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I know it’s not TV sci-fi, but I wanted to start a thread about this movie here at SadBoard. I went to go see it on opening day at the noon show.
I’ve read all the Tolkien books a few times, including The Silmarillion. The movie impressed me. Peter Jackson did a fine job.
Go see this movie in a theater with a good sound system!
Elrond kicks ass! The flashback battle scene at the beginning was really cool. Aragorn was right on target. Frodo and Bilbo were wonderful. Gandalf was perfect. Cate Blanchett was perfect as Galadriel. (I also recommend seeing her in Elizabeth.) Christopher Lee is the perfect Sauruman. John Rhys-Davies does a great Gimli, the dwarf. All the actors did a fine job!
The attention to detail was superb. The Shire looks totally real, as if the buildings had been there for centuries. The doorway to Moria is exactly the same as Tolkien’s original illustration. The orcs and Saruman’s uruk-hai look terrifying. The balrog was awesome! All of the characters looked the right size.
One thing to look for is a subtle effect in the snowstorm Cahadras scene. While the other characters are trudging through deep snow, Legolas walks lightly on top of the snow leaving no footprints!
But if you insist on nit-picking, you will find flaws. They greatly condensed the scenes in the Shire in order to quicken the pace of the movie. An interesting scene where Frodo and Sam encounter a group of elves on the road is sadly gone. The encounter with the Barrow-wights and the scene on Weathertop were combined (I think?). Arwen’s character was emphasized greatly since she is ultimately the hero’s love interest. A few other things, I’m sad to say, were missing. Farmer Maggot is almost non-existent(?). Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry are not even there, which was a big suprise for me. Maybe there will be a “director’s cut” with some scenes that were left out.
But if you think that this movie is bad or some kind of let-down for you, I suggest that you seek therapy. You have to rework a book in order to translate it to a movie. And if you insist that a certain character must be present or a certain scene is vital, you are in danger of spoiling the wonderful experience others will enjoy. In other words, you’ll be viewed as hopelessly obsessive. Let it go, it’s just a movie. A really good movie, whether you like it or not.
As I’m not fond of sticky seats and compulsive gabbers, I generally wait for things to come out on video. But every year or so, I make an exception, and I think LOTR will be it this year.
There was a special on TV (Fox?) about The Making of LOTR. They discussed everything from choosing the cast, to costuming, to training for the fight scenes, to building the sets to look as closely as possible like Tolkien’s illustrations, the choosing of New Zealand as the location. It was a wonderful special, and from what I could see, it’s a wonderful movie.
They risked making it a special effects extravaganza at the expense of the story, but the story itself is not so easily overpowered, and they tried to be as faithful as they could. I’m going to go see it for sure (but I WILL wait for the crowds to thin out a bit).
Btw, good to see the site’s back, Sad. We were wondering what happened.
No offense but what exactly is their to spoil? Lord of the Rings in its entirety has probably been read billions of times around the world. I wouldn’t be afraid to ‘spoil’ it for people.
I too thinks itr’s a great film. I think it’s probably one of my fave all time films!
I’d heard that Tom Bombadill wasn’t in the film which surprised me and I thought Arwen was played-up too much. Galadrial was a grave dissapointment for me. I think Uma Thurman would have been absolutely ideal.
The biggest surprise however, was how well Sean Bean played Borrowmire. He’s a very popular actor in the UK (it’s a “one o’ the lads doin’ well in the States” pride sort of thing). He stared in a great series called Sharp, but I have to say that he has a reputation for being a little ‘wooden’ in his acting ability. Not so as Borrowmire, that was a real surprise! I wasn’t embarrassed once!
The scenery was magical for me, especially the elven places and the camera tricks in getting the hobbits to look half the size of humans was truely amazing. The film turned a wildly far-fetched fantasy into something almost believable
I can’t wait for the next film!
Took my courage in my hands and went to see LOTR over the weekend. Actually, although the place was fairly full, everyone sat through the movie quietly, even the children, for 2 hours and 58 minutes (that’s how good it was).
I’m always gratified when they pass up big name stars in favor of lesser-known actors who actually still have a love of what they do, as well as talent and skill. Not one actor, not one scene struck a false note with me (except maybe that Frodo is just a little TOO precious). And I think I know why they opted to film all three movies simultaneously — aside from making maximum use of the sets and keeping the characters looking the same age, I think they just didn’t want to lose the creative momentum they had going. This one will be remembered for a long, long time, if only for the incredible competence and loving attention to detail in *everything* — the sets, the effects, the script, the acting, the music.
I left the theater wishing I could go back next day to see the next movie in the trilogy. Gah! It’s a whole *year* before that one gets released! And then *another* year for the final one!
I agree, Sad, Sean Bean was very good. They all were.
This movie was about as damn near perfect as they come. I have read the books at least 40 times (though it has been a while), and while of course they had to leave some things out, and condense other things, it was a remarkable achievement. I think this is truly going to be one of the great, classic films of all time.
I want to go see it again, as there was so much I missed. Everyone involved in this film did an incredible job. It’s going to be a long wait until the next one.
I too enjoyed the movie more than a lot of movies I’ve seen. I took advantage of New Year’s morning and went to see the first playing of the year. There were only about 15 people in the theatre, so it was pretty guiet.
I suppose I could speak of my favourites in the film. My favourite character was Legolas the Elf archer, because he’s so enigmatic (too bad he never smiles). And my favourite scene was in the Mines of Moria, which seem to be a favourite for many.
I didn’t notice that Legolas didn’t leave footprints in the snow. I’ll have to look for that next time I see it.
I feel bad that I’ve never read any of Tolkien’s books, but I certainly will start next month when I have more spare time.
I also kinda wish I hadn’t tried to watch the Bashki version again. It was horrible…Princess of Fire
I heard the DVD will have 40 minutes of unreleased footage, so any characters not featured in the finished version of the film may make an apperance…
but did anyone else thing that parts of the Shire looked like Tellytubby land?
I made a mistake. Actually there will be over an hour of extra footage on the DVD. Loads of footage didn’t make the film, I know one bit… where Galadriel gives cloaks to the Fellowship before they head off. I guess we’ll have to wait till the DVD comes out to find out the rest, It should be out in the summer I think.
Actually, the part where Galadrial gives gifts to the folks in Fellowship is an important part of the story. Gimili (the dwarf) is initially distrustful of elves. But after seeing the beautiful forest realm and the mesmerising beauty of Galadrial, he is impressed. As a gift, Galadrial gives Gimli a lock of her golden hair which he treasures always. In the next book (movie), Legolas gains an appreciation of dwarven things.
I noticed in the movie that the Fellowship all had cloaks with silver-leaf clasps after they left Lothlorien, but it was never actually explained how they got them.
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