Julian
Inter spem metumque iacto
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2003
- Messages
- 883
Okay, watched the movie yesterday. Here are some thoughts.
Basically, I thought the first half - roughly: up to but not including Shelob - was brilliant. For the first time in all three movies, I was just sitting there, not just impressed but enjoying things tremendously. That's saying something for someone who has had to regurgitate every minute of the extended version of the two earlier films a number of times to appreciate their undeniable worth.
Highlights: Gandalf riding through Minis Tirith, as seen from above the city. Simply awesome. And then the beacons being lit. Suddenly, something of the much needed sense of depth - of space, a real world. Really beautiful.
And then things started to go downhill a bit. Shelob starts that - unlike others here, I found her a disappointment. In the book, she's a character. In the movie, she's just a monster. Too big, too fat, too unsubtle.
Then Pelennor Fields. Things start to get rushed here. Helm's Deep had this wonderful build-up; here, the Orcs et al. just roll in and the battle starts before you know it. Unfortunate, since in the book, the moments before the battle is actually engaged are well used to expand the story's depth, as the anxious inhabitants of Minis Tirith greet the disparate but valiant allies that trickle into their city from the far corners of the world.
There's another problem with Pelennor. Way too much emphasis is given to the (too large) Oliphants of the Haradrim. Others have mentioned that Eowyn's confrontation with the Witch-King of Angmar (the Nazgul Lord) is unsatisfactory, but the main reason for this is not that that particular scene is, in itself, too short, but rather that it fades into relative insignificance compared to length of the Oliphant scenes. Frankly, I feel this to be a rather major misjudgement on Jackson's part: it simply disparages the true epic scale of the the confrontation and dumbs it down to David and Goliath stuff.
Downhill? Well, things get rushed after this. Where the first half of the film flows along gracefully, the second seems unbalanced. I agree with just about everything Stewart has said earlier - although I am sure a number of issues raised will be re-adressed by the extended version (which, to hazard a guess, will not even be close to 4 hours and 40 minutes, but much, much shorter. Unfortunately.)
And the folliwing could be added.
After Pelennor, the ride to Mordor is just too swift. It's also an anti-climax - all this, just for a diversion? And where did everyone leave their horses? Suddenly, they're all on foot. And why didn't Sauron mass greater forces against Minis Tirith if he could so easily have them gather in time before the Black Gate? These questions are not just unanswered, but also unasked in the film. The timing's off - Jackson's trying to do too much, too swiftly.
And yes, Evil Agent, I have to agree with some of people above when they criticise the ending. It's drawn out. Drawn out ostensibly, since, as Golinob points out, it suffers from a number of blackouts which automatically lead viewers to the idea that movie has alreay ended. It's a strange editing flaw, one I can't explain, really. But drawn out also for the simple reason that there are too many "endings". There's Frodo waking up to find his Fellowship companions flocking in to greet him; there's Aragorn being crowned, only to have the entire crowd present bowing to the the Hobbits; there's the return to The Shire; there's the Grey Havens. It's repetitious.
Having said that, it might be a question of Jackson not wanting to bring things to that final end. Maybe he found it difficult to stop. If that's the case, I really can't fault him - The Lord Of The Rings is the greatest story every told, and bringing it to the screen against all odds might very well be the greatest cinematographical achievement in history.
Basically, I thought the first half - roughly: up to but not including Shelob - was brilliant. For the first time in all three movies, I was just sitting there, not just impressed but enjoying things tremendously. That's saying something for someone who has had to regurgitate every minute of the extended version of the two earlier films a number of times to appreciate their undeniable worth.
Highlights: Gandalf riding through Minis Tirith, as seen from above the city. Simply awesome. And then the beacons being lit. Suddenly, something of the much needed sense of depth - of space, a real world. Really beautiful.
And then things started to go downhill a bit. Shelob starts that - unlike others here, I found her a disappointment. In the book, she's a character. In the movie, she's just a monster. Too big, too fat, too unsubtle.
Then Pelennor Fields. Things start to get rushed here. Helm's Deep had this wonderful build-up; here, the Orcs et al. just roll in and the battle starts before you know it. Unfortunate, since in the book, the moments before the battle is actually engaged are well used to expand the story's depth, as the anxious inhabitants of Minis Tirith greet the disparate but valiant allies that trickle into their city from the far corners of the world.
There's another problem with Pelennor. Way too much emphasis is given to the (too large) Oliphants of the Haradrim. Others have mentioned that Eowyn's confrontation with the Witch-King of Angmar (the Nazgul Lord) is unsatisfactory, but the main reason for this is not that that particular scene is, in itself, too short, but rather that it fades into relative insignificance compared to length of the Oliphant scenes. Frankly, I feel this to be a rather major misjudgement on Jackson's part: it simply disparages the true epic scale of the the confrontation and dumbs it down to David and Goliath stuff.
Downhill? Well, things get rushed after this. Where the first half of the film flows along gracefully, the second seems unbalanced. I agree with just about everything Stewart has said earlier - although I am sure a number of issues raised will be re-adressed by the extended version (which, to hazard a guess, will not even be close to 4 hours and 40 minutes, but much, much shorter. Unfortunately.)
And the folliwing could be added.
After Pelennor, the ride to Mordor is just too swift. It's also an anti-climax - all this, just for a diversion? And where did everyone leave their horses? Suddenly, they're all on foot. And why didn't Sauron mass greater forces against Minis Tirith if he could so easily have them gather in time before the Black Gate? These questions are not just unanswered, but also unasked in the film. The timing's off - Jackson's trying to do too much, too swiftly.
And yes, Evil Agent, I have to agree with some of people above when they criticise the ending. It's drawn out. Drawn out ostensibly, since, as Golinob points out, it suffers from a number of blackouts which automatically lead viewers to the idea that movie has alreay ended. It's a strange editing flaw, one I can't explain, really. But drawn out also for the simple reason that there are too many "endings". There's Frodo waking up to find his Fellowship companions flocking in to greet him; there's Aragorn being crowned, only to have the entire crowd present bowing to the the Hobbits; there's the return to The Shire; there's the Grey Havens. It's repetitious.
Having said that, it might be a question of Jackson not wanting to bring things to that final end. Maybe he found it difficult to stop. If that's the case, I really can't fault him - The Lord Of The Rings is the greatest story every told, and bringing it to the screen against all odds might very well be the greatest cinematographical achievement in history.
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