Regarding that link, how on earth can you shoe-horn freaking Arwen into the Hobbit???
Regarding ROTK, the movie made me sob. But then, I like melodrama, it’s why I liked the books too.
I thought it was a very good movie but I still left with an “eh” feeling the OP mentioned. Not necessarily for all the same reasons but what struck me was:
Soundtrack - just terrible. Completely overdone with the subtlety of a hammer on aluminum pots.
Overwrought sense of self - As as been mentioned, it tried too hard to feel “epic”. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. The difference being, at least for me, when it did not work it was really obvious and pulled me right out of the fantasy. The soundtrack really contributed to this greatly but also some of the dialog just tried too hard to be awe inspiring moments.
Rough editing - I realize there were a lot of story lines to switch between but could you do it a little smoother please? By 2/3 of the way through the movie, I felt myself mentally bracing in my seat for the next smack cut to Frodo & Sam edit.
<Minor point>
Super Legolas - Sheesh, I thought the TTT had bad moments of Super Legolas but the oliphant? C’mon now…
</Minor point>
Overall, it indeed was a very good movie and taken in context of a Trilogy it is an amazing vision of the books and PJ deserves all the credit he has and shall receive. The final installment just left me a bit flat compared to the previous two movies. I’m sure the Devout Faithful will disagree. 
MeanJoe
Cameo at Rivendell, I’d think. They do stop there on both legs of the trip.
Well as I mentioned in the other thread I was a little disappointed with ROTK particularly the way it ended.
Part of it comes from the original story (which I haven’t read yet). I thought it was dramatically unsatisfying that all eight of the fellowship survived the final battles when they were supposed to be fighting against desperate odds against a formidable enemy. I think the story would have been better if a couple of them had died.
The film-makers made this worse by over-using the plot device of having one of the good guys appearing to die or being near death only to survive miraculously. This device was used so many times in the three films that by the time of eagle rescue of Sam and Frodo it felt cheap and manipulative. I also found the re-union scene that followed overly sentimental.
Still the movie had many amazing scenes and the acting maintained its high quality. Overall it was a good film and I think the LOTR film as a whole , despite its flaws, is a masterpiece and easily the best multi-part epic blockbuster produced by Hollywood. I don’t rate it as highly as Seven Samurai or Princess Mononoke but it’s an amazing achievement.
I guess I’m the only one whose disappointment is because about 50% of the movie is battle scenes. BO-RING.
When major battles start I can just zone out because 1) how many times can you see an orc get killed before it become repetitious? and 2) I didn’t even read the books but you can just tell the good guys are going to end up wiinning against all odds.
The things I find wonderful about these movies are the interplay between the characters, the magnificent settings, and the wonderful story line. Battle scenes are boring.
I am so happy to know that other people felt “eh” about this, too. I never read the books, I loved the first two movies, I really didn’t see any big hype about this one, and I just was underwhelmed.
I agree on the thought that there were a lot of near-death moments which started to feel silly. Also, anyone else feel that there were a handful of damn near homoerotic moments in this one?
Other than that…I felt like there was an excess of swooping angled wide shots and it started to make me feel dizzy and I had to look away some times.
Oh, and when Gandalf flew in on the eagle I started to laugh b/c in my head I heard “Atreeeeyuuuuu!!” “Faaaalcooooor!!”
It was no Shakes the Clown, but it was alright.
Not much. We don’t have much in the way of TV here at home (we get one channel on the rabbit ears and only watch the Law & Orders for the most part). I probably saw commercials, but didn’t really notice them.
Didn’t read any of the long lead reviews in the news magazines.
I very much enjoyed the first two movies. I just thought this one was very poorly told in terms of editing. Either Peter Jackson needed to cut out another 30-45 minutes (to get rid of the various half-plots left hanging around) or leave another 45 minutes in so that the half-plots would makes sense.
Denethor is the best example of this. Either cut the whole thing or tell the whole thing. I would have preferred they just cut the multiple endings.
End it at the coronation. Only those familiar with the books would miss the ending. Then, a few months after the ROTK is out of theaters, maybe to promote the DVD release, run a 90-minute TV special with all the footage of the final scenes. “Lord of the Rings: Returning Home.” The networks would drive themselves to bankruptcy to be the one to air that without commercial interruption.
