in Middle-Earth, whereas he was referring to how the events were portrayed in flashbacks. Some of the things in this movie are revealed in flashbacks (generally one character telling another where they were) in Two Towers, but they chronologically were set during the Fellowship story. I think this makes more sense.
[1] (Spoiler alert) The scene with the Black Riders at Weathertop with Aragorn coming to the rescue *was* one of my three unforgivable sins of the movie. After thinking about it, I'll accept it as the Barrow-Wight scene reworked with the available characters rather than introducing the Barrow Downs and Bombadil (which would have extended the movie even more, while adding little to the story - a colorful side story, yes, but very much a side story).
I can't remember what slid *into* the three unforgivable sins to replace it, but the other two were Aragorn not carrying the sword, and Galadriel not explaining that, by not accepting the ring, she was ending the Elves stay in Middle Earth - either the ring would be destroyed or go to Sauron, and her taking the ring would be the only way that they could stay - that was a big part of the temptation, and part of what made the moment powerful for me.
I liked the little details - I could recite along with Bilbo the leaving speech (with the "Proudfeets" bit), and the things like the leaf shaped carven paddles, the cloaks and broaches, etc... they were correct.
Most minor pet peeve? Showing Sauron in the flesh. But it visually and firmly set in everyone's mind that Sauron was a seriously demonic supernatural being who weilded the ring in war. I'll let it go.... and with an evil grin, I'll say this to end the post - Peter Jackson is doing a good enough job with the War of the Rings, I want to see what he can do with Arda, Akallabêth, the fall of Númenor, and the forging of the rings. With a special Fantasia like art house release of the creation story (either CG or by Studio Gainax, a la End of Evangelion). Now *that* would be a friggin prequel trilogy... and no damn Jar Jar.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien