Fellowship of the Ring Sliced and Diced

Vanity | 12/24/01 | Gordian Blade

[RayChuang88]

Thanks for your excellent review!

I think a lot of people kind of dislike the movie's ending because it ends in a cliffhanger. I have news for those people: that's the way the first Lord of the Rings volume ended!

I can just imagine how is this crowd going to respond to the even more cliffhanger ending to The Two Towers next December. (rolling eyes skyward)

[an amused spectator]

You and I could probably go on for a while about the treatment of the Saruman character. I'm not sure that the subtleties involved with the subplots of the Istari and the Palantiri as presented by Tolkien are explainable to a modern-day film audience (video, but not book-literate).

I liked the scene where the Gandalf character showed deference to Saruman. Most excellent scene.

You are probably right about "the gee how clever I am" lines, but again, we are left with an audience that is probably not equipped to grasp the subtlety (of course, they may have been better for the exposure to it).

Your closing comments on the DVD presentation pretty much mirrored mine. I think that this (and wide screen HDTV projection) will make this a huge hit after it's released to the home audience.

BTW - I, too, noticed the weakness of the soundtrack, but I didn't catch a whole lot of Enya in the FOTHR. I'm presuming that much of her stuff will come later on.

I'm actually looking for a specific thing in this whole treatment to determine whether Jackson has brought it off. You may know what I'm talking about. In my initial reading (lo these many years ago), I was completely taken by surprise when Evenstar's banner unfurled above the Corsair fleet at the moment of Eomer's defiance. I had absorbed the other stuff relating to the arrival of Halbarad and the march on the Havens, but was reading so fast and was so distracted by the other great events that I was "gobsmacked".

If Jackson can bring THAT bit off, I'm sold. Tolkien came in under the radar with that whole bit of the narrative. If Jackson realizes that and does the same thing, then I know that he is a master.

[Long Cut]

An altogether exellent review, sir. I myself have seen FOTR twice now, and I want to see it again. I'm 34 years old, and I have not felt that way about a movie for what seems ages. It is truly the movie of the decade, at least or me. Not even the "Star Wars" series of toy commercials comes close, and I saw that when it was first released.
It's odd. the last movie I got exited about was a horrible let-down, and a terrible attack on its source material, to boot. That was GODZILLA '98. Since then, Hollywood has produced an unbroken string of formulaic, ripped-off remakes of remakes and sequels. I desperately wanted to feel the childlike giddiness I felt back in the day when I saw such fun flicks as "Star Wars" (before the merchandising), E.T. (before it was modified to PC status by Spielberg) and others.
Peter Jackson brought that feeling back. For me, and a lot of other movie fans, that's just what we needed, especially in these trying times. For that alone, but more for the obvious passion and attention to detail he put into this work, he'll get my money. I'll wait for "Episode Two" to play cable.

[PoorMuttly]

BUMP. You understand.

I like Elvish, too.

Never a great fan of the book, though...but this presentation made me one. I appreciate excellent literature. This was written by an author.

It was directed and shot like a proper, old-fashioned epic...which are my favorites.

[4Freedom]

Great review.

LOTR is a great movie. I've seen it twice and I enjoyed it both times.

I believe all 3 episodes will be equally good. The whole cast and crew say they genuinely love the tale and it shows.

I hope it makes alot of money, because I'd like to see more films like this.

[Mitchell]

But one thing about pi -- and other interesting numbers, like the square root of 2 -- really threw the Greeks for a loop: pi cannot be exactly expressed as the ratio of any two whole (integer) numbers. These types of numbers are termed irrational because they cannot be expressed exactly as the ratio of any two whole numbers.

Not to be too picky here, but the ancient Greeks didn't know that pi is irrational. Lambert proved the irrationality of pi in 1761. (The Greeks did know that the square root of 2 is irrational, of course.)

Sorry not to have any real comments on the movie. I haven't read the rest of your review, since I haven't seen LOTR yet, and I'm trying to avoid any spoilers.

[Cascadians]

Best movie we've ever seen.
Got the movie music CD and another one called "Music Inspired by Middle Earth."
Very nice Christmas season, this. The mood is just right! :-)

[4Freedom]

Very nice Christmas Season, this. The mood is just right.

Yeah, I think we snuck one by the liberals.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[codebreaker]

I saw it with a lot of non-Rings diehards, and there were people saying out loud at the end..THAT'S IT? or THREE HOURS FOR THAT

Even a half hearted stab at a final ending would have been nice.

[Cicero]

I thought it was a terrific movie, and I also look forward to the director's cut on DVD. My children and I do have a minor objection to Lothlorien. There was not enough of the golden TREES, and a lot too much in the way of gothic gingerbread stuck through what trees there were. In the book the elves have flets and rope ladders, not a bunch of arches & fancy decor. They live simply. And when Galadriel got all puffed up and EVIL looking, that was a mistake too. She is supposed to look TERRIBLE at that moment, but not evil. Terrible as God and the angels are terrible.

[Gordian Blade]

You've got me there about the Greeks and pi. They probably guessed that it might be like the square root of 2 (at least they should have guessed) but they didn't prove it. Maybe they didn't want it to be irrational so they didn't try very hard!

[Gordian Blade]

I'm going to have to disagree with you about Galadriel. Perhaps the movie wasn't as clear as the book, but in the book, Galadriel realizes that if she obtains the Ring, she will turn the world into a beautiful garden tended by loving slaves. But they will be slaves stripped of their Free Will, in a way almost as evil as what Saruman has in mind. Whoever succumbs to the Ring, even Galadriel, will become Evil in the end.

[airedale]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but in one review it mentioned that near the end it was Frodo who was making the decisions rather than Strider. Did they get that part right according to the book or is the reviewer correct?

[x]

I will wait for the Broadway musical version or the Hong Kong martial arts one.

Not having read the book, I expect to see Keebler elves, leprechauns (hearts, lucky clovers, bright stars) or furry things like Chewbacca or Cousin It from the Addams Family. Having heard the casting and constumes are very different and disppointed that some Elijah Wood person snatched the role of lead elf from Winona Ryder, I will stay away from this one.

[Gordian Blade]

A little spoiler alert here: In both the book and the movie, it is Frodo who decides that he must leave the fellowship behind and go forward alone, with Sam eventually catching up and forcing Frodo to take him. But in the movie, Aragorn has one quick word with Frodo to convey his blessing and understanding before Frodo departs. I'm not sure why they felt they had to put that in.

[Gordian Blade]

Winona Ryder was too busy trying to make merchandise vanish so the role had to go to Wood, sorry to disappoint you.

[Dr. Good Will Hunting]

LOTR is a great film. Check out: Random Acts Of Kindness For Christmas

[billbears]

Yes, but I had a problem with that as well. I understand again that they couldn't go too in depth in the movie, but the only feeling I got from the Wood Elves in this version were they were distrustful(which Tolkien does bring across) but hateful as well. The scenes with Gimli and Sam do need to be there to soften Galadriel to the audience

As for the issue with Saruman, I think something else is missing here. Can't put my finger on it, but it wasn't played well. The problem is that if you delve to long into the whole issues with the orders and the wizards role was in Middle Earth's history, you're going to lose a lot of the audience

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

I will wait for the Broadway musical version or the Hong Kong martial arts one.

Not having read the book, I expect to see Keebler elves, leprechauns (hearts, lucky clovers, bright stars) or furry things like Chewbacca or Cousin It from the Addams Family. Having heard the casting and constumes are very different and disppointed that some Elijah Wood person snatched the role of lead elf from Winona Ryder, I will stay away from this one.

You suprise me; I would have thought that a troll such as yourself, would want to see this movie!