![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rj_andersonThis afternoon Hubby and I dumped the kids at Grandma's and zipped off for our annual Boxing Day LotR date. 'Twas fun, and three hours went by quickly, but I have to say that I had a few more quibbles with this installment of the trilogy than I did with the first one:
THE GOOD:
Gandalf vs. the Balrog. How cool was that?
Smeagol/Gollum. Brilliantly handled, very effective, and to my mind the most moving performance in the entire film (especially when he's talking to himself). If ever a CGI-rendered creature deserved an Oscar...
Eowyn. She's tough, she's cool, she neatly proves she can handle a sword, and while not conventionally beautiful she's attractive even without obvious makeup (which I am not sure can be said for Liv Tyler).
Grima Wormtongue. He's oh so deliciously vile, and yet there's that one touching moment when he realizes the strength of Saruman's army and a tear runs down his cheek -- kudos to Brad Dourif for taking what could have been a very flat part and turning it into a virtuoso performance. (And as an aside, that greasy, stringy black hair he's got is the way Snape's hair ought to have looked in the HP movies. Humph.)
The Dead Marshes -- exactly the way I imagined them from the books. Except for the bit with the ghoulish creatures grabbing Frodo under the water, which is more Jacksonian overkill. Sheesh.
Helm's Deep. What a set! And I'm so glad that during the battle they kept one of my favorite bits of Tolkien humour, namely Legolas and Gimli competing to see who can kill the most orcs.
Swaggering!Aragorn pushing open those double doors. I'm not at all attracted to Viggo Mortensen, but I love me that scene.
The Black Gate of Mordor. My jaw dropped.
Oliphaunts! I was almost as excited as Sam.
The Ents attacking Isengard. One of my favorite moments in the books, and neatly done here as well. The enormous rushing wall of water was typical Jacksonian overkill, but it was in the interests of dealing with another bit of Jacksonian overkill (namely that gigantic orc-factory-pit-mine thing we saw so tediously much of in the first movie), so I'll forgive it.
Bits of Tolkien's poetry cleverly worked in so as not to seem either obvious or tedious. This was something I missed in the first film; I was glad to see it here.
Legolas skidding down the stairs on a shield, shooting arrows all the way. Pure cinema. Pure stuntwork. Pure fun.
David Wenham. Not the Faramir of the books. Not nearly as cool or as admirable as Book!Faramir, at least not until his very last scene. But he does the best that could be hoped for with the material given him, I think. And the nose! Phwoar.
THE BAD:
Will somebody please explain to Peter Jackson that there is a great deal more to LotR than big battle scenes? I really felt after watching TTT that the movie could be summed up as follows: "Army A, meet Army B. [bang, crash, boom] Army B, meet Army C. [crash, boom, bang] Army C, meet Army D..." and so on for about two hours' worth of film.
MagicallyDecrepit!Theoden. More overkill, necessitating a big flashy scene where Gandalf "removes the spell" rather than merely removing Wormtongue and his poisonous lies and allowing Theoden to come to his senses on his own. Sure, it looks impressive, but it's goofy.
Aragorn went over a CLIFF!!! Oh NO!!! Is he DEAD??? Of course not, you twits, it's just a totally contrived action B-plot to create more artificial suspense and waste time that would have been better spent on character development.
Oh NO!!! Will Arwen go to the Grey Havens after all??? Okay, so I understand that PJ & Co. don't want us to forget about Arwen's character and the element of doubt is useful for playing up the chemistry between Aragorn and Eowyn blah blah blah fishcakes. But like the previous example, it's totally contrived and the attempt to add tension and excitement falls flat.
The Ents. They're too small, for heaven's sake. They look like the trees in my backyard.
Haldir's double chin. "Mae govannen! I bring you a legion of elf warriors, and ten boxes of chocolate-glazed donuts... Erm, make that three boxes. Burp." (Okay, so maybe not that bad. But his face was all the wrong shape for an elf.)
BOMBS at Helm's Deep? Hello???
Dwarf-tossing. "Don't tell the elf." Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Okay, so that wasn't funny. I don't mind Gimli being played for comic relief -- if you really want to lighten the mood, Gimli's one of the better candidates -- but this was just too obvious.
THE UGLY:
Elrond. Is this guy the biggest party pooper in Middle Earth or what? Plus, those knots in his hair were really distracting. It's really sad to see one of my favorite characters in the trilogy turned into a skanky-looking curmudgeon.
All those soggy dreams Aragorn has about Arwen. I'm a die-hard romantic and I love the story of Aragorn and Arwen in (the appendix of) LotR, so it's really sad that these scenes left me so completely unmoved. But all I could think was, "Yeah, we know who Arwen is. No, we haven't forgotten her. Yeah, Liv Tyler looks pretty in a semi-transparent Greek-style elf gown. Kissy kissy kissy. Excuse me while I yawn myself to death."