But I felt the multiple endings, with the long black screen between scenes, just broke all the narrative flow that existed. This would give enough time to explain what was going on with the boat at the end. Nobody I was with had a clue unless they had read the book.
There is a lot of very good movie in ROTK, but there is enough bad movie-making that I’m more in the “eh” category.
I thought the movie was good, but there was too much stuff that bothered me for it to be great. Maybe some of these things are explained in the books, but the movie didn’t set them up properly:
Why the hell couldn’t Saruman escape from his own tower? The same one that Gandalf escaped from? He’s allegedly a mighty wizard, stronger than Gandalf the Gray and only slightly weaker than Gandalf the White.
Arwen was dying because her fate is linked to the Ring? WTF? This happens how exactly?
Why did Gandalf scare off the Nazgul and their dragons or whatever they were when Faramir came back from Osgiliath the first time, but not when Minas Tirith was under attack? And Gandalf, the swashbuckler? What about Gandalf the White Wizard? Where’s the magic?
Faramir, dude, why are you trying to impress your insane father by making a suicidal charge? Maybe you should do something useful like raiding the siege towers or something.
If Minas Tirith is supposed to be a mighty citadel, why does a single catapult hit to the top of a tower topple the whole thing?
Hey look, it’s Eowyn facing off against the Witch King, that’s cool. Awesome, she cuts off the dragon’s head in one swift stroke! No, wait, she doesn’t seem that strong, plus her sword doesn’t even seem long enough, plus it’s not a +5 vorpal. And when the Witch King hits her with his flail that weighs perhaps more than she does, she somehow manages to not get hurled halfway across the battlefield. Oh look, she’s taking off her helmet and dazzling everyone with her flowing golden tresses! Hey look everyone, it’s Eowyn! She’s no man, and no one said anything about the Witch King being invulnerable to women! Finish him! stabs Witch King in face FATALITY EOWYN WINS. Uh…
What was the deal with the army of the dead that Aragorn commanded? Ya, I know the oath to Isildur and all that, but the whole thing came way outta left field. And when they showed up, the regular troops hardly seemed necessary.
Legolas vs. the oliphant seemed highly far-fetched, even for Legolas. And Gimli was very disappointing through the whole series. I wanted to see him plow through orcs like, well, a furious dwarf plowing through orcs. Instead we get a couple of shots here and there of Gimli cleaving heads, and a whole lot of Gimli getting thrown, and Gimli getting pinned under stuff, and Gimli getting knocked on his ass by a cave troll, and haha isn’t it funny Gimli is too short to see over the ramparts, and his chainmail doesn’t fit, and he can’t run like Legolas, and dwarf women have beards, and he can’t ride a horse, and dammit where’s Gimli the orc slayer already?
When everyone marched on the Black Gate and the orcs came pouring forth, what the hell were the orcs waiting for? Attack already! And what happened to Aragorn’s horse?
Why couldn’t Sam take the Ring the rest of the way up the volcano?
I can understand Bilbo going off to Valinor, but Frodo? He’s leaving his friends why? Writing “You can never really return home” in your diary doesn’t really explain things too well there, Frodo.
All that said, I thought there was an awesome movie hiding in there somewhere. The battle scenes were really good, although my wife thought they were boring.
My main beef is the end. Those fifteen or twenty minutes (it might only have been five or ten, but it felt sooooo long) were mostly unneccesary. I don’t care that Sam married that girl, she was shown for TWO SECONDS in the first movie, why make a big deal now? People who read the books might appreciate it, but most of the movie go-ers might not even remember her. And half of the epilogue was in slow motion! Way to make the part of the movie that already drags on drag on even more by slowing down the action, and essentially removing all dialogue. I think it would have been great to end at the scene with everyone kneeling down to the hobbits. Very cool image, I thought, and the only part of the epilogue I liked.
where was Tom Bombadil??? and Sharkey??? i can handle the ommisions of a lot of the songs and of huge chunks of the book because if they were put in it would make it into 6 movies as opposed to three but the scouring of the shire is a great bit in the book and Tom Bombadil? i jsut like him ok.
My big complaint is all the ‘slow-motion’ moments. Way, way too many of those. One per each major character would have been enough. More than more enough. I had to stop myself from stating to count them.
I’m going to see the movie again when my sister visits just after New Year’s. Mental note to self. Do not count slow motion moments…
sturmhauke- You really should read the books. They answer all your questions.
