OK, now my keyboard has mineral water splattered all over it. Thanks.
Based on the first two films, I don’t see how this one can be anything but fantastic. I suspect the plot will hold together better in the EE DVD, though. It’s a shame the longer version couldn’t be released in theaters, but the kiddies have to go pottie, so I guess we have to wait a few more months before seeing the “real” version,
squeegee, I didn’t mean for this to turn into Ask the person who has seen The Return of the King, but Elrond introduces the sword as “Anduril, flame of the West, forged from the shards of Narsil.” It doesn’t flash lightning or anything. Magic weapons are a dime a dozen in Middle-earth. Anduril/Narsil is special because of its history. It is, however, a very cool-looking sword.
Soapbox Monkey, the “Arwen is dying” bit was my least favorite change, but if you stick your fingers in your ears and hum loudly during the conversation between Elrond and Aragorn, you can pretend it never happened and enjoy the movie. The Denethor incident is not quite as bad as you describe it. Rather than losing his temper, I saw Gandalf deciding that quick action was necessary, and he doesn’t “beat the crap” out of Denethor as much as knock him out of the way for a moment. Not a Tolkien moment to be sure, but it works in the context of the film. In any case, it’s over quickly, and it would be a shame to let it overwhelm your appreciation for an otherwise wonderful characterization.
All in all, I think purists have much less to complain about with this film in terms of what was cut out or changed from the book, compared to “The Two Towers”. As to what was cut out, that’s a whole other story.
Found a cool clip on Yahoo, and since it’s a spoiler I thought it would fit in here. It’s a bit of the Pippin/Palantir scene. Because my work computer doesn’t get sound, I haven’t heard the audio yet. Check it out; it’s the second of the two clips linked on the page.
Hmm, we haven’t seen even one magic weapon in the film, so it would seem useful if Anduril (glad they named it!) would have some magic power, and thus make Aragorn more fearsome in battle. It’d sure come in handy on the Pellenor. And there are notes in the book where Anduril has some power: Anduril slicing an orc’s helm in two in a bright white flash, etc.
I take it from the spoilers I’ve read that the only use for the “sword of the king” in the movie is to convince the King of the Dead that Aragorn is the True King, and other than that it’s just your basic sword, nothing special.
I don’t think those are batteries making Sting glow Squeegee so you’ve seen at least one weapon do something magical, i guess you could also count Glamdring allthough it doesn’t do anything special.
OK, I’ll give you Sting, point taken. But ‘a dime a dozen’ doesn’t describe the ‘magic weapons’ situation in the films. And, no, I don’t count Glamdring – in the books or film it doesn’t seem to be magical.
squeegee, Glamdring first appears in The Hobbit, in the same troll cave where Bilbo got Sting and Thorin got Orcrist. Since they all were ancient Elven blades, all three glowed blue in the presence of goblins or orcs. In fact, if I recall correctly, Elrond tells Gandalf that Glamdring once belonged to Turgon, King of Gondolin. Thus it is at least as magical as Sting.
So far as the OP goes, I’m going to wait until closer to Christmas to see ROTK, and while I’m looking forward to it, I will try not to groan to loudly at Mr. Jacksons inventions.
eh-hem, too loudly
Moes, I don’t recall Glamdring glowing like Sting, but I’ll defer to you until I can browse The Hobbit. I do recall that Sting, “like all elvish blades” glowed in proximity to Orcs, but I’d like to see the context.
squeegee, don’t bother looking, here are two quotes from the chapter “Over Hill and Under Hill” regarding Glamdring:
“Suddenly a sword flashed in its own light. Bilbo saw it go right through the Great Goblin as he stood dumbfounded in the middle of his rage. He fell dead, and the goblin soldiers fled before the sword shrieking into the darkness.”
“Then Gandalf lit up his wand. Of course it was Gandalf; but just then they were too busy to ask how he got there. He took out his sword again, and again it flashed in the dark by itself. It burned with a rage that made it gleam if goblins were about; now it was bright as a blue flame for delight in the killing of the great lord of the cave.”
And later, in the chapter “The Return Journey”, regarding the burial of Thorin Oakenshield we have:
“Upon his tomb the Elvenking then laid Orcrist, the elvish sword that had been taken from Thorin in captivity. It is said in song that it gleamed ever in the dark if foes approached, and the fortress of the dwarves could not be taken by surprise.”
Now, I don’t recall any mention of in The Lord of the Rings of Legolas’ weapons glowing in the dark, perhaps he used the stealth version.
Nobody better be humming loudly if they’re sitting next to me, or they might get an elbow in the ribs.
Saw it last night at a preview. Keep in mind that although I’ve read the books (three times) I haven’t read them for a decade and I’m not a Tolkein geek.
Pretty good.
Jackson seems to be too enamoured of his own technology.
For the first time, there were a couple of instances where the use of the “little people” doubles was glaringly obvious to me
Lots of Merry and Pippin. Less Gimli and Legolas. And yes, Gimli still gets the funny lines and Legolas still does “incredible elf tricks.”
I thought the end dragged. But I thought the end of the books dragged. Some of the battle scenes drag (but I’m not a battle scene fan - unless the stunt work is cool - and a lot of this was too close cut and too many people - battles, not fights - to see the stunt work).
The dead are way cool. No Rangers. It takes forever to get to Shelob - like an hour into the movie.
For a movie titled “Return of the King” it didn’t have a lot of Aragorn in it either. It was really a movie about the heroism of Hobbits.
And lastly, three times during the movie I found myself humming the Mulan theme song. If Pippin would have started an avalanche to drown the armies of Mordor, Disney would be suing. (I’m kidding).
He brought the sword in a trailer? Boy, PJ really DID stray from the book in this one. 
Now I have a mental image of Elrond in a closed-down gas station on a corner in a seedy part of town selling swords and paintings of Aragorn (on black velvet) out of an old U-Haul trailer.
Hmm, I wonder if he has one of the Nazgul playing poker?