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.
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.
No, the book gives the impression that everyone thinks Frodo has been spitted by an orc spear and killed; the movie is correct on this point (one's physical reaction to getting one's wind knocked out versus actually being speared would be nearly identical). Where the movie has compressed events is that the mithril coat is revealed immediately, whereas in the book Frodo tries to conceal the existence of the chain mail coat, until forced to reveal it after they have left Moria and Aragorn tends to his wounds.
They forgot to show Strider's sword being made whole again!
My hunch is that they will show the reforging of Narsil/Anduril in The Two Towers, and probably have Arwen deliver the sword to Aragorn just before or after the battle at Helm's Deep. Anduril does not become crucial until The Return of the King, where it functions as a legitimizing symbol of Aragorn's ancestry and claim to the throne of Gondor. Plus having Arwen deliver it helps solidify her larger role in the movies.
On the second viewing, the movie blew me away. You'll notice things you missed the first time. This movie rocks! I encourage everyone to see it a second time.
BTW, I heard the director's cut DVD won't come out until 2004... does anyone know if this is true?
Maybe I was, but if time was the issue, I would have given up knowing how Saruman's orc army was made. I would have soaked in two more hours of soft background on the main characters (even if I already know them) than experience the birth of orcs whom we are just going to behead later.
I think I will go again the day after Christmas.
Very well put. I had just those sorts of tears, the sort of, "Gosh, this is perfect" tears. Other kids of tears, too; not quite flowing as they did with Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot, but lots of welling and trickling.
Dan
I saw the movie twice in two different theaters. In the first, Boromir's horn sounded very flat. (Guess the hi-tones were discarded in favor of more bass.) In the second, the room acoustics were worse but the sound was actually better. It sounded more like a hunting horn but still not the ringing blast to give a Balrog pause, as I expected. And they left THAT moment out, too!
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