LITTLE Things That Irk/Please You in LOTR films

Cafe Society
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Likes:

-The sun coming up over the hilltop as the Rohirrim charge at Helm’s Deep, and the orcs shielding their eyes.

-“PO-TA-TOES!”

-The musty inner chamber in Moria with the remains of the dwarves and the decaying journal.

-I think it’s Osgilliath, an orc kills a human and lets out this strange hooting yelp.

-That one orc with the wonky eye.

-When Gandalf charges out to head off the nazgul that are chasing down the men fleeing from Osgilliath and shines that light, and they show the nazgul turning around with black clouds around them while it’s still clear and light on the human side.

Irks:

-Witch King’s whispered voice.

-Any fighting scene involving Gimli.

62

I forgot that one, it makes me choke up a little.

63

Skald’s probably gonna hate me, but I was very disappointed in Eowyn. They couldn’t even braid her hair? Otto did a fine job, but that wasn’t the Eowyn I was looking for. Otto’s Eowyn was soft and emotional (far too many wide-eyed teary shots). Not that it’s necessarily her fault.

(Eleanor, I knew what you *meant *by lascivious.)

Another irk - the “My Lady!” as she picks up Merry. Would it have been so bad to just leave it obscured?

Most of the other irks mentioned here - it’s funny how many of us share the same ones.

As Eomer prepares to leave Aragorn, there’s a total strip of hair caught inside his helmet across his eye. I cannot not see that.

Pleases
The initial shot of the Shire, seeing the movie in the theater - I started crying there and didn’t stop for a while
Legolas running on top of the snow
The Balrog fall scene (oh, man, the fall into the big cavern was awesome on the big screen)
The drums at Helm’s Deep
The armoring of Theoden with the poem
Theoden’s ride down the line of Riders

Irk/Please
The elves showing up at Helm’s Deep. Kind of a cross between a WTF moment and “awesome!”

64

Two irks previously not mentioned:
-How utterly empty the massive chambers where the dwarves lived in Moria is. Why did they carve out this vast space, with these enormous decorative columns, and not put anything there?

-The overwhelmingly hilariously enormous number of orcs who surround our heroes right before the balrog arrives. There are THAT many orcs living (on what?) in Moria, and they have the communications logistics necessary to summon all of them on very short notice when good guys arrive, and then, despite outnumbering our heroes 100,000 to 7 they all scatter in fear at the first hint of the balrog? I think that scene would have been a lot better if it had been somewhat less.

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Elrond is not a little Irk for me, he was the worst actor and the most grevious character destruction.

The Statues were the Gatesof Argonath. I did have to verify the spelling.

I liked Éowyn and I think Otto did a very good job, but at fear of angering many, she was too old for the part. Éowyn was only 24 at most and Otto looked closer to 30 and was 33 or 34 years old at the time of the filming.

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Her hair was braided for some of it. Frankly, I was surprised at how much hair was blowing around all the time. No kirby grips in Kiwiland or what? (kirbygrip=Uk version of ponytail holder)

Thank you. And I still haven’t come up with the word. Vulgar, coarse enjoyment of a visceral pleasure, tempered by the exquisite psychological frisson of giving pain to Faramir. Sorry–I didn’t like the book Denethor at all, and the movie gave me cause to hate him. I don’t care if he was a good steward until he went mad–he treated his younger son like shit. <buzzer>

For that I blame all of Hollywood: the it all must be spelled out because the public can’t think for itself school has been around for decades with no sign of diminishing…
I also loved the dressing of Theoden to the poem. And was irked by his “no parent should bury their child”–that sounds so after-school special-y. How about no ruler should bury his heir? Or man his son Something more Tolkien-y?
I don’t think a younger actress could have brought the depth that Otto did to Eowyn. Eowyn was older than her years. I, for one, was glad to see her dramatics toned down. “I want to die in battle!” well, sweetums, there’s a good chance you’ll die in childbirth–take your pick…

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Uh, because they could? Those ancient dwarves were not ones to stop at a paltry hundred years or so of additional toil if it would buy them some grandeur. :smiley:
ETA:

Totally agree with this. “No man should have to bury his son” would have been much more appropriate. As it was that line sounded ridiculous and really pulled me out of the poignancy of the moment.

