Do not click on this link if you want to be surprised by RotK.
Frodo lives. Sorta.
I thought it was awesome. I thought it was wonderful. I was dazed and impressed for a good ten minutes after I came out of the theater. I needed some processing time to figure out just how amazed I was.
And then I began nit-picking.
If Pippin and Merry have drunk the Ent draughts, then why are they the same height as Frodo and Samwise at the Gray Havens? and at Elessar’s coronation?
I was deeply upset by the way that the Scouring of the Shire was handled. Specifically, that it was cut out completely. The Shire is completely unaffected by the war far away, and that seems to me to be a gross mishandling of Tolkein’s text. As Gandalf says to Frodo and Sam and Merry and Pippin – let me paraphrase — “you were brought along specifically so that you could handle this part at the end yourselves.” They return home, but there’s nothing in need of settling or handling.
The Elves who fought at Helm’s Deep seemed quite absent from Minas Tirith.
The Paths of the Dead were not particularly scary.
On the other hand, the rest of the movie ROCKED.
Shelob was terrifying. I almost chewed my own fingers off and became “Six-fingered Anselm and the Tale of Nine Fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom.”
The Witch-King of Angmar’s death was suitably heroic and mighty. Eowyn and Meriadoc played their parts there extremely well. The King’s mace was disturbingly large and suitably awful.
Denethor’s madness was properly portrayed, even without the palantir or Beregond the Man of the Citadel. His weariness and misery were well-shown. In the DVD I hope that we will see how Denethor becomes so ruined, but I pronounce myself satisfied as is.
That’s it for now. More thoughts as I think of them.
We had the EXACT same thoughts :-).
Overall, I thought it was great. Of course, Jay, being the die-hard Tolkien boy that he is was very upset up the Scouring of the Shire being left out…though he has hope that it may have a glimpse of it in the extended edition.
Shelob was nasty…I hid under my own arm many a time…
And I was also disappointed by the height of Merry and Pippin…specifically because in the extended edition of the Two Towers, they are shown to grow a bit. It’s like…they shrunk again. Who knows.
Also…what about Eowyn and Faramir (sp?) and how they got together? Nothing on that except that they ended up giving each other the “eye” at the coronation.
So…hopefully all will be satisfied in the extended edition…next year :-(.
Glad you liked it. We just got back…and since I have an 8AM class…I’m gonna hit the hay
We had the EXACT same thoughts :-).
Overall, I thought it was great. Of course, Jay, being the die-hard Tolkien boy that he is was very upset up the Scouring of the Shire being left out…though he has hope that it may have a glimpse of it in the extended edition.
Shelob was nasty…I hid under my own arm many a time…
And I was also disappointed by the height of Merry and Pippin…specifically because in the extended edition of the Two Towers, they are shown to grow a bit. It’s like…they shrunk again. Who knows.
Also…what about Eowyn and Faramir (sp?) and how they got together? Nothing on that except that they ended up giving each other the “eye” at the coronation.
So…hopefully all will be satisfied in the extended edition…next year :-(.
Glad you liked it. We just got back…and since I have an 8AM class…I’m gonna hit the hay
*virtuously NOT reading the above* HOW can you put a line in like THAT and expect me not to read it? I’m not seeing RotK til Sunday, you fiend! If you’re at Drummy this weekend, I’m gonna give you SUCH a swat….
*virtuously NOT reading the above* HOW can you put a line in like THAT and expect me not to read it? I’m not seeing RotK til Sunday, you fiend! If you’re at Drummy this weekend, I’m gonna give you SUCH a swat….
Merry mentioned the Ent draught seemed to be worn off soon after. “Just checking things are back to normal.”
I wanted to see the Razing of the Shire, myself. Sigh.
The Paths of the Dead were not particularly scary, but its hard to make such obvious plot-success scary.
Shelob didn’t scare me, but I was fairly impressed. Watching Sam uncork his Flagon of Whoop-Ass was a serious high point.
Poor Witch-King.
I kept waiting for the second palantir, because I thought without it the story suffered. Its likely in the hyper-extendo version, though.
Merry mentioned the Ent draught seemed to be worn off soon after. “Just checking things are back to normal.”
I wanted to see the Razing of the Shire, myself. Sigh.
The Paths of the Dead were not particularly scary, but its hard to make such obvious plot-success scary.
Shelob didn’t scare me, but I was fairly impressed. Watching Sam uncork his Flagon of Whoop-Ass was a serious high point.
Poor Witch-King.
I kept waiting for the second palantir, because I thought without it the story suffered. Its likely in the hyper-extendo version, though.