You know, I’m pretty damn tired of being accused of being some stodgy, unimaginative, narrow-minded Tolkienista just because I think PJ has made some rather bad decisions with regards to what he’s done with this adaption. When scenes make me wince because of their crass stupidity, this is not being unimaginative or narrow-minded. Both movies to date have contained scenes that make me want to hide under the carpet, and I fully expect at least one in the upcoming picture as well.
Now, I might be accused of being a bit of a literalist if I bitched about something, like, say, the fact that the movie had Gandalf pushing to use the Redhorn Pass and Aragorn wanting to go through Moria, instead of vice versa like the book. Frankly, this did annoy me, because it was a change for no reason, and it made Gandalf look like a wimp. In fact, Aragorn foresaw peril for Gandalf in Moria, which is why he was opposed to it, and Gandalf took Aragorn’s warning seriously but thought Moria the better path anyways. But I digress. Minor pointless changes like this are but pinpricks.
The only scene that really pissed me off in the first movie was the telekinetic wizard fight. Where the hell did that come from, and would it have been possible to make the Wise look any more foolish? But I suppose the only reason this bothers me is because I’m stodgy and unimaginative. :rolleyes:
The second movie had much more that displeased me. No, not the much ballyhooed changing of Faramir, though I did find that extremely jarring. Some reflection convinced me that those changes weren’t a bad way of developing the character, though, as the means employed by the book to do this would not have worked on film. No, what bugged me a great deal was the complete rewriting of the whole plot thread involving Saruman’s invasion of Rohan, Theodred’s death, and Eomer’s actions generally. Some streamlining needed to be done, sure, but there was no need to make the story incoherent to the point of absurdity. Eomer, faithful nephew of the king, discredited by Saruman’s spy, Wormtongue, takes the bulk of the army and says, near the eaves of the Fangorn, “We ride north!” :boggle: Oh yes, that makes sense. When your homeland is in peril and your loyalty is in question, ride for the nearest border with great haste. Avoid swinging west to intercept nasty invading Uruk-Hai at all costs, and only return to save the King in the nick of time because some wizard comes to fetch you to battle from a week’s ride away in the space of 3 days. Sheesh. There was nothing wrong with the plot as it stood before this ridiculous writing - when we arrive in Rohan, a battle is already being fought at the Fords of the Isen where Saruman’s army is attempting to secure the key stragetic point of entry to Rohan from the northwest, with the Riders being led by Theodred, who falls in that battle. Theoden rides from Edoras with Eomer intending to reinforce this army (though word had already arrived of Theodred’s death, the Fords were not known to be lost when they departed), and only alters course to Helm’s Deep after meeting a rider fleeing the defeat at the Fords. When badly outnumbered, after all, it is prudent to seek a strong defensive position. Gandalf rides off and returns at the critical moment, not with Eomer and half of Rohan’s spears that had inexplicably abandoned their homes to the invaders, but with substantial elements of the force that had been defeated at the Fords, having gathered up the fleeing routed troops. It should also be noted that they were on foot, not mounted, and so weren’t pulling the tactical boner of charging a disciplined pike formation with cavalry.
Gads. Legolas can skate down the stairs, I don’t care. Elves can show up where they shouldn’t be, fine, though it’s annoying for reasons that non-readers don’t understand - it’s not just literalism, it’s that it’s out of the carefully developed character of elves to intervene in that particular manner at that particular time. But if you’re going to change something, you can at least avoid changing it in such a way that it makes no freaking sense.
But of course, my desire for the adaption to retain internal consistency, even if it’s internally consistent in ways differing from the book, is clearly the mark of a narrow-minded Tolkienista. It’s ridiculous to think that a movie adaption could be made without introducing elements that render the story incoherent, and I should just accept any and all ridiculousness in the plot because the movie looks pretty. :rolleyes: