Posted on 12/24/2001 9:31:44 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
I saw the movie on Saturday night… the latest show of the night… 8:00
The theater scene…. The show was sold out… I had pre-purchased the tickets… We showed up in line about an hour before the film started and were about 50-people back from the front of the line. With me was my brother, who read the books a few times long ago, and a girl-friend that had never read them. Everyone liked it… I was not able to talk about it coherently immediately afterwards. I hope I can now.
I was stunned to see that there were a few small children in line, both because of the subject, and because of the lateness and length of the show. There was one woman with an infant and a toddler. I don’t think I hid very well my looks of disdain at her decision to bring them. I don’t understand parents that set their children up to fail. No way would they be able to sit quietly very long.
I mentioned to my brother that the composition of the line was predominantly adult and “normal” looking. He said – “Yeah, but did you see the people that are outside?” I had not. We were approached by a Kurt-Cobain-type teenager coming out of the prior show, who bummed a smoke before telling us that the movie was awesome and that when they let us in we better “bum-rush” through the crowd to get a good seat. I thanked him for his advice, but told him we were much too old to “bum-rush” anyone.
THE MOVIE
Starting off with a RANT? – How rude!
I guess my review is going to begin with a nit-pick. I did not feel at home immediately, unlike the reports of other Freepers. When the intro began I felt that the images were changing too fast for me to study them and too dark and evil for the start. I wanted to pause it. I was thinking OH NO.
I would not have shown the dark history graphically at the start of the movie… because I think it robbed the movie of the innocence that exists in Hobbiton at the start of the Fellowship. A reader that has transitioned from the Hobbit into the Lord of the Rings has not seen those things yet. The first black riders are not fully understood by the hobbits until later. The hobbits only knew that they were REALLY BAD. Only Frodo could sense that his ring was what was drawing them, and only after meeting up with Aragorn did they learn what the ringwraiths really were.
I think the movie played right from the perspective of the hobbits, but the film audience would have been better off if we didn’t know it all yet either. In the book, we knew the ring was magic, we knew that it had powers that may be dangerous, we learn that Gandolf suspects it is something far more dangerous than anyone ever dreamed. We know that Gandolf wants it out of the Shire, but Sauron and Isildur’s bane are hints and whispers that are slowly explained throughout the first book, either told by Gandolf, or Aragorn, or Elrond from the safety of Rivendell. I spent the beginning of the film after the intro trying to clear my mind again and regain the innocence, but you can’t really.
OK – NOW the RAVE
Who was outstanding?
Frodo captured my heart. His eyes expressed enormous depth in his joy and laughter, and in the honest naivety of dutifully taking on such a burden. You can see the weight begin to build as his understanding of the enormity of the task comes over him in waves, all through his eyes as if no words needed to be spoken. That role was such a tall order, and he was so beyond perfect. Sam was also very good, but not as developed in the film yet.
Legolas was THE elf…. He was so incredibly beautiful and so shockingly deadly with his bow. His speed and beauty and grace were captivating.
Aragorn was exactly right. He is the man women want. I would follow him anywhere, trust him completely with both my life and my heart, and adore him for his rough edges that would make my father nervous.
In fact, none of the characters were wrong.
I haven’t bonded with Merry and Pippen yet, but we won’t really get to bond with them until they are drug along by the orcs, and their role in the film will really begin when they escape and meet Treebeard and the ents. I would have bonded more with them at this point had the movie lingered longer in the early story.
Gandolf is credible and very much like my vision, and Gimli was good for the shortened role he got.
Boromir has more muscle in the book, plowing through the snow like a great bear and fighting off more orcs than one man could expect to beat. His sheer strength was worth taking him along on the trip, even if we couldn’t really trust him, we would be safe as long as Aragorn was around to keep Boromir in check.
Arwen was lyrical to listen to and beautiful as well as strong. I don’t have a quarrel with her expanded role except that there was no time for us to get up to speed. The depth of her love for Aragorn and the enormity of her sacrifice seemed like to much to give up after only a few minutes of relationship screen time. It seemed rushed, but was played with such sincerity that I was able to assume there had been more to the story that we did not have the privilege to see.
I was disappointed in Galadriel. She was not lyrical to listen to, but rather an actor reciting lines that she did not feel in her heart.
I did not miss Tom Bombadil, and some of you know how big of a statement that is for me. Clearly a high-point of the book, he would never have been developed enough to fit in at the rapid pace this film was moving at.
I would have told the story with more background, more film, and less orc-fighting. There will be more than enough time for orc-fighting in the next two books. I would have slowed it down to capture more of the back-story that brought all of these cultures together to fight as a fellowship for such a seemingly impossible goal. Had I not read the books, one may never understand how complex and individually grand all these characters are.
Overall it was great, and I look forward to seeing it again. I wish I had already seen it twice before writing this to be sure of the accuracy of my first impression, but I may not have time again until next week.
I am not sure, of all movies, why Star Wars even enters conversations about this story.
1. The hideous change of expression in Bilbo's face as he grasps for the ring at Rivendell was totally unnecessary. The torment of Bilbo's soul was already apparent. By that time in the movie it seemed obvious that the ring had an evil influence on men's (and hobbitt's) souls.
2. There were several places where the movie "lied to us". The scene in the mines of Moria where it looked as though Frodo had breathed his last, only to learn moments later that nothing had really seriously happened to him at all.
3. When Galadriel was offered the ring, the physical change that took place was goofy. The same holds true for the parts of the film when Frodo put the ring on. Apart from the initial unveiling of the Ringwraiths, subsequent scenes got pretty old.
4. If that's New Zealand, then I'm moving. What a gorgeous place! ( I say this realizing some of the scenes were mixed.)
5. The huge stone gate figures on the lake were awesome.
6. Liv Tyler is a doll despite having a loser for a dad.
That scene is straight from the book. I believe Aragorn actually carries Frodo for a while believing him dead.
My adult friend that was not a reader of the books didn't "get" a lot of it. She said that she thought at various points that she hoped I would explain some of it later.
You're right, but the book gives the impression that Frodo was knocked unconscious. The long drawn out expiring process shown in the film was misleading. At least that's the impression it left with me.
I agree about the change in Galadriel. The words were right, but as I recall she was beautiful and terrible, not demon-ghost-like.
The visualization of what Frodo sees when he wears the ring was good and important. I do recall that putting on the ring made him part of another world, with only dark images of the real world. It also explains through example why the riders could not see him better when he was NOT wearing it, because they see the same thing wearing their rings, relying instead on half-blinded instinct and the "sniffing".
Star Wars ceased to be great the day George Lucas decided to make Greedo shoot first. Alas, Lucas killed his own magnificent spawn. (yeah, exaggeration for effect. But the intense wussification of Lucas over the decades has been a sad and pathetic spectacle to behold).
A little less reliance on "hi-tech" by the moviemakers could have helped. After 3 hours of sensory bombardment, I too was longing for my hobbit hole in the Shire.
The cast was great, and I was glad they chose such an outstanding actor as Sean Bean for the role of my favorite character, Boromir.
I know what you mean... I think that is why it took 2 days before I was able to come back to FR and talk about it.
I agree! The Hobbit is the proper starting point. After reading it, you really care about Hobbits. And you need to care about Hobbits to care whether their peaceful world is destroyed. If you just jump into FOTR, you don't fully appreciate how unlikely a hero a Hobbit is.
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