This has probably already been done before but what the hey–you all need to graced by my enlightening prose. Or something.
My list:
Hired Ian McKellen.
The atmosphere and the place of Middle Earth.
Gollum.
Hired Sean Astin.
The score (yes, the credit really goes to Shore but I’m lumping them all under PJ).
The Mines of Moria and the balrog.
The Ents. Yeah, he (regretably) mucks with the storyline but the ents are still good. I still get chills from the Last March of the Ents.
Leaving out Tom Bombadil.
Maybe most important, he is, to my knowledge, the first director to make a fantasy drama movie that wasn’t laughably bad. He almost washes away the stain that is Bakshi’s LOTR.
Too many to list, but all of the above. The casting was excellent all around, with the exception of Liv Tyler as Arwen. I have very mixed emotions about that.
Having Elrond say the words from the appendices about Aragorn/Elessar’s death and his posthumously revealed glory just gave me chills. A great scene. Likewise Sauron swinging his mace at the very beginning of FOTR.
Moria (the look of it, and the sound of the drums in the dark)
The balrog
Speaking of good CGI : the Rivendell water horses. Gandalf’s smoke rings and fireworks.
Gollum (not perfect, but a very good effort, esp. the voice acting)
How annoying hobbits are.
How gay hobbits are
Minas Tirith
Edoras
Orthanc
Helm’s Deep (not the battle, but the location/scenery).
In fact, pretty much every location was spot on, except maybe Lorièn and Sauron’s Tower. The eye is a metaphor, fuckmook.
The costumes are all pretty much perfect, weapons a bit less (I HATE Gimli’s axe, for example)
A detail I mentionned in the other thread : Legolas’ feet not sinking in the snow of Caradhras was a brilliant touch.
And Deeg, what are you talking about viz. fantasy movies ? Dungeons & Dragons was great !
I know people will nitpick his filmed version forever, but Peter Jackson single-handedly made a classic trilogy of films that I think will remain a classic must-see for generations to come. For the second year in a row, I just watched them all again, back to back, over Christmas break and I think that is becoming my new Christmas tradition.
I don’t doubt for a minute that great-great grandchildren of people reading this thread will consider LOTR a milestone in films - just as some of us old codgers considered “Wizard of Oz” to be when we were young.
Oh, and unlike LOTR, the filmed version of Wizard of Oz had very little to do with the original book(s)…and it has held up pretty well over the years despite that fact.
Already looking forward to The Hobbit…and yes, I know Jackson will not be the director, but he will still be a producer. I have a friend who knows Ian McKellan quite well and Ian said at the end of filming LOTR he hoped to be alive to play Gandalf again in The Hobbit when they got the finally got the rights settled.
They went and made a *second *one ? :eek: Jesus haploid Christ that’s… that’s brave beyond words
@KGS : ugh, I hated that Saruman vs. Gandalf bit. It was so pedestrian… like either of them would resort to something as crude as a fight.
Besides, Star Wars did telekynetic fights before, and oodles better. PJ’s version looked like the witches’ duel in Willow which, as cool as Willow may be, is not a compliment
To me, he did it about 90% right (or at least not wrong), which just makes the 10% he missed stand out like a sore thumb, if one doesn’t keep perspective.
I wouldn’t go as high as 90% but I basically agree. However I am one of the guilty ones that cannot keep perspective.
He got the look and feel of Middle Earth in a wonderful way. It was a really great job. Much of the casting was very good with the exceptions of Arwen and Elrond. Liv had the right look but is not really an actress and better suited to the very small role that Arwen had in the books. Elrond deserved a far better actor than the hack that portrayed him.
The Ring was actually well done. The beacon scene was incredible. One of the most amazing scenes I have ever seen on film. I thought Éowyn worked well despite the actress being little old for the role.
They are probably the best done fantasy films ever and I would have enjoyed them far more if I did not know the books so darn well. They are my sons favorite films.
I thought the bit between Eowyn and the Witch-king of Angmar was nicely done. In the book it comes across a little too…stupid. Like she’s revealing some loophole in some magic prophecy that she was aware of the whole time.
In the movie, it just came out as a really good ad hoc one-liner that captured a lot of the dominant male crap she had to put with up until that point. Wormtonge pawing at her. Not being allowed to fight and having to put on a disguise. This fool Nazgul up in her grill, Etc, Etc. So by the time the Witch-king is all like “Fool!! No man can kill me!” she’s like “Oh by the way asshole, I’m a chick! So EAT IT!” [sword in face]
The Uruk-hai were pretty badass as well. My only disappointment was they didn’t sing the “Where There’s a Whip, There’s a Way” song.
Oh, and I thought Jackson really hit it out of the park with Legolas’ shield-surfing.