Legolas's little crisis of confidence at Helm's Deep. Yet another attempt to improve on Tolkien's characterization goes bust. Um, Legolas is an Elf. He is hundreds of years old. Somehow I don't think he would start panicking in that situation, no matter how hopeless it might look -- much less need Aragorn, a mere Man, to remind him what faith and courage are all about. Puhleeze.
Faramir dragging Frodo and Sam all the way to Osgiliath. Why? Whyeeeeee???
All that being said, I did enjoy the movie, and am looking forward to the final installment. But I can't honestly say that I'm all a-flutter to run out and see it again.
THE GOOD:
THE BAD:
THE UGLY:
All that being said, I did enjoy the movie, and am looking forward to the final installment. But I can't honestly say that I'm all a-flutter to run out and see it again.
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
yeah...
Date: 2002-12-26 08:37 pm (UTC)Teri
Two Towers
Date: 2002-12-26 08:39 pm (UTC)I am not as enamoured of LotR as some. This will be my third time trying to get through the first book in the trilogy. And I can't for the life of me figure out why I'm not singing Tolkien's praises. It just hasn't...grabbed me. It's not the language(I find the language quite beautiful in some places). That being said:
I saw Fellowship when it came out last year. And, I had much the same reaction as I did to the book. Namely, a lovely piece of art, but not particularly engaging. Aragorn and Arwen: Was it me, or did Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortenson not have much chemistry? I haven't seen TT yet, but that was my impression from the first film. And IMHO, if the actors don't have chemistry, then any romantic subplot is pretty much shot to begin with.
But again, that may be me.
Tai.
Re: Two Towers
Date: 2002-12-27 04:39 am (UTC)I've been reading LotR every couple of years since I was eight, and until about the last four or five times, I skimmed a lot of it. Return of the King was far and away my favorite of the series... Fellowship seemed to get off to an incredibly slow start. But my view of the books was transformed when I read them aloud to my husband. Something about doing that just made me appreciate them in a whole new way -- I'd thought it would make them seem slower and more tedious, but strangely it made the language and the characters really come alive for me as never before.
Obviously I did enjoy the books already or I wouldn't have been re-reading them on a regular basis, but I have to say that they do take a while to appreciate. It's worth it, though. There's a reason LotR is considered by some to be the greatest work of fiction of the 20th century.
TTT
Date: 2002-12-26 11:20 pm (UTC)Though there were bombs at Helm's Deep - so that much was not PJ overkill.
I think that I'd enjoy it better the second time around because I could relax and not worry about Faramir!
Re: TTT
Date: 2002-12-27 04:42 am (UTC)I loved it! :-)
Date: 2002-12-27 05:55 am (UTC)On the other hand, she loved The Two Towers. I would rate the second movie as higher than the Fellowship theatrical release, but not quite as good as the Fellowship extended DVD release (what a difference 30 minutes makes; the additional running time fixed a lot of pacing problems and really fleshed out the characters -- as the litmus test goes: my mother-in-law *loved* the DVD).
Anyway, back to Two Towers. I think the story stayed truer to the soul of Tolkien than the recent Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, even though the latter stayed truer to the letter of its work. Some things that work in books don't translate well into film, and I generally defer to Jackson's decisions about how to make Tolkien filmable. He comes close to crossing the line and making a serious mistake on more than one occasion (Arwen/Aragorn -- no chemistry there; but Arwen/Elrond is a powerful scene that pulls the movie back from the edge | Gimli as comic relief; that runs a bit counter to the extended DVD release which substantially fleshes out Gimli's character). I do a full review on my blog here ( http://www.sitehouse.net/jamesbow/000518.shtml ) if you're interested in reading it. Feel free to comment. For those who haven't seen the movie yet, be warned th at there are spoilers.
Faramir. Yes, that was the biggest liberty the movie took with the books, but I'm willing to accept it. Otherwise, Faramir becomes the only character in the book not tempted by the ring, save for Tom Bombadil. Faramir still contrasts with Boromir in that Faramir sees sense and lets Frodo go, but I will admit that this change puts a strain on the narrative that almost breaks the movie. On the other hand, I think it gives the second movie a climax that the second book did not have. Either way, I'm able to set it aside and look forward to Return of the King.
Thanks for the review..
Date: 2002-12-27 07:31 pm (UTC)Dorothy
Re: Thanks for the review..
Date: 2002-12-28 05:10 am (UTC)I'm totally with you on those overblown fight scenes. I really thought the cave troll one was ridiculous. They could have used at least three of those minutes in Lorien so we actually got some character development for Galadriel and she didn't merely come across as a Scary Creepy Lady whom Frodo inexplicably trusted enough to want to give the ring...
Re: Thanks for the review..
Date: 2003-01-02 05:40 pm (UTC)Likewise, Lothlorien is expanded and Galadrial's role is substantially improved. We see all of the gifts she gives to all of the fellowship. All in all, it's a much better movie with just 30 minutes of additional running time.
