ROTK put my butt to sleep

[Bill H.]

Ok, it was a really good movie. But man, 3.5 hours was an hour too much. The last half hour was especially long. After the coronation/wedding/celebration, the rest coulda filled 2 minutes and a handful of sentences.

And man what a wimp Frodo turned out to be. Sam gives up all the food and water, and still ends up carrying Frodo, and even then Frodo can't drop the ring himself.

And while I'm whining, why didn't they get one of those eagles to carry frodo and the ring all the way there from the beginning?

[levdrakon]

Too funny. A friend & I just saw it tonight and both our butts fell asleep. After the third or fourth time the screen went dark and people started clapping and then the movie just. kept. going, we were like, "oh, c'mon already! My butt's asleep!"

[Really Not All That Bright]

Why bother with Frodo at all? Just have the eagle carry the ring itself....

My best friend fell asleep during scene two and didn't wake up until the Mount Doom scene.

[Equipoise]

I don't get it. People should know how long it is prior to going in, yet they complain and complain about how long it is. That's so odd to me. Don't go to long movies if you don't like long movies. If you go to long movies, don't complain about the length.

There weren't multiple endings. It ended when "The End" came on the screen. (Well, it really ended when the lights came up, but some people, for some reason, don't see end credits as part of the film. I always stay for the credits.)

As someone else pointed out elsewhere, it'd be fairly scary to have a powerful, sentient, messenger of the gods get hold of the Ring of Power. I don't know what would happen, but it wouldn't be pretty. Especially for Frodo.

The movie was way too short and felt rushed to me, especially the last half hour, which should have been at least a half-hour longer. I loved it anyway, but I can't wait to see the Extended Edition of ROTK in the theaters next year.

[lilbtagna]

Originally posted by Equipoise
...Extended Edition of ROTK in the theaters next year.

Now is this wishful thinking or have you heard something? I know I can sit still to watch a four to five hour ROTK, but to do it in a theater is beyond my wildest dreams.

Please let this be real.

[look!ninjas]

Originally posted by dutchboy208
Why bother with Frodo at all? Just have the eagle carry the ring itself....

The answers you seek are here. About a third of the way down the page, I should think.

[Equipoise]

Originally posted by lilbtagna
Now is this wishful thinking or have you heard something? I know I can sit still to watch a four to five hour ROTK, but to do it in a theater is beyond my wildest dreams.

Please let this be real.

No, sorry, I haven't heard anything, but it just makes sense that New Line would do it at some point. They did it for the other two Extended Editions, they know that fans are dying to see it (on DVD, but also on the big screen), and they've treated the fans very well for the most part. We'll probably be getting revivals of these movies every year or every couple of/few years for decades to come. I wouldn't imagine that the theatricals will ever be shown in the theater again. The Extended Editions are now the Gold Standard.

I have no doubt it will happen with ROTK too, and my husband and I will be there for it. Intermission or not. I'm with you, bring on a 4 or 5 hour ROTK!

[levdrakon]

I wonder if anyone's ever gotten DVT from a 3.5+ hour movie?

[BraheSilver]

Since this thread has popped up, I'd like to share two small experiences about this movie that have nothing to do with its quality as a film, but are small nitpicky comments that don't really belong in any of the 15+ page threads discussing it in excruciating detail.

At the nearly-last section of the wrap-up, the audience in the theatre was getting antsy. Fade to black, then... it keeps going. From the back came a single strangled scream: "Oh God!" I imagine that some poor soul been holding back from fleeing to the bathroom for the past hour and was being tormented by this.

And Peter? Two Wilhelms? Come on.

[Volta]

Awesome movie. My butt didn't fall asleep though. I suppose that's a good thing, but I'm starting to feel left out of the club. My theater had an intermission sometime before they entered the paths of the dead.

I thought the endings could have been handled better. Some transition music, dreamy filmography, etc. might have tied them together. I'll have to see it again.

Originally posted by lilbtagna
Now is this wishful thinking or have you heard something? I know I can sit still to watch a four to five hour ROTK, but to do it in a theater is beyond my wildest dreams.

Please let this be real.

Do you think this would be a widespread release or limited similar to Fellowship and Two Towers this year? It was a bit irritating to have to drive to Harrisburg to see both (45 minutes via interstate, 1:15+ via highway).

[665 aka The Semi-Christ]

Originally posted by Equipoise
There weren't multiple endings.
The movie was way too short and felt rushed to me, especially the last half hour, which should have been at least a half-hour longer.

Yes there were multiple endings.

And the last half hour was too long by a good 20 minutes. Take out all of the footage of people doing nothing but standing around looking awestruck and sad.

Too short.

Sheesh.

[squeegee]

Originally posted by BraheSilver
At the nearly-last section of the wrap-up, the audience in the theatre was getting antsy. Fade to black, then... it keeps going. [/b]

Both times that I watched the movie were similar to this. Once the coronation took place and faded (ending 3), the audience around me were audibly taking deep breaths, sighing, shifting in their seats. They were done, and probably satisfied, but the film kept going, and going.

I'm a fan of the books, and I definitely loved the last 20 minutes of the movie, but it was easly to tell that the rest of the crowd was ready to go home.

[jayjay]

It was too short, for Tolkien fanatics, anyway (self included). There are going to be more than a few anguished cries of pain and loss when the EE comes out and people who don't already know find out the Scouring isn't on that, either...

[Munch]

Originally posted by 665 aka The Semi-Christ
And the last half hour was too long by a good 20 minutes.

That sentence is funny.

[lilbtagna]

I know three and a half hours is a long time to sit still in a theater, but after spending 9 hours with these characters already, are those last thirty minutes really such a big deal? I guess I don't really understand what the complaint is about the length of the movie, but I have read the books and have grown rather attached to the characters. I wanted to see how PJ shows what happens to everyone after the destruction of the Ring, and I felt those 20 or 30 minutes felt rushed.

[Equipoise]

Originally posted by 665 aka The Semi-Christ
Yes there were multiple endings.

And the last half hour was too long by a good 20 minutes. Take out all of the footage of people doing nothing but standing around looking awestruck and sad.

Too short.

Sheesh.

No, there weren't "multiple" endings. There was ONE ending, when "The End" came up on the screen.

lilbtagna and jayjay are right, this was the end of a 9 1/2 hour movie. It was rushed, and too short (even without the Scouring).

Backatcha.

[DesertDog]

Originally posted by squeegee
Both times that I watched the movie were similar to this. Once the coronation took place and faded (ending 3), the audience around me were audibly taking deep breaths, sighing, shifting in their seats. They were done, and probably satisfied, but the film kept going, and going.

I'm a fan of the books, and I definitely loved the last 20 minutes of the movie, but it was easly to tell that the rest of the crowd was ready to go home.

Looks like PJ got the worst of both worlds: The denoument (sp?) was too short for the fanboys, too long for the trogs.

Put me in the former group. I would have loved to see more of Faramir ane Eowyn's blossoming relationship than looking googoo eyes at each other at the coronation.

DD

[jayjay]

DesertDog, I believe I've read that the Halls of Healing will be in the Extended Edition, so don't despair on the Eowyn/Faramir romance.

[TWDuke]

Originally posted by DesertDog
Looks like PJ got the worst of both worlds: The denoument (sp?) was too short for the fanboys, too long for the trogs...

I think he might have done better without the blackouts between scenes. He's been telling everyone for years that the Grey Havens is one of his favorite parts of the story, so it never even occurred to me that the movie would end before that point, but standard cuts or dissolves might have kept the momentum better. Also, if people saw Frodo in agony instead of hearing about his discomfort in a voice-over, his departure might seem more necessary and important, and it could have been done in about the same time.

Just my opinion, of course. Nobody's paying me $10,000,000 and points of the gross to make movies. I'm just grateful we didn't get the Star Wars (IV and VI) ending: We just blew up the bad guys and now everything's cool; let's party!

[Bill H.]

Equipoise wrote

I don't get it. People should know how long it is prior to going in, yet they complain and complain about how long it is. That's so odd to me. Don't go to long movies if you don't like long movies. If you go to long movies, don't complain about the length.

I don't get it. People should know a thread is negative when the title makes it obvious, yet they complain and complain about how negative it is. That's so odd to me. Don't go into negative threads if you don't like negative threads. And if you go into negative threads, don't complain about the negativity.

There weren't multiple endings. It ended when "The End" came on the screen.

Hooray for you and your dictionary. The film was too long.

[Bill H.]

And also, Friend Equipoise, being long in itself is not a bad thing. Plenty of great movies were long. My favorite movie (Lawrence of Arabia) is longer than ROTK. It's not the length I object to, it's lack of substance to fill the length.

[amarinth]

Originally posted by lilbtagna
I know three and a half hours is a long time to sit still in a theater, but after spending 9 hours with these characters already, are those last thirty minutes really such a big deal? I guess I don't really understand what the complaint is about the length of the movie, but I have read the books and have grown rather attached to the characters. I wanted to see how PJ shows what happens to everyone after the destruction of the Ring, and I felt those 20 or 30 minutes felt rushed.

It was the fades-to-black.

doing it once, signals "this is the end." When the story keeps going after multiple fades to black, the audience gets restless. (Hell, I got restless, and I wanted to see all that he showed.) There must have been a better way of showing all of those scenes - quick cut, something else? This way felt like I was being teased. ("It's the end! No, not really, there's still more! fooled you!" It was 2am. I don't need that at 2am.)

[TWDuke]

Originally posted by Bill H.
...And man what a wimp Frodo turned out to be. Sam gives up all the food and water, and still ends up carrying Frodo, and even then Frodo can't drop the ring himself....

As long as we're spoiling the climax of the entire trilogy....

Gandalf, the greatest Wizard in Middle-earth, can't take the Ring.
Galadriel, the greatest Elf in Middle-earth, can't take the Ring.
Aragorn, the greatest Man in Middle-earth, can't take the Ring.

Quiet, 3 1/2-foot-tall Frodo takes the Ring, carries it for the better part of a year, and against all odds and expectations makes it to the very edge of the fires in which it was forged. What a wimp.

Sam's a near-paragon of virtues -- courage, loyalty, humility --Frodo couldn't have made it far without Sam, as he acknowledges. But Sam holds the Ring for a few minutes, hears it call to him, realizes he can't carry it and gives it up -- reluctantly.*

It is in the nature of the Ring that no one could have succeeded in the quest to destroy it without unforeseen intervention. The fact that Frodo knows this and perserveres anyway is what defines him as a hero.




*I know, I know, but we're talking about the movies here.

[teela brown]

Originally posted by TWDuke
. . . But Sam holds the Ring for a few minutes, hears it call to him, realizes he can't carry it and gives it up -- reluctantly.*

Yeah - wasn't the Ring saying "Keeeep meeee"?

[CyberPundit]

Amarinth is right. It's not the length of the ending so much as the way the movie misleads the viewer into thinking the movie is about to end before it actually does. For example the second-to-last scene when the boat sails into the sunset. They should have edited the scene to allow for a transition to the last scene. They could have cut back to Sam or they could have begun Frodo's voiceover. Instead the scene just drifts into a climax... but wait there is some more!

Overall I liked the movie well enough but there are enough such flaws for me not to give it the highest grade.