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The only time with braided hair I can think of is at Theobald’s funeral. I mean, c’mon, she goes out on that high porch and her hair is all over the place, which just doesn’t match practical Eowyn. IIRC or at least as I saw it, Tolkien kind of symbolized her newfound freedom with her and Faramir with their hair blowing together in the wind as she’s wrapped in his mother’s cloak (a scene I kind of hoped for but realized it wasn’t gonna happen as soon as I saw Faramir).

I actually liked that line - it makes me cry every time. My mother hated the movies but that was the one part she mentioned.

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Voluptuary.

Likes? The Witch-King’s mace: it’s a fucking spiked engine block, and when it hits the ground with this huge THUNK! you know that this weapon is not just for hanging above the fireplace, it’s for going out and making someone really miserable with.

Dislikes? “My friends, you bow to no-one.” Dumb line. Sorry, he’s the King: you have to bow to his rank as Commander-in-Chief. You might just have won the Congressional Medal Of Honour, but you still have to salute.

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A wizard did it.

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I can’t even remember what was in/out of the theatrical releases anymore…

Like:

The nobility, the seriousness of the films. There’s nothing childish about them, unlike the books which are written in a tone that I can’t stand.

That even “secondary” characters were multi-dimensional enough to have personalities that were shaped by events that happened before the movies (the 'Mir Brothers, for example - I thought it fascinating that a character in a fantasy film would have daddy/sibling-rivalry issues).

That, in the moment of truth, Frodo failed.

That Frodo couldn’t be comfortable being a “normal” hobbit - not after all he’s seen and gone through.

Despite the carnage, these are very moral films… thematically, there is very little in them that one can find objectionable.

I really like the Smeagol backstory and how it was handled.

Dislike:

“Daddy” going crazy and attempting to burn Faramir at the end of RotK. I’ve seen enough movies to know the guy isn’t going to be burned alive, so found the resolution to be rather predictable.

When Frodo and Gandalf meet, their mutual laughter seems extremely forced.

Saruman is supposed to be some all-powerful wizard, right? Well, why did he refuse to try a single spell during the Ent attack? You’d think he’d cast a level 40 fireball spell or something. :wink:

Unless Gandalf can fly, how the h*** did he fall down, catch up to his sword, then catch up to the Balrog?

Helms Deep/Minis Tirith: Which battle was which? Having the final two films climactic scenes deal with large-scale battles in two cities that look a lot alike was rather… anti-climactic… in RotK.

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Minor Irks
As mentioned upthread, the CGI and effects in FOTR are noticeably worse than in the latter two films.

Minor things I like.
The detail in the costumes and sets, just awesome. Well I guess its not really minor when taken altogether.

Major irks, well the Gimli reduced from badass to comic relief was not good, and the ROTK was ruined for me by that awful soft focus, slow mo, bouncing on the bed reunion episode. I want a special EE with that scene purged, expunged, deleted and vanished.

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Bow. :wink:

MTA that Arwen’s Fate is one of the best things about TTT-lyrical & poignant.

Regrets:

Things which should have been in the movie, but weren’t. In Fangorn, the Little Ones are beholden to Treebeard spilling his Ent draught, and the drops were likened to many glimmering jewels as they fell (or somesuch-book is currently buried in a box somewhere). A perfect cinematic moment which inexplicably not filmed (or cut), and TTT needed more moments like that (as my buddy well he’s back would surely concur).

Faramir expresses the thought in other words in his EE scene with his father, but that would have been a perfect time for him to unleash the “even if it was laying by the side of the road” line WRT the Ring.

I think they could have squeezed the Barrow Wights in there somewhere, instead of Aragorn summarily dumping some rusty swords at the feet of the Hobbits. EE material surely. IIRC PJ didn’t want to confuse the audience with two species of extraplanar beings hunting his protagonists, or something.

The Council, even tho they were certainly trying to save running time, really needed more meat. And the edit in the EE where Gandalf goes all dark and threatening reading the Ring inscription, followed immediately by Boromir’s TE line of “No, it is a gift!” has to be one of the worst edits in recorded history, as it makes the latter look like a completely oblivious drooling idiot. There’s a series of still viginettes on the web somewhere which play off that view of Boromir’s character (like when he suggests that they catapult Frodo and the Ring onto/into Mount Doom).

Found It.

