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We finally saw Return of the King last night. I liked it a lot. But it was hard to keep a straight face.
Did anyone else think, when they saw the armies of Mordor marching out of the green, glowing Minas Morgul, "oh-eeh-oh, ee-oh-oh! oh-eeh-oh, ee-oh-oh!"? Or wonder if Pippin was going to see the ruby slippers in the Palantir? At least Treebeard didn't start flinging apples at Saruman.
And when Frodo woke up, why did he and Gandalf start laughing? That was the stupidest thing.
But, like I said, I liked it. Partly because it was fairly close to the book. There were no glaring contrivances. They made up the part about Gollum turning Frodo against Sam, but it worked well enough. The rest of Frodo and Sam's journey was very close to the book. I was impressed. The part with Shelob was very good, though as it was depicted, I don't think Sam would have stood a chance. Seems like Tolkien's was more realistic.
And the scene at the Cracks of Doom, where Frodo was to throw the ring in, was very good. Except maybe that little cliffhanger at the end.
But all in all, I liked it, as I did the first two. And I'm glad that nobody else ever attempted to make those into movies until the technology allowed it.
Bernard Hill gave a great performance as King Theoden. I liked Sean Astin's Sam. He really looked the part. I think Andy Serkis who played Smeagol (Gollum) looked like I pictured Wormtongue. I still do not think Hugo Weaving looks like an elf. Arwen's mother must ahve been the most beautiful woman in history. I can see why the women think Voggo Mortensen (Aragorn) is so hot. But I don't think Orlando Bloom (Legolas) is all the cute. (Sam and Rosie's kids were played by the actor's and actress's kids.)
Did anyone else think, when they saw the armies of Mordor marching out of the green, glowing Minas Morgul, "oh-eeh-oh, ee-oh-oh! oh-eeh-oh, ee-oh-oh!"? Or wonder if Pippin was going to see the ruby slippers in the Palantir? At least Treebeard didn't start flinging apples at Saruman.
And when Frodo woke up, why did he and Gandalf start laughing? That was the stupidest thing.
But, like I said, I liked it. Partly because it was fairly close to the book. There were no glaring contrivances. They made up the part about Gollum turning Frodo against Sam, but it worked well enough. The rest of Frodo and Sam's journey was very close to the book. I was impressed. The part with Shelob was very good, though as it was depicted, I don't think Sam would have stood a chance. Seems like Tolkien's was more realistic.
And the scene at the Cracks of Doom, where Frodo was to throw the ring in, was very good. Except maybe that little cliffhanger at the end.
But all in all, I liked it, as I did the first two. And I'm glad that nobody else ever attempted to make those into movies until the technology allowed it.
Bernard Hill gave a great performance as King Theoden. I liked Sean Astin's Sam. He really looked the part. I think Andy Serkis who played Smeagol (Gollum) looked like I pictured Wormtongue. I still do not think Hugo Weaving looks like an elf. Arwen's mother must ahve been the most beautiful woman in history. I can see why the women think Voggo Mortensen (Aragorn) is so hot. But I don't think Orlando Bloom (Legolas) is all the cute. (Sam and Rosie's kids were played by the actor's and actress's kids.)
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Date: 2004-01-24 05:27 pm (UTC)From:Really? I didn't know that. Cool :)
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Date: 2004-01-25 10:04 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 02:34 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-24 05:57 pm (UTC)From:But I SO starting giggling at the "oo-ee-oo" scene. ;) People looked at me funny.
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Date: 2004-01-24 08:10 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-24 10:40 pm (UTC)From:Did anyone else think, when they saw the armies of Mordor marching out of the green, glowing Minas Morgul, "oh-eeh-oh, ee-oh-oh! oh-eeh-oh, ee-oh-oh!"? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!!!!
I thought all through the movie that Viggo was too dirty and just needed a damn bath, he looked greasy. I have never thought "Legolas" or Orlando was anything other than ordinary, and I thought Sam cried too much.. and yeah, the cliffhanger was too much at the end, but I really like the way they depicted Gollum and Frodo's scuffle at the end from Sam's view.
I was still irritated by the whole Arwen thing, even though I have since seen a "making of" the movie on some cable channel where Peter explained why he thought he had to create that scenario from that character, and I would have LOVED to have seen more on the development of the relationship between Aeowen (spelling?) and Faramir, but they didn't do ANYTHING at all about the halls of healing, so.. that may have been why, or it may be in the "director's cut" that comes out next year.
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Date: 2004-01-25 01:58 am (UTC)From:Sean Astin's daughter.
Kick.
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Date: 2004-01-25 04:06 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 07:10 pm (UTC)From:I do try, but it's sooooo not my genre.
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Date: 2004-01-25 10:10 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 11:42 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-26 01:00 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2004-01-25 04:25 am (UTC)From:There were a lot of changes made that didn't bother me much. The whole thing witht he reforging of the sword. Originally, that was done before the fellowship left Rivendell. This time it was done by Elrond, just in the nick of time to get it to Aragorn before the big battle, and gave Elrond an excuse to visit Aragorn and tell him about the Paths of the Dead. *Shrug*
The loss of the Eowyn/Faramir romance bothered you? I was bothered by the loss of The Scouring of the Shire and the death of Saruman. ;-) But I can see why they cut it.
It's funny about that scene at the Cracks of Doom. Sam was yelling at Frodo to throw the ring in. Frodo was stalling, and finally claimed it. I thought that anyone else but Sam would have pushed Frodo in. But Sam loved him too much.
Yeah, Viggo was a mess, but at least it was realistic. :-D And I'll have to assume that Legolas had a potion of cleanliness.
I thought that at his coronation, Aragorn looked like Jesus. And Arwen breaks into song: "I don't know how to love him..."
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Date: 2004-01-25 10:02 am (UTC)From:HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHH! THAT is great!
Legolas was an elf.. they don't attract dirt, they don't sweat and the certainly don't produce sebum! I suppose I should have looked at Aragorn as being realistic.. but they DID have water, so wash your face and neck at least. In the first movie .. or was it the second, it was the second, when everyone was realistically dirty except Eowen and she stuck out as being clean, well in the third, Aragorn stuck out as being too dirty, it was noticable enough to distract me from what was going on.
I was bothered by the loss of The Scouring of the Shire and the death of Saruman. hmm *grin* Not enough violence for you?
If you think about it.. they made a LOT of changed in all three movies with the elves.. The sword is one, they were never at helms deep, whatshisname didn't die, the list goes on and lets face it Elron wasn't NEARLY the asshole he was in the books. Overall they were a lot nicer/less scary/more helpful/a more sympathetic race than depicted in the books.. and you didn't get to see the progression they made to helpfulness. I felt the same way about Merry and Pippin in the first and second movies, you didn't really SEE how bad their behavior was, and didn't see how they developed into decent little hobbit folk and valuable members of the "team". I know it would have been impossible to go into the detail the books did, so that part didn't bother me that much.
I think the reason the Arwen thing bothered me is because she wasn't that big a deal in the books. It bothered me that they knocked out an entire character in the first movie and she took over his role when she took Frodo across the river.. and she was never DYING or attached to the ring etc. It wasn't a change to an entire race.. it was an elevation of a character, and in my opinion THAT was attached to the box office potential of the actress playing that character, NOT a necessity for the story. THAT is more what I object to. Of course is she had done more than sit around and look morose and leak tears, I might not have been so bothered by that elevation.
The level of tears in this movie by her and Sam was too.. much.
I know.. I would have pushed Frodo. *grin*
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Date: 2004-01-25 10:14 pm (UTC)From:Later on, they changed things around. And I'm mystified by tying her fate to that of the Ring. At first, when Elrond said she was dying, I thought he was just angry that she had chosen the mortal path.
But some of the things they added were taking place, just behind the scenes. They would have had to have left Arwen out completely, for anything ot make sense to most viewers.
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Date: 2004-01-26 12:32 am (UTC)From:Peter said in the interview that he expanded Arwen's role because the reality of making a hollywood blockbuster was there had to be a major love interest integral to the entire film, and there had to be a CHOICE between possibilities. *shrug* He is the film maker, so I guess he knows.. I still think that formulas like that.. devalue the audience in advance.. as if we wouldn't be interested in a quality story unless it followed a certain path.
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Date: 2004-01-26 04:42 am (UTC)From:as if we wouldn't be interested in a quality story unless it followed a certain path. I wonder what percentage of the people are like you and me, who would just as soon see no romance in all these films.
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Date: 2004-01-26 10:33 am (UTC)From:The Scouring of the Shire
Date: 2004-01-25 01:46 pm (UTC)From:When I read the third book, I was a little uncomfortable with the whole Saruman's Back to Provide One Last Challenge to the Otherwise-Victorious Hobbits ending. It was rather anti-climactic for me, and it seemed like it had been tacked on at the end. Of course, I haven't read the books in years, so my memory of how the book ended is a mite dodgy.
Re: The Scouring of the Shire
Date: 2004-01-26 12:27 am (UTC)From:Re: The Scouring of the Shire
Date: 2004-01-26 04:37 am (UTC)From:But more importantly, The whole story is about the changing of the world. It is the beginning of the age of man. The Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits are all fading away. Since the story began with the Hobbits, and has them as our anchor, it is only fitting to demonstrate the changes that will be wrought in their world.