You’re not alone.
Aragorn, Faramir and Denethor ruined the movie for me.
Aragorn is basically a sissy in the movies, in need of a therapist. In the books, on the other hand, he is a man of firm convictions that knows the part he has to play and is prepared to play it to the bitter end. Aragorn is no anti hero as Frodo, he is the real thing. But Hollywood doesn’t care for heros, it thinks that we need flawed characters to identify to.
Faramir is a Jerk.
But I will never forgive Jackson for the way he butchered Denethor. Denethor was -and still is- a great man. A man that has lived in the shadow’s shadow for to long. A man that has seen all his efforts come to nothing and a man that has seen the future of his country and of his house and has despaired. Jackson gave as a clown without table manners.
The payoff’s OK, but the setup (“The fat one! He ate it!”) is right up there with the drinking contest and “Nobody tosses a dwarf” for unneeded, out of place comedy.
The only “humor” that PJ added that was actually funny was when Eowyn made stew for Aragorn.
Hi I’m WellHe’sBack and I’m a Tolkien fanatic. I adore the 1st movie so much I can put up with Arwen rescuing Frodo & Aragorn “choosing exile”(!). The next two movies are pretty to look at and listen to, but are not good adaptations of the books. No need to rehash the trashing of the characters of Denethor and Faramir, etc. etc., but most unforgivable was changing Frodo from a hero ready to crawl up Mount Doom into a damsel in distress, falling & needing to saved at every turn. Bah.
Re - The Scouring. It is a totally necessary part of the book showing that no part of the land was untouched by war. The changes & growth shown in the various hobbits is also wonderful. But I will grant that it couldn’t work in Peter Jackson’s movie.
and as for Board personalities - if we have personalities in real life, why can’t we have them on the Boards?
This is the one. I hated it. I don’t see why Sam’s rescue couldn’t have been just as dramatic without it, and I HATE the thing in movies where best friends always need to break up and then come back together in the end.
Skald probably won’t actually come to this thread, btw. He’s got real life intervening (in a good way). But I don’t call this thread reference to a board “personality” - more like a calling-out. After all, he’s made no bones about the fact that he’s not fond of the movies.
That doesn’t mean he hates every bit of them. I asked him about this before, since I happen to love 97% of the movies. He just doesn’t like the changes made to the characters, as others don’t. I hope he’ll forgive me speaking for him.
But as I said, I loved the movies. I don’t, as I grow older, need movies to be exactly like the books. They are two totally different mediums and I can enjoy both. Jackson brought the world of LOTR to life; he cast wonderful actors, I can sit down and immerse myself completely in his Middle Earth. It may not exactly be Tolkien’s Middle Earth but there’s plenty of stuff I hated about Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Like the propensity for everyone to use 100 words when 10 would do. Like stopping for a meal and describing the food in exquisite, graphic detail, while the plot grinds to a halt. Like the songs. Dear God, I hated the songs. I hate songs in books anyway.
And don’t even get me started on Tom Bombadil. I still skip all his parts when I read the books.
I’ll say this much -
The movies re-opened the world for lots of people - it made the books accessible to me again after years of trying/wanting to read them.
The visuals were perfect, changes to certain characters deplorable - certain details debatable - but it is was a great version of the books and an event in any sense of the word.
My single biggest nit deals with the treatment of Theoden (not mentioned already) - he never once questioned the need to go to Gondor - he was ready and on his way before the final arrow fell @ helms deep.
Best. Film. Ever.
I love the movies and I think Jackson did about the best he could do with a near-impossible task.
However …
… I can’t forgive him making the old sewers of Osgiliath run UNDER the river. Who builds a sewer that runs UNDER a river? What does it drain into?
The Underdark.
Ooo, best answer, right up until the drow figure it out and get super-pissed and launch yet another invasion.
Through the crap lined sewer pipes?
That’s what the iron bars are for. (And the neo-otyugh colony.)
[hijack] I’d love to see a decent Drow movie 
[/hijack]
FYI: Skald hasn’t posted on the Dope in 5 days.
That’s not like him…something must have happened
I don’t have him in the Death Pool.
dammit.
As I said earlier, he informed me real life is intervening with his posting to the Dope. In a good way. I don’t want to share his news; he can do that when/if he’s ready, but he probably won’t be posting nearly as much.
That’s terrible. Don’t say that.
We aren’t allowed to have Dopers in the death pool.
But if he shuffled off the Mortal Coil, he wouldn’t be a Doper, would he?
I am a member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, otherwise known as LASFS. They have a proviso in their rules that says “death will not release you”.
I think of the Dope that way also.
I think every fan of the books (myself, I grew up reading them once in my early teens, a couple times in my 20s) will have their issues, as with any film adaptation.
But I’m also a humongous movie buff. Love film as a medium and understand a lot of the changes Peter, Fran, Phillipa, et al. had made.
I find the Extended Editions far superior to the theatricals (Thank you, Peter!), and the special features are bar none.
That said, as a work of film, it’s a gem, a masterpiece of passion on Jackson’s part, and we’re all lucky to have it as an interpretation of Tolkiein’s masterwork. Every Thanksgiving I go through the movies with my whole family and we get to just soak in Middle Earth, and pretty soon we’ll get to do it again, on a new but old adventure in a year.
I encourage those who get stuck on the annoying departures to overlook them, and enjoy the movie as a faithful adaptation of the spirit behind the Lord of the Rings.
All Tolkien meant to do was tell his stories and entertain, and I think these movies do just that. I think he’d be proud (despite his annoyances… No story is all theirs, is it… Precious?!)