Which begs the question: why wasn't the movie released in this format in the first place? From what I've heard, Peter Jackson had to fight very hard in order to get the movies to be three hours long in the first place. Movie companies are terrified at the prospect of having a movie long enough to warrant an intermission (what's so bad about that?).
Even worse, one of the sponsors of the movie suggested that all three parts be compressed into a single three-hour movie. Could you imagine the disaster *that* would have been? I think, given the scale involved in these books, the final product on screen is a stunning achievement. These films are going to stand up through time almost as well as the books.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-29 02:11 am (UTC)And with you on booing the endless battles. Although I loved the appearance of the Elvish army.
(Like the Barmy Army, don't you know, only with less drunken singing.)
(Barmy Army: crazy British folk who follow the English cricket team around Australia during the test series. Or some kind of crickety thing, anyway. Good fun. There is currently a strong possibility that any one of them could play cricket better than the current English team...)
(Not that I'm biased.)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-29 07:49 am (UTC)But Elrond... basically, he was a manipulative bitch. I liked him in part one, but here... though I guess that last look between him and Arwen, and his frown, meant that he understood that this was her saying goodbye to him and hopping off to find Aragorn. Nice of him to send that army, if selfish. (army saves Aragorn, Aragorn takes care of daughter, nice - and an added moment of torment for Aragorn when poor Haldir dies *shudder*)
The Ents were too scrawny and simply not massive enough. Besides, I really missed those moving forrests. That was a few branches stalking off towards Orthanc.
What I also thought was interesting was the interpretation of the two towers = Barad Dûr and Orthanc. I always thought the Two Towers were Minas Tirith and Minas Ithil. (he had to it his way, though, my towers aren't even in the film)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-30 05:03 am (UTC)did you have to be so cruel to poor Haldir? (ok, so that's my personal weakness for a characters, but still, sniff - there was finally one elf who didn't look scrawny)
Well, I was exaggerating in an (admittedly somewhat lame) attempt at comedy, but alas, Tolkien's Elves are scrawny, so I don't see much of a way out of that one. There are plenty of solidly built characters of other types around, though: look at dear old Sam.
But really, Haldir is just a slightly more obvious case of the problem I have with every one of the Elves we've been shown in PJ's movie -- they all look too human. The only exception to this problem I can think of so far is Figwit. Even Legolas... he certainly moves and speaks like an Elf for the most part, but IMO he looks like something out of the Sears catalogue. I've seen people on Gap commercials who looked more like Elves to me than Orlando Bloom.
Oh, well. Maybe I'm just subconsciously peeved that they didn't cast Morten Harket (http://www.tv2.no/program/bilder/20978.jpg). :) (http://www.figwitlives.net)
Re:
Date: 2002-12-30 10:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-12-30 03:11 pm (UTC)LOL. I didn't say I was in love with him, I said he looks like my idea of what an Elf should look like. Skinny and cheekbony and a bit otherworldly. By that standard Hugo Weaving would not really have been such a bad Elrond if they'd fixed a) his character and b) his hair.
Legolas... didn't do a thing for me in Fellowship, but now I have succumbed to the Elf-madness.
The sad thing was, I love Legolas so much in the books, and Orlando Bloom has done a perfectly decent job of acting like an Elf for the most part, so there is no good reason that I should find Orlando Bloom so profoundly dull to look at. Except that he's simply not my type, whether dressed up as an Elf or not. *shrug*
I'm with you on the dumb lines, though. That bit about the red sun just made me sit back and go "Say what???"
Re:
Date: 2002-12-31 02:13 am (UTC)Well, but there were so many that said "yes, I noticed him! I thought he looked so great" and I have to say that I did notice him the first time around, but now that I *know* who he is, I just can't pick him out of the crowd. It's me being weird, I guess.
And Orlando's even less my type when dressed up as an elf... I mean, he's pretty to look at but I'd be afraid to crush him whilst hugging. Or, as he said, "Have you seen John Rhys-Davies? He's three times the size of me, man!" The little guy just cracks me up.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-29 06:41 pm (UTC)Another thing I really liked about the movie was the focus on the common folk of Rohan. The scene where the men are putting swords in the hands of 13 year old boys about made me cry (I'm not a big crier at movies).
I'm eager to see TTT again, if only for the superb performance of Smeagol (it's hard to call him Gollum after actually seeing his struggles).
no subject
Date: 2002-12-30 03:05 pm (UTC)Yes, thank you for reminding me -- they did, and they shouldn't have.
Another thing I really liked about the movie was the focus on the common folk of Rohan. The scene where the men are putting swords in the hands of 13 year old boys about made me cry (I'm not a big crier at movies).
Yeah, I teared up at that point too. I was pleasantly surprised when the children's mother showed up once they got to Helm's Deep, though -- I thought she'd be dead for sure.