I routinely chapter-jump over the mushy Arwen scenes in the first two movies, and take the “sees her future child” bit in ROTK as the best opportunity to go out to the ladies’ room without missing anything.
I liked about any scene with Arwen in it the least, except maybe the very end. For some reason everytime she was on screen I just wanted her to GO AWAY!!!
Oh, I forgot the one major thing in RotK that bothered me. Eowyn was such a wuss – she always seemed to be the one really strong female character in the book, and I kept waiting for her to stop acting like such a coward fighting the witch king, yet it looked like she was lobbing her sword around and hiding after every swing. Most irritating.
That wasn’t in the script. Ian McKellen tried to turn around… but there was this wooden beam right there. I think he made it work beautifully… and would have liked to see more of that side of Gandalf in TTT and ROTK.
I hate to quibble with PJ’s vision, as by and large it worked so wonderfully, but a few things did bug me. Most have already been mentioned: Galadriel’s photo-negative look and Frodo at Osgiliath most notably.
But the worst thing in the trilogy from my perspective? The Wizard Wrestling Federation we got when Gandalf and Saruman faced off in Fellowship. Two of the wisest, most powerful of the Maiar and they’re reduced to throwing each other around the room? Definitely one of my least-liked scenes.
I didn’t like Denethor’s high-dive. There are several hints in the script as to why Denethor has become convinced that Gondor will fall, but then instead of him playing out the “prophet of doom” role, he simply becomes a coward. He should have stood on the pyre, grabbed a torch from one of the soldiers, and quite deliberately set the wood ablaze, wearing a look of eternal defiance.
The only criticism I have of PJ in general (bear in mind that I love all 3 movies and will be furious if ROTK doesn’t win Best Picture) is that sometimes he overexaggerates things to a degree which makes them seem slightly silly. Two examples:
(1) The goblin army surrounding the fellowship in the Mines of Moria. First of all, how did such a ludicrous number of goblins survive in Moria? How did they all happen to show up at once? Where were they earlier? I never really felt any tension there, because if the goblins attacked, obviously they would slaughter the whole fellowship instantly. So it was clear they weren’t really going to attack. I think that sequence (up to the Balrog) would have been more effective with steadily increasing goblin attacks, rather than a single hilarious uberswarming
(2) The scene where Sam falls down the hill in front of the black gate, and how close the evil soldier may or may not be to seeing him.
Galadriel as “Queen” in FOTR. The elves in Helm’s deep, and the warg attack in TTT. Denethor’s one-dimensional madness in ROTK.
But I’ll suck it up and see ROTK for a 4th time soon regardless.
any scene with Arwen. I can’t stand Liv Tyler.
That was mine, too… that little bit of overdone special-effects really ejected me from the film for a few minutes. Up until that point, I was utterly enthralled.
I read in an issue of “Cinefex” magazine that this scene was one of the few scenes for which the special effects were done by a third-party house (not WETA), and when they got it back, nobody was terribly happy with it, but it was too late to change it.
Other than that scene, I can’t think of anything specific that really threw me about the films.
OK this was eaten twice in previewing, so I’m just gonna jump in and assume my coding is correct.
Anyway…seconded with a vehemence that burns like a thousand suns. I found it to be well done only in the sense that it seems like that is what her part would have been in the timeline of the Quest; however, the story worked quite well with only a mention of her and a fuller story in the appendices. Watching her gave me the feeling that Arwen was written a huge part because Liv (ooh, aah) Tyler wanted to be in LOTR. I’m sure that’s not why she was given the part, but that’s a bit of the aura I got. I could be biased, of course, as I find the elves snotty and self-absorbed.
Elves. At Helm’s Deep. I realize this was done for a cinematic reason that eludes me at the moment, but it stull bugs me.
I was upset that Merry’s characterization was so poor. He’s so much cooler in the books!
Arwen. The Stupid Elf tricks.
I really wished they concentrated more on the Gimli/Legolas rivalry instead of the Gimli-as-comedy-relief and God-mode-Legolas.
And Denethor’s flaming cliff-diving scene made me cringe.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was bugged by the effects on Galadriel in the first movie. They should re-do it for whatever Super Mega Deluxe Edition they’ll release a few years from now. Cate Blanchett’s performance bugged me in general. In Return of the King, her “buck up, little camper!” bit was just too cheerful and smiley.
Legolas surfing. If he had slid down the olliphant’s trunk, cool. But it would have been pretty cool if he could run down stairs at Helm’s Deep and shoot arrows at the same time. He didn’t need to ride the shield like that.
I also thought the endings were too long and too final each time. The fade to black - fade to white stuff was very teasing.
As much as I lust after Orlando Bloom I have to say that it really bugged me when he snowboarded down the stairs (Helms Deep) in the Two Towers. It was just embarassing. I cringed for him.
That having been said, I think Peter Jackson did a great job and I will be seeing ROTK for the 4th time this weekend…now that is embarassing!
I may be an action junkie, but the Sam and Frodo scenes as they oh so slowly trekked towards the mountain annoyed me. Would Frodo stop whining, would Sam stop going “Mr. Frodo”, would Golumm take his pills and stop the personality disorder?! Give me more Riders of Rohan scenes and I’ll be happy.
The sound of Boromir’s horn at the end of Fellowship. I expected something majestic and resounding, not that feeble “toot-toot”.
I actually think Cate Blanchett acted poorly, perhaps not her fault obviously the director must take some of the blame. Maybe she wasnt the best person for the role?
Not a very major flaw but all the ones I had in mind were taken (Funky Galadriel mainly). During most of ROTK, it seemed the CGI crew had just got their mittens on funky falling people code and couldn’t wait to use it at every possible chance. The who watch the person fall from great heights with limbs flailing and then hitting the ground at an amusing angle thing was massively overdone.
Did Peter Jackson steal that whole “ghost pirate” scene from Scooby Doo? I mean seriously, where the hell did that come from?
And what’s with the World War I era mine at Helms Deep? Oh…I better just stop there.
I agree with Stonebow… the Galadriel going photonegative was badly done in terms of visual effects and acting… too exagerated.