The Lord of the Rings

[Kireihana]

Well, I filtered through 4 pages on this board, and found a couple of topics about parts of the trilogy, but no topics on the movies as a whole. And I think it's important for them to be looked at that way, for while we call it a trilogy, TTT and RotK are not sequels to FotR. Tolkien meant for them to all be part of one book, but the because of the hugeness of it it's most often published in the three volumes.

Anyway, I'm very pleased with Peter Jackson's portrayal of the books as films. I thougt FotR was great, and cutting out Bombadil was a good move since, although he was a great character, didn't really add too much to the story and probably would have confused viewers unfamiliar with the story. The entire trilogy really played-up Arwen's role, but that's okay because there's a lack in female characters throughout. The Extended Edition of Fellowship had some nice additions, but nothing I can't live without. The audio commentaries were great, though.

Two Towers - this one was my favorite. A lot of people like this one the least, but I really enjoyed it. I've seen RotK, and honestly I like the Helm's Deep battle better than Pelennor Fields (although Legolas' Mumakil stunt far bettered his shield-surfing one). I think they did a great job on it since the battle is surpisingly very brief in the books (well, it is a one-night battle, but usually Tolkien goes into great detail when describing). The Extended Edition was great and had some wonderful extra scenes with Merry and Pippin, who were kind of absent in TTT compared to their roles in FotR. One of my favorite parts of the movies was Sam's encouraging speech ("There's some good in this world Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fightin' for")

Ah, Return of the King. An awesome fanale to a great cinematic story, but the ending seemed kind of dragged out. I nearly had a heart attack when the screen blacked out with Frodo and Sam sitting on a cliff outside of Mt. Doom, but the movie did this several times in what my cousin and I call "the four endings". You can't blame Jackson too much, though; there were a lot of strings to tie up before you could end such an epic film. All the dialogue was great, especially Gandalf's monologue on death ("Death is a path we all must take...") and Aragorn's pep talk at the gates of Mordor. And I cheered at Eowyn's defeat of the Witch King. (I'd been especially looking forward to that part in the movies; Eowyn's my favorite character).

All in all, I give the trilogy a 9/10, only because I'm a big book fan and have a few nit-picks. I understand though that cinema is a completely different media than literature, and things had to be changed. The casting was great - all of it- but I especially loved Ian McKellen and Sean Astin's performances. The soundtracks are wonderful too; I have the RotK CD and love it.

So, what do you all think?

[Ashley]

I think the Lord of the Rings is definately one of my favorite movies of all time. I was not a fan of the books, but the work as a whole blew me away. The CG blended with the live shots wonderfully, and it's very apparhent the work they poured into making this an "authentic" movie. I guess as one of my film teachers put it once, it has a "mark of dedication". And you're right, it's a true triology, not a series of sequels. Only one other movie series can I think of that blended all three movies together as seamlessly, and that would be Back to the Future (because each one began exactly where the other one left off; no "5 years later" type deals), but that's another topic for another day. My favorite of the three has to be the Return of the King. Not only was it the culmination of all things, but it was easiest to follow for me. My favorite scene of all time? Pippin's epic song. So...beautiful...

[DrNic]

I liked the Two Tower best aswell. I found the battle to be more spectacular than the battle in the 3rd film (only my opinion thou). I really wished they'd put in the Barrow Downs, The Old Forest and Tom Bombadil though. That would have been soooooo kool.

[Yamato145]

I loved all 3 films but my favorite is definetly RoTK ... it may be WAAAY!!! to long ... but that was really the only way they could do it. Also my favorite scenes have been mentioned on here. Gandalfs death speech and when Merry or Pippin (AH! I FORGOT!) sang a song while it showed the soldiers rushing into battle.

[SManBeyond]

Jackson has done a good job in making the films, although they are more of action films. Still, I enjoy them. My favorite was actually ROTK. The ending didn't bother me, as I found it sufficiently wrapped up everything. I didn't think it felt too long. My least favorite was actually TTT, as the hobbits had little to do, and this was arguably the one with the most (and worst) changes. I found Frodo and Sam's changed story to be bad. Also, I was disappointed with where it ended. I loved how the book TTT ended with Frodo being captured and Sam wondering what he would do. That was brilliant.

If I might mention some weak points in the series...one was some moments in the dialogue. 95% of the time it was good, but there were moments that didn't click with me (Legolas in TTT: "You would die before your stroke fell!" with the big dramatic music playing in the background, just before Aragorn says, "Settle down, Legolas," for instance). Also, some of the changes in the story did hurt it. Faramir's portray in TTT, for instance, was unacceptable. The book did a good job in making him a contrast to Boromir, but in the movie he seems to go down the same path for a while. I've heard arguments that it made him seem more like a hero when he let Frodo go and served to expand his character, but both these arguments are flawed. Had we seen the contrast, he would have been much more effective. I did not think of him as a hero at the end of TTT. In fact, I disliked him immensely. He redeemed himself sufficiently in ROTK.

Some changes were necessary, though. I admit that cutting Tom Bombadil was a good move. Likewise, although I dislike it, cutting the Scouring for the movies was nice, although I would have preferred him have filmed the segment and then included it in the extended edition.

[Kireihana]

Ah, you're right SMan! I didn't like the way Faramir was portrayed either. His role in RotK was a lot better, I thought. I still loved TTT, though.

Just something cool about Pippin's song:
It's actually based on a song that Frodo sang in The Fellowship of the Ring book, in one of the first chapters. (I think it was Three is Company, but I'm not sure). I believe Frodo mentioned that Bilbo wrote it. I just thought that was kinda neat.

As for one other thing I wish they had done in the films, was to focus at least a little bit more on Aragorn's relationship with the hobbits. There's some deep friendship there, especially between Aragorn, Bilbo and Frodo. It kind of miffed me in RotK when Aragorn says "The hobbit, Pippin, is he alright?" instead of just "Is Pippin alright?". I think Aragorn was more like a father figure to the hobbits than just a travelling companion. I suppose that's just a small thing though, but I've been thinking about it.

[SManBeyond]

Yeah, it was nice to see that they did keep some songs from the books. Obviously they couldn't keep all of them or turn the thing into a musical, but I did like that they inserted them where they could.

[Technomancer]

While Fellowship was my favourite book, I have to admit that ROTK was the best film. I think my favourite part of all the films was Theodan's speech before the battle. Absolutely perfect for anyone who loves old Saxon and Norse stories.

[Fsiphskilm]

LOL I tried to wa

[Yamato145]

LOL I tried to watch the 2nd movie even though i hadn't seen the first It's mom's fault she didn't know...This is why it's a good idea to stick to the standard Titlename, titlename 2, titlename 3. Not everyone knows about which movies go in which order, especially newcomers to the series. It was confusing but interesting. Maybe I should watch the series backwards?

i just tell people to remember that 2 is in the title of the 2nd film. it seems to help a bit. also if they happen to like star wars remember
Return of the Jedi
Return of the King

[Bobtheduck]

I did not think of him as a hero at the end of TTT. In fact, I disliked him immensely. He redeemed himself sufficiently in ROTK.

Did you see the extended Two Towers? The Faramir thing is much better explained in that one. There is much more detail to the Faramir story in the extended version. (I can be as rudundant as I want to be redundant, thank you very much domo.)

I felt the same way about faramir at the end of the theatrical release, but the extended version was much better.

The extended version also contains the living trees (which are not the same thing as Ents.)

[SManBeyond]

No, I haven't gotten to see the Extended yet, although I've really wanted to.

[Kireihana]

.
The extended version also contains the living trees (which are not the same thing as Ents.)

You mean Huorns? (Hope I'm spelling that right) Yeah there was some pretty cool stuff. But the EEs are pretty cool in general. If you liked the theatrical releases of LotR, you should definitely check out the EEs. You might want to borrow them from a friend first though, because they're rediculously expensive... But worth the money, what with all the special features. (C'mon, each EE is a 4-disc set!) You can't really go wrong with these films, in my opinion.

[Hitokiri]

I just ROTK for the 4th time (i saw it at midnight opening night...yah-nyah-nyah and dressed up as Frodo ) Some kids and fromer members of the youth group went, allt he guys sat with eachother and then the girls sat with eachother, so I was the only guy sitting with the girls. I had some fun during the Shelob part (thought i got smakced two tiems in the face and punched in the guy fpr scaring them lol ).

Anyways, I'm more a book fan but Im also a fan of the movie. I look at the fact that Jackson didn't add say Tom Bombadil or added the elves coming to Helm's Deep that it's his choiuce. Heck he can have Frodo throw a pokeball at Gollum and make his poke-pal. It's called Artistic Liscence. Sure Im mad at the fact some thing were'n't added or things that were added didn't coincide witht he book but in the long run, the positives of the movie outweight VERY much the negatives.