At the end, after the silly Wile E. Coyote collapse of his tower, we should have seen Sauron’s shadow pleading haplessly towards the West before dissipating itself on the winds. The Eye effect was overused, tho I am not sure of how else to depict him, if you are going to attempt to do so at all.

74

I am about to commit LOTR heresy, but there it is. Can’t help it. I feel this way about the books. When I first read these books in middle school, I got confused–hey, wait, didn’t we just have a great, freaking battle? That battle (Helm’s Deep) was well written, IMO. Pelennor Fields suffered in comparison in the books. Oh, I can hear the cries and condemnations from here, but I still say it. Yes, it was huge in scale, but reading it is tedious. Then again, battle scenes are not my thing. I tend to skip them altogether when I watch the EEs. This appalls my ten year old son, but so be it.

The one think I did like about it was the part where Aragorn goes and finds the tree(sapling) of the King and that it still lives (on a mountainside somewhere–I think Gandalf is with him). That is NOT in the film, though, sadly.

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Actually, I considered that to be one of the best moments. Sort of “what else can go wrong? Well, THIS is what else can go wrong…”

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My sword complaint was Glamdring not glowing. I mentioned that to a friend of mine. His response was, “but PJ says it does glow, just very faintly.” If I can’t see a clear glow like Sting had, it didn’t glow.

Aragorn was not supposed to be the only Numenorian. There was supposed to be more of a comparison between Aragorn’s leading the rangers of the north and Faramir leading the rangers of the south.

I agree that the TE dealing of Sauman in RotK left much to be desired.
Little things that I liked? Just about every-damn-thing else?

Specifics? Costuming, language, sets, character development, the fact that they spent time during the filming of the council scene just making sure that in the close-ups the actors are looking the right direction.

I think I would go watch McKellan read the phone book.

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Little things.

Pleased: That Aragorn used the same Quenya lines at the coronation that I’d once uttered after a brisk swim in Lake Michigan, as I walked onto the beach to be greeted by my dog. Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn’ Ambar-metta! (‘Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come.
In this place I will abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.’)

[sub]My dog’s name was Kim, but on her pedigree registration she was known as Varda op de Mercotijn. [/sub]

Irked: At the Ford, Arwen said “If you want him, come and claim him”. But it’d have been awesome for her to have said “By my foremother Luthien the Fair, you shall not have him!”

78

Most of the good things have been mentioned.

Boromir has a great line just before the battle with the orcs and their troll; after almost getting shot in the head, he pulls back into the room and says “They have a cave troll.” It’s the way Bean delivers the line; it’s a sort of tired exasperation that communicated the idea of “It’s just one fuckin’ thing after another, isn’t it?”

Irks: When they arrive in Moria, it appears as if the place has been all orced out, the dwarves dead, for DECADES. They’re skeletal and covered in dust and cobwebs. Yet Gimli fully expected the place to be Dwarf Party Central. Nothing about it adds up; the others, especially Gandalf, are clearly not thrilled about the idea of going through Moria, yet Gimli thinks they’ll be treated to a feast by its inhabitants. When they finally get it, they’re ALL surprised that it’s a tomb. What were they expecting? How could Moria have been wiped out decades ago without Gimli knowing, and why was Gandalf worried about going through it before if they then were all shocked at what it was?

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Just in the unlikely case that’s a question about LOTR canon and not a lament about the way the movie set up that scene:

48 years after the events of the Hobbit, Balin leads a group of dwarves back to Moria, which has long been riddled with orcs, along with “Durin’s Bane” aka Balrog. Balin apparently hoped that said Bane had gotten bored and wandered off between the Dwarf and Orc wars and then.

He has initial success entering the place, sends letters back saying he’s found mithril, then 5 years after entering Moria, the letters stop.

25 years after the last letter, the Fellowship shows up, hoping that maybe Balin had just run out of stamps. Gandalf, having traipsed thru Moria from East to West some years earlier, is for the idea. Aragorn isn’t so hot on it.

The rest is history…

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Middle-Earth is big, travel and communication are slow, and most communities probably preserve their knowledge of other places purely by oral tradition. Gimli’s probably never been to Moria, and doesn’t know anyone who’s been there - but he grew up hearing tales of the powerful, prosperous dwarf settlement there. It simply never occurred to him to doubt these stories.

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the books - but this makes sense to me, on the movie’s own terms.