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REVIEW: Lord of the Rings | by Illiad | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
| See it, argue later |
by wickedsnowking |
2001-12-24 12:30:34 |
I think a quick paraphrase from the book is in order: The movie is somewhat above my likes and dislikes, if you know what I mean. I alternately loved and hated it depending on how much I agreed with that scenes interpretation.
I first read the series when I was 8 and have averaged three readings a year since then (I'm thirty now). I've tried to keep up with every single additional book that came out and I even named my cat in Elvish. Of all the series I've ever read only Tolkien's has ever had the scope of grandeur that truly blows me away. There are writers who I feel have a better prose style, and there are authors which I admit I like better (Tad Williams, Guy Gavriel Kay, etc.), but none will ever take the place that Tolkien holds in my mind.
SOOOO... on to the movie. See it. Not necessarily because or in spite of what it is and isn't in relationship to the book, but rather because it is a visually masterful adaptation of the work. Treat it as a modern recreation of one of Shakespeare's plays and accept that it will be different from the original. Then after you've seen it sit down and argue the finer points with your friends. It will keep you engaged for hours.
After that wonderful prelude on to my review of the movie: I agree with everyone who's talked about the acting and the cinematography. The movie is visually stunning. The acting is excellent. The computer generated animation blended in seamlessly. By and large this movie should be a boon for New Zealand's tourism industry. Wow! I live in Alaska and I was still impressed.
I enjoyed the movie in every way except for those points when I just couldn't agree with the director's interpretation. Following are just the major ones, not the really nitpicky ones:
- The way that Merry and Pippin become part of the quest. In the books they go to extreme lengths to become a part of the Fellowship, but in the movie it's almost as if they stumbled into it. That cheats their characters.
- The Matrix/Mummy Returns style fight scene with Gandalf and Saruman. These two wizards, Wielders of the Sacred Flame of Anor (sp), Istari from the Sacred Realm and all they can do is levitation tricks. If they were going to do a fight scene the least they could do was throw in some fire. Actually I would have liked them to drop the scene.
- The council at Rivendell. This really irritated me. In the book they are a dignified representation of all races there to assess and respond to the threat that the ring represents. In the movie they're squabbling school children.
- The goblins/orcs swarming like spiders down the columns in Moria. Yes, it looks cool, but it doesn't really fit into the story for me.
- Galadriel. Cold bitch wasn't she. Just not how I believe that the queen of all elvendom would act. It really doesn't have much of an impact on the future story, but it really bothered me.
-Also as long as we're there what is with the strange transforming special effects that engulf Gandalf, Galadriel, and Bilbo. I think that good acting was all that was required. Special effects just spoiled it. The true danger that the One Ring represents is it's insidious ability to subvert the wielder. It doesn't have to do anything else.
- The deletion of the gift scene between Gimli and Galadriel. That removes the potential for the agruement between Gimli and Eomer later. I'll admit it won't be a show stopper, but I liked that transformation. Still as they represented Galadriel as the Ice Queen I'm not suprised that they dropped the Gimli part.
- Legolas, Warrior Prince. The real combat master of the party is Legolas? He looked incredible, but I don't think that I saw Gimli kill more that three orcs. What will this mean for their competition in the Two Towers? I suspect it was just easier to shoot his combat scenes, but I have to say that I was suprised.
So that's what I didn't like, but here's what I did:
- Saruman and Isengard. Except for the aforementioned fight scenes I though the interpretation of what was happening at Isengard was masterful. It really worked for me.
- Arwen. Now before anyone flames me, I realize this was a drastic change from the book and I didn't like the character development that it took away from Frodo. Nonetheless, this is Hollywood and that means you have to have babes. Think of all the other possibilities, Ten Walkers against Nine Riders, etc. No, the substitution of Arwen for Glorfindel worked well in the movie. It wasn't overdone and it could have been so much worse.
- The Uruk-Hai. Wow, this was great. Talk about a neat addition of something that was always in the books, but never really dealt with. This is a great example of where they've looked at the story and added pieces that had to have happened, but weren't detailed. I really liked their addition.
So, that's it for me. Again, see the movie, whether you are disappointed or not by the plot you will be swept away by the visual presentation of Tolkien's work. |
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