I know at least 90% of people seem to love these movies. I made it around 1 hour into the first one, the part with the cave I think and then got bored of it.
Should I give it another shot, or will I be PO’d that I can never get those 8+ hours of my life back?
Watch them. You will not regret it. 8+ hours of your life is what you spend at work five days a week, 50 weeks a year, 45 years of your life.
I can’t remember a cave the first hour of the mmovie. Are you sure you didn’t start with the third?
Give it a try.
StG
I think you should. They are good movies, and you really get into them as you watch. The first half of the Fellowship is very linear and not as interesting as the rest of the trilogy. But after the Cave (the mines of Moria) it gets good.
This is coming from one of the Tolkien nuts on the board, but…
Never force yourself to watch (or read, or play, or whatever) anything for entertainment. If you like it, you won’t need to, and if you don’t like it, what good can come of forcing yourself? Yes, most folks seem to like Lord of the Rings (the movies, if not the books), but there are still some folks who, for whatever reason, don’t, and it seems that you happen to be one of them. Go do something that you like.
I’ll second that motion.
I got a brief reply from Professor Tolkien once 
, was a member of the Tolkien Society 
(where we saw a preview of the Ralph Bakshi film), have watched all 3 extended editions of Jackson’s trilogy in one sitting :eek: and listened to about 44 hours of commentary of same (insert geek symbol).
I love it all.
But as soon as you think, ‘will this be a waste of my time?’, then you shouldn’t bother.
Watch something I’m not interested in* and post a review here - that’ll save me time!
*e.g. Lost
Matrix 2 + 3
Enjoy them for what they are - spectacular adventure movies. Ignore the stigma associated with elves, dwarfs, hobbits, and wizards, as that’s not what it’s really about anyway, even though it is.
I’m not a fan of the fantasy genre, but I liked these movies. The cinemetography and costumes are stunning, and while during the first viewing I sometimes lost track of who-is-who (oh why, oh why did Tolkein have to use such like-sounding names?), I found it to be an enjoyable experience nonetheless.
The extended versions are better, in my opinion. There is a lot of extra material that helped me to understand aspects of the story that had eluded me in the theater release version.
No, if you don’t like it. I’m sure I wouldn’t have understood much of it without having read the books since childhood. They flew through the stories, leaving much important filler material out. You may want to give the books a read, and see if you like one of them. The Hobit is a single book adventure that introduces the creatures of Middle Earth. What follows in the next three books builds on this. I don’t know what today’s fiction would be like without these books, but it would be way different.
The extended versions are a must. You don’t even see the gifts being given out unless you view the extended version. Those gifits are super important for the events to come.
The movies are spectacular achievements in bringing fantasy to film. The books are far better.
If you have never read the books and gave up in the Mines of Moria the first time watching the movie, you should follow Chronos’ excellent advise.
Have you tried the books?
Jim {another Tolkien fanatic but not a lover of the movies because I did want an unfairly expect every detail to be correct.}
I love the books and movies, but I can easily see that it wouldn’t be everyones thing. And movie doesn’t really change drastically after the first third, so if you didn’t like the part you saw to the point you turned it off, I doubt you’ll like the rest.
Don’t sweat it, there’s lots of stuff I don’t understand that seem popular amonst large numbers of other stuff.
But don’t buy the books all at once either. Plenty of people like the movies better, plenty of people don’t like either.
I loved the books the first time I read them. On the fourth reading I decided I didn’t like them - the prose is awkward and forced for my own taste and too descriptive (I like character, Tolkein is a master of place). I still enjoy listening to them on occation on tape.
I like the movies better.
I’d recommend that you not bother with it.
I never read the books and didn’t know the story but by the time they got to the Mines of Moria in FOTR I was fully vested in the main characters and loved what I had seen so far.
If you weren’t hooked by that point I don’t think it’s for you. I couldn’t really say “yeah, the first half of FOTR sucked but then it eventually got better and the other two films rocked!” If you didn’t like how it started, well, it’s pretty much more of the same.
In other words, don’t keep watching it thinking it will get better. If you thought the beginning was not your cup-o-tea then the whole thing will not be your cup-o-tea.
Another huge Tolkien fan echoing what’s already been said. I liked the movies even better than the books, in some ways, but if it’s not your cup of tea then there are plenty of other entertainment options from which you may choose.
I wonder if the cave scene at which you stopped perhaps was Amon Sul/Weathertop, where Aragorn gave the hobbits their swords and they cooked a meal (more of a rocky overhang than a cave, but that might be what you’re thinking of) before Frodo kicked their fire out. The really big cave scenes are, of course, set in the great dwarven kingdom of Moria.
“oh that’s nice, ash in my to-mah-toes” One of my favorite lines in that movie.
Anyway, if you’re referring to the Mines of Moria, then I agree totally with Hampshire . I am a fan of the books and the movies. I did prefer The Hobbit to the other three though. But, I agree that if you don’t feel enough of a connection to the Fellowship members by the time they get to the mine, then you wont give a rat’s arse what happens in the rest of the movies.
How can you care about…
Boromir’s struggle and eventual death, Frodo deciding to leave, Merry and Pippin helping him leave and getting captured by the Uruks not to mention all the other shit that happens …if you haven’t established a connection to the characters, strong enough to keep you watching past 1 hour?
Of course, you could also just try watching it one hour at a time. After all, people devote at least 1 hour per week to any number of completely pointless and mind-numbingly idiotic TV shows. If you watch 1 hour per week, it wont be so painful if you don’t like it, because you haven’t wasted a full day. Then, you can finally find out if the massive action seens which come after Moria, are enough to bring you over to our side.
On preview…Holy shit! I got the spoiler tags to work for once!!!
I’m another Tolkien fan fan who says don’t watch it if you don’t like what you’ve seen. Both for the reasons already mentioned, and because I doubt that forcing yourself to watch will do anything but make the movies less entertaining. Not only would that make for an unpleasant 8 hours, but it could easily spoil your possible future enjoyment; years from now your tastes may have changed, and you may try it again and like it. That’s less likely if your memory is filled with 8 hours worth of bad associations.
I’d try and watch the whole first movie; then you should know for sure. If you connect with the characters at all, then it’s a great adventure story; if not, then it’s just a huge mass of imaginary history.
Definitely try again. All three are excellent movies, well worth watching. They are classics of the genre and classic movies in their own right.
Don’t bother watching the movies if you didn’t like the first hour.
The first hour is the slowest, but it does set the tone.
If you don’t like the tone (which a lot of people don’t), you won’t like the movies.
If you are going to watch them, make sure you watch the Extended Edition, as the flow of the story feels much more natural.
I gave up reading the first LOTR book out of boredom, and fell asleep during the first film at the cinema. But I’d still recommend watching the films - the latter two are a lot less boring than the first. You don’t even need to pay much attention to the story - it’s pretty obvious who’s good or evil, and the action scenes are fine without the need for character development or narrative arc, etc.