Having read the books I wanted to see the scene where “Master Wormtongue” throws Saruman’s palantir out of Isengard. That is how Pippin sees the palantir to pick it up, as it bounds TOWARDS a pool not in it.
Loved the dialoge in the book after that. Argagorn saying that he was not sure if Wormtongue meant to hit Gandalf or Saruman then Gandalf saying that Saruman and Wormtongue deserve to be trapped in the tower together, actually, more than Wormtongue deserves.
I’ve always imagined that Saruman was NOT happy that Wormtongue picked the palantir to throw, on purpose or not, and told Wormtonge so over and over and over…
Gimli wraps it up by saying that they’d better get ‘out of stone’s thow’ in case the two roommates decide to throw anything else.
All in all, a much missed scene that I wished Jackson had shot as written.
Thankfully omitted.
Wahoo, my point is that for the movie, Jackson’s job is to give a satisfactory explanation for things or leave them out. The movies may be based on the books, but they are not the books, and they have to stand on their own merits. The first two movies succeeded at this, this last one not so much.
Actually IMHO the last one succeeded even better than the first two.
Well, to be fair, nobody was exactly guarding Gandalf, or even paying the least bit of attention to him near as I could tell, and he had some help getting out. Sauruman, by contrast, has no assistance and is being guarded by the Ents.
The elves are very sensitive to evil, and as the powers of darkness grow stronger, she grows weaker. It’s a mystic thing, like the light in that necklace she gave Aragorn.
Uh, because he’s trying to finally win his father’s love and approval? Because his brother is dead, and his father wishes it had been him, so he sees nothing left to live for? Because he’s sworn to do his lord’s bidding, and his honor is more important to him than his life?
I never got the feeling the whole thing was a citadel, although like any other city it had its battlements. And the shots weren’t toppling the whole thing, just the upper portion of that particular tower.
Makes just as much sense as “no man of woman born” if you ask me. I never took the time to measure her sword against the nazgul’s neck, but I have no problem with her being stronger than she looks, or with the rush of adrenalin boosting that strength. That, and it really looked to me like it just caught her a glancing blow.
Well, nobody knew that he was going to gather them, for one thing, and nobody knew for sure that they would agree to fight for him. Why wouldn’t they take the regular troops? Can you just see the Rohirrim explaining why they didn’t answer Gondor’s call for aid? “Um, well, you see, Aragorn said he’d take care of it, and it’s such a long ride, and how were we to know he’d fail in his mission?”
When he thought Frodo was dead, that’s exactly what he’s willing to try to do. But since carrying the Ring is Frodo’s mission, and Sam’s been told repeatedly that it would destroy him, he’s not going to screw around with that. Besides, is he supposed to just leave Frodo lying there half-dead and unprotected in the heart of Mordor?
Because, as he said, some wounds just can’t be healed. Bearing the Ring for so long has changed him forever, and not in a good way. He can never go back to who and what he was before Bilbo gave him the Ring. Sam, Merry, and Pippin all go back and pick up their old lives and selves, but Frodo can’t. He’ll never be home in the Shire the way the other three are, and so he left.
I’ve never read more than 50 pages of the first book, and I thought all this stuff was fairly obvious.
Oops, sorry Sturmhauke. I didn’t mean to sound like one of those people who snidely tell peope to read the book if they want to understand the movies.
I shoud have said that the scenes you questioned were taken from the book but not ‘filled out enough’ to be fully understood by those who have not read the book. Therefore you are in luck. If you want the answers before the EE comes out you can find them in the book. I HOPE they filmed some of those ‘answers’.
No hope for my ‘Wormtongue flings the palantir’ scene it seems so I will never get to ‘see’ it except in my imagination.
Sometimes I think it would have better if I had not read the books years ago. My brother and sister have not read them (I include The Hobbit for background info) and they had the advantage of not knowing what would or SHOULD have come next.
I have not read the book completely since that fiirst reading, just bits here and there since the movies have come out and I am surprised that I remembered so much that I DO know what was left out or changed. A book that never leaves you no doubt.
Forgot to add that I did have some “I don’t remember reading that scene/line in the book” but not nearly as many as the “They left that out/changed that” moments.
My memory has always been weird anyway.
Well, come on. How much can we realistically ask of Peter Jackson?
Ah, Shakes the Clown!
The Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies!