Posted on 12/21/2001 9:13:47 AM PST by maquiladora
I sincerely hope that Sean Bean gets at least a nomination for Supporting Actor. We shall see...
Even though I sad the movie a second time today, I can't help but feel sadness that it's over. My mind keeps going back to certain moments in the film, and my heart aches. It is rare that even a book does that for me, so the cast and crew deserve great praise.
AND I bought myself a new copy of the trilogy, and the Hobbit, to start reading immediately after the film. I was uncomfortable buying the "new" printings with the film characters on the front cover. I have not bonded with them yet.
I hope that in time I can love these new books as much as I loved my precious, dog-eared, maple-syrup-stuck, cover-missing old books that jrherreid stole from me!
In our company attending tonight will be my brother Ramius and a friend who has neither read the books, nor any of the type. I am a little worried about her, I hope she likes it. She likes legal thrillers like Grisham, Steven King and Lifetime [Channel] movies, so at least I know the violence won't be too much for her.
No, you are not alone in that. The books describe the Balrog as a demon of might and power. It was described as haveing a "man-shape, maybe" It was a being of fire and shadow. If it had wings (and it does in the movie) they were described as "wings of shadow." Gandalf (back in Bag End) and Galadriel (in The Mirror scequence) had effects applied to them that were reminiscent of the way the Balrog in the book asserts its presence. For some reason, they went for making a creature so large that it looked silly when it crosses swords with Gandalf. Bigger than Gandalf is one thing. Like head and shoulders bigger. But not wooly-mammoth-vs.-lone-hunter bigger!
Peter Jackson is doing the same thing with a couple of other things in the book which are fairly subtle, like the whole Saruman - Sauron Axis. Bringing out the Palantir early and highlighting Saruman's connection to Sauron does this well. The movie implies that Saruman was basically enslaved to Sauron but I dont get that from the books at all. My reading was that Saruman had turned evil but he was hoping to challenge Sauron for the title of Ultimate Dark Lord. It will be interesting to see how Jackson develops this Theme in the next movies.
The descent of Orthanc from a beautiful Garden into an ugly Orc-pit was not explicitly highlighted in the book but obviously must have happened, Tolkein just didn't feel like writing that part ;-). Peter Jackson has some guts in exploring areas of the book not explicitly written about but he pulls it off well and I appreciate it because I am seeing new things about the story that I did not see in this way before.
I am eagerly awaiting the next movie for the scenes of the battle of Helm's Deep and the Ents cleansing Orthanc.
I did not clap at the end of the movie, but it wasn't because I didn't like the film. I LOVED it. However TFOTR is really a tragedy and the ending is so sad and moving that it doesn't feel appropriate to applaud.
Hugo Weaving as Elrond is wonderful. His expressive brows, proud posture and knowing looks go far to flesh out his character. I did, however, keep waiting for him to throw on a pair of Matrix sunglasses... ;o)
LOL! I was waiting for him to say "It's the smell! I can't stand the smell!"
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson!
The cast was superb. I cannot imagine anyone else playing Gandalf, Saruman, Bilbo, Frodo, or Sam. Galadriel was properly ethereal but perilous. Arwen was suprisingly good. Aragorn was properly underplayed as a true king hiding his power. Sean Bean put in a truly wonderful performance as Boromir; his death scene is as good or better than the original from the book. (I have always enjoyed Sean Bean as an actor, ever since first watching him in the Sharpe's Rangers series on PBS, set in the Napoleonic Wars)
I think people who object to Saruman being portrayed as a puppet of Sauron are forgetting the book (where the role of the palantir and the cooperation between the orcs of Mordor and Isenguard show the connection and the fact that Saruman must report regularly to Sauron via the palantir, etc.), and are overemphazing the ommisions/changes to the dialogue in the movie between Gandalf and Saruman. Saruman actually uses a line or two used by Denethor in the Return of the King (if my memory serves). The line about the ring only having one master is moved to a later scene. But the Uruk-Hai calls Saruman his master - a clear hint that Saruman is very much still playing his own game, even though outwardly obeying Sauron's instructions (we will get this more clearly in the Two Towers, I assume).
Saruman's calling up the storm which blocks their way in the mountain pass is not in the book, but it is a viable interpretation which helps to tie the action together logically.
Only the Uruk-hai from Isenguard attack the fellowship; I am wondering if the Mordor orcs and Moria orcs will be featured in the Two Towers scenes with Merry and Pippin. It would be a shame if this little bit of inter-tribal orc politics were ommitted.
Can't wait to see how they show the Ents! Only 12 months more to wait.
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