Here's what I think of the 3 movies indivualy

FOTR: Very good movie and 2nd favorite of the three. I actually feel that I've seen Hobbiton and the Shire. They did a above awesome job in bringing to life The Watcher and the Balrog. Plus I found the scaneay for Weathertop, Rivendell, Moria, Lothlorien, and Amon Hen. I always have to choke back tears during the Boromir's death scene, Sean Bean does a above excellent job at portraying the death scene of Boromir.

TT: My least fav of the 3 but I still love it. I found Helm's Deep very impressive but fell out of favor at watching the Battle of Peleanor Fields . I found Edoras breathtaking however I felt the Ents were well...lacking off soemthing. I just wished Jackson's focused a bit more on these wonderful ..... trees. I thought Brad Dourif's portryal of Wormtougne phenominal and captured the characters thoughts. Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, and Karl Urban were perfect in there roles. I liked how they did the Black Gate and also Fanghorn Forest. Gollum though helped kae it my favorite 3rd movie, i just love where Gollum talks to himself It just doens't compare to FOTR or ROTK

ROTK: Best movie out of the 3 and to me, best movie ive ever seen. For one thing, is graphical stunning. I just LOVE the camera engles and how they do it, it's like not LOTR but then again LOTR cause it has a certain extraordinary calibur to it. John Noble (Denethor) however was dissapointing to me cause he was portrayed as the evil mad guy in reality he was minus the evil and later the mad man. Plus I dont lik ehow they dipeict his death scene, seems to un-realistic (but then again LOTR is very far then realistic ) It's kinda hard to express shortly how i felt during the movie and what I think of it. Every aspect (except for a few....erhem Pippin and the Palantir = cheezy) was awesome. The Battle of Peleanor Fields was awesome, beyond awesome.
It like totally reeked of awesomeness.




spoliers for the extended ROTK movie

Here's some things I've heard will be ont he extended version

[spoiler="title here"] 1. Death of Saruman
2. The Crossraods
3. The Two Eacthers of Cirith Ungol
4. Actual Wedding of Aragorn and Arwen
5. Burial of Theoden [/spoiler]

[SManBeyond]

On that list in the spoilers, I know for sure Number 1 is included. I would not be surprised if the others were included, and think in particular it's highly likely that Number 3 would be in there. I was looking for that in the third film...

[Pantakrator]

I think I'm on the outside here... I thought the movies sucked as adaptations. Could Peter Jackson have butchered them any more? I don't need any of that "kept the vision" bull! Arghh!!! They were horrible adaptations!

At least I realized this after I saw Fellowship the first time... IMHO, you can't look at these as movies of LOTR. Keeping that in mind, these things are AWESOME!!! I personally thought TT was best as of right now. Although, if they improve on RotK on the EE the way they did with TT, it's gonna be insane! I thought the current RotK is actually a bit choppy in the story transitions. Whoever mentioned Pippin's song was dead on. That was... I can't think of a good way to describe it. At least not one that does it justice... I also thought the signal/fire scene was awesome!!! The signal was spread out over all that length, and it was these poeple's only exictence (spelt wrong), yet not one of them left. Incrdible.

Oh yeah, I got lucky with the Fellowship EE. I got it for $10!


-Edit 1; According to PluggedIn the EE will include;
[spoiler=EE] Saruman's Demise
Houses of Healing[/spoiler]

-Edit 2; Maybe it's just me... Did anyone else not see the Mouth of Sauron? I'm pretty sure he was in the credits though...

[SManBeyond]

It has been officially confirmed that The Mouth of Sauron was filmed in ROTK. For some odd reason, though, he did not pop up in the theatrical release of the movie.

My suspicion is that he was probably cut to save film time, but that he will be in the EE of ROTK.

[Pantakrator]

Thanks for the info.

[Hitokiri]

soemthing I foudn intresting was Prince Imrahil was in ROTK. He was the blond dude in the flowing royal looking cape (he was with Faramir when they returned from Gondor...or at least present when the returned) and when Denethor went mad after the poisoing of Faramir.

As for Pippin's song, I love it as a song and love it in the movie, even if it's not in the book, it was buetiful. Though I wished instead of Farmir getting "arrowed" by a mordor arrow, it owuld of been a Soputhron arrow but hey, does it really matter if the arrow was a morgul arrow or Southeron arrow??

Parts I found cheezy in RTOK:

When Dreagol was bieng dragged under water, I can help from laughing during that part

When Dreagol "throws" himself up into the bank like a fish out of water, that makes me laugh too.

When Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are in Ithilien in that rock cave and the ground starts to rumble. Sam's like "surf up dude"

Pippin and the Palantir...reminds me to much of a old horror film

When Denthor burns hismelf and casts himself of the edge. I prefer the book way cause he at least have "some" dignity left to take the pain.

Also if you notice when the group heads off to the Gray Havens, Frodo and Bilbo are in Ganbdalf's cart, however when they show them going (before we see the two in the cart) there are 4 ponies. Why are there four ponies? If Frodo is in the cart, why weren't there 3 ponies?

And what the heck is Celeborn doing at the gray Havens, he never was a ring-bearer. He was given South Mirkwood as Lothlorien (is it called East Lorien?) but he was getting tired of his realm and went to live with what was left of Elrond;'s clan.

Nother thing I laugh as it Cate Blanchetts silly (and evil looking) grin.

Oh well......still a awesome awesome awesome movie
Love the fact that they make it seem like th emovies ended when it really hasnt (km serious i think thats cool!)

[Kireihana]

Err... Pippin's song is in the book. Check out Three is Company in FotR. I think its somewhere around that chapter... only Frodo sings it, not Pip.

And Celeborn is Galadriel's husband, so it makes sense that he'd go with her to Valinor.

And here's an actual DIOLOGUE from the RotK EE, that I saw in a National Geographic dvd that my mom got me about RotK. I'm putting this in spoiler tags, but the scene is really cute. (Which means Legolas is involved ^_^)

[spoiler="RotK Extended Edition scene"]
Aragorn and Co. are in Edoras at the part where everyone is drinking (and Merry and Pippin are dancing on the table), and Legolas, looking rather uneasy and out of place, says:

"So, it's a drinking game?"
(much cheers and nods from the men of Rohan. Legolas continues: )
"And... what exactly is the point of it?"
(Gimli smilies and says: )
"Last one standing wins!"
(Legolas stares at his cup and finally takes a sip, much to the laugher and amusment of the surrounding men)
[/spoiler]

[Pantakrator]

Thought you guys might find this interseting...

http://members.tripod.com/tnrebma/s_Song.mp3

[Hitokiri]

true Celeborn is Galadriel's husband bu tin the book, he doesn't go to the Gray Havens and into the West. Nothing to cry over though, just wanted to point that out that Celeborn didn't go intot he West with Galadriel.

Elrond's wife Celebrían left Middle Earth after he was atatcked my orcs and tortured. He lost all hope an dpretty much th eluster of the Eldar and grew weary of Middle Earth so she went intot he West without Elrond so Celeborn and Galadriel aren't the only elvish couple that part ways.

Thanks for the song pantakraptor :0 I love that song...plus I love the part in Minas Tirith theme song where Ben del Maestro does that one part where Gandalf his staff to make the Nazgul from getting Faramir and company.

I would try to sing that part but I don't think my voice goes up that far

[Kireihana]

Oh, gomen. It's been a while since I read RotK and the Sil.

I think Denethor was portrayed well in the movies. Everyone interprets literature differently, but my interpretation from the RotK book was that Denethor was a pompous, proud old man who refused to see wisdom. I never really liked Boromir in the books either, from the first time he is introduced at the Council of Elrond I was skeptical of him. But I really like him in the movies. But it's the opposite with Faramir; they completely flipped his personality in the movies. I wonder why they did that?

[ShiroiHikari]

First of all, I just want to say that the movies are the whole reason I ever read the books, and I've only read the books once or twice a piece, so I'm not as able to...nitpick as some of you are ^_^;

Now, let me say that I thought the movies were fantastic. I like all three of them. Until ROTK came out, I -loved- TTT, even though a lot of people don't like it as much. There were some scenes in it that were so...powerful to me, and I couldn't help liking the whole movie. Sure, they changed some stuff around, but I think it worked out alright anyway.

ROTK was just...uhh...let's just say I almost cried about a gazillion times the first time I watched it. Lots of powerful imagery. Yes, it was longer than crap XD but I'm okay with that. There were a lot of loose ends to tie up. And the book kinda dragged to me at the end. But most of it was pretty relevant stuff.

I guess I don't pick at the movies because I wasn't a fan of the books first, so I had no reason to feel...cheated? Or it could be that I'm getting too old to remember all the details XD

[RefractedAhav]

They didn't have the scene where aragorn revels that he is alive to sauron through the palantor.

also they didn't show faramir getting married to eowyn either.

over all I thought the movies were great, and I don't think most great books can be turned into hit movies if the script follows the book word for word.

[Link Antilles]

The movies are second only two the Classical Star Wars Trilogy, for me. I'm just a die-hard Star Wars fan and Lord of the Rings is doing a good job in pushing its shelf to a tie with it. I guess, at the end of this year, when I have the Classic Special Edition Star Wars Trilogy and Extended Edition Lord of the Rings Trilogy both on DVD, I'll reserve a weekend to sit and watch them and decide the victor! (if I can).

Anyways, full attention to LotR.....

Sorry, people I'm gonna be honest: I am not a real fan of the books, in fact I kinda dislike them. Mainly because originally wasn't a real fantasy fan, more Sci-fi, and two, I find Tolkien's way of writing odd and difficult. Truthfully, I never knew there was a book, until after I saw Lord of the Rings in theaters. Funny thing is my friends kinda dragged me to the opening day. I really didn't know anything at all about the movie, I personally believed it was a piece of D&D crap. When I came out of the theater for the first time, I immediately wanted to go back in for three reasons: One, I just saw a freaken' awesome movie! Two, I only could remember three of the characters names: Gandalf, Frodo, and Strider. Three, I loved the music! Afterwards, I went back 4 times! So, then I decided to read the book. I survived the first book. I dunno, it didn't grab my attention. Well, everyone has deferent tastes and I when back to reading Tom Clancy.

The Two Towers was a awesome movie and I wasn't disappointed. Return of the King was amazing.....

I saw the Extended Edition for the first two and loved it. I just think the movies are awesome period. (I think I used the word awesome enough for today)

Fellowship of the Ring-
Score: 9.7
Favorite Character: Aragorn
Favorite scenes: Boromir's death and how he keeps on fighting to the end; then, the part where Gandalf takes on the Belrog "You shall not pass!" then, Gandalf says "fly you fools" and falls, the music shifts and the fellowship begins to leave the mines and while you can hear and see arrows being fired and bouncing of the walls and steps.....; and of course the Hobbits "They come in pints? I'm getting one!"; and the beginning intro with the battle.

The Two Towers
Score: 9.6
Favorite scenes: Helm's Deep

I only saw Return of the King once, I loved it. I didn't have enough money. It's definitely my fav, but I got to see it a few more times before I score it.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Volt
LOL I tried to watch the 2nd movie even though i hadn't seen the first It's mom's fault she didn't know...This is why it's a good idea to stick to the standard Titlename, titlename 2, titlename 3. Not everyone knows about which movies go in which order, especially newcomers to the series. It was confusing but interesting. Maybe I should watch the series backwards?

See, my view on this is that although being in three seperate parts makes LotR by definition a "trilogy", putting it in "Titlename 1/2/3" format would imply that they are sequels. But they're really one continuous storyline. 1/2/3 format is for something like the Die Hard movies. These are sequels. Same main character, different storylines. But whatever. I'm just being a geek and a nitpicker .

I'm really glad that the Crossroads will be in the RotK EE. I liked that part of the book when Aragorn meets up with all the other Dunedain and they follow him, and I missed it not being in the movie.
As for book-to-film comparison, I think there are some parts about the films that are actually better than they are in the book. For example, the cave-troll in Moria and the whole Paths of the Dead thing had the potential to be great parts in the book, but unfortunately they weren't gone into with much detail. Peter did an excellent job of recognizing this potential and bringing it to life. I also preferred the films' way of bringing Arwen more into the foreground because she wasn't mentioned much in the book except for a slight hint once in Rivendell (in FotR) and towards the end of RotK, so it kinda threw me there the first time I read it (before the films came out). It just makes more sense the way it's done in the films.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I had just added Pippin's Song to my sig there a few minutes before I read this thread. Guess I'm not the only one who liked it . That's a really moving scene.

[ShiroiHikari]

Woot! ROTK -OWNED- the Oscars. They won every award they were nominated for

[Omega Amen]

Woot! ROTK -OWNED- the Oscars. They won every award they were nominated for

Yes, it is impressive. 11 Academy awards which ties "Titanic" and "Ben-Hur" (which is my all-time favorite movie) for most awards.

The people behind the LOTR films worked very hard and deserved what they received tonight, in my opinion.

[Hitokiri]

I didnt watch the oscars cause what happened at the Super Bowl halftime show, I thought it would be a repeat of that.....

anyways Im very happy lOTR did well at the Oscars and I'm sad I missed that. I just wished Sean Astin would of gotten Best Supporting Actor. That's one goo dreason why I loved ROTK cause how Sean Astin portrayed my favorite character, Samwise Gamgee