RETURN OF THE KING (contains spoilers)

[Dragonlily]

See Furls u're not the only one! Could it be safe to say that no one in Oregon has seen it!?

No it would not!!! I'm sure the lines for ROTK have been wrapped twice around the multiplexes.

Slurs on Oregon! Humph!

[danlo]

Joy!

Too much going on at the time.

Well if u'd stop making babies all the time maybe u could actually get out once in a while!

[MsMary]

I saw the movie for the 2nd time on New Year's Day. I really loved it. Even though some of the changes were not true to the book, they made sense for a movie. Loved the endings.

I can't wait for the extended edition.

~MsMary~

[Ylva Kresh]

I saw it a few days ago. I liked it much better than the TT.

Some strange parts that I found unnecessary like

Spoiler

the fight with gollum after he has taken the ring, why could he not just do his gleeful dance and fall on his awn accord? and why this "take my slippery hand-stuff"? It felt very "Hollywoodish" I think.

And they totally left out the thrill of the

Spoiler

white rider scene - Gandalf and Shadowfax to the rescue... Why did he bring Pippin btw?

And they also lost the thrill

Spoiler

with the black ships.

. But the

Spoiler

lighting of the fires was excelent! I loved the way we could follow the message all the way. But who sat on those remote mountain-tops, waiting to light the fires... must have been rather risky...

I did not like the way that the

Spoiler

dead got all the way to Minas Tirith. Now it looked as if the people of Minas Tirith could not fight at all - they got rescued by Rohan and the deadies.

I loved the way they did the Eowyn-scene! Almost exacly like I had imagined!

Spoiler

And I acctually liked this version where Theoden gets to see that Eowyn is there for him.

And I suppose it will be made more clear in the extended version... but

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where did for example the horses go when they were surrounded outside the black gates?

And since I had carefully avoided to read anything about the movie beforehand I got really frightened in the end...

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Should they end in the Arwen-Aragon wedding?... no....Should they en in the Samwise-Rosa wedding?...no... Aaaah - the correct ending at last. I could breathe again...

It was some points of strange (or rather, unfamiliar) cuts between the frodo/sam and war-story. But for people who have not read the books I suppose it was better that way (

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it is just that I got a bit stressed when they cut back to frodo and sam with shelob - I thougt; gosh! They really have to hurry now if they shall make it to mount doom in time for the last battle...Silly of me I know...)

And is it just about 15 min hard ride from Osgoliath to Minas Tirith?

No now I think I shall not pester you with more grumpyness for this time (but fear not; there is more where this came from -

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why is Elrond running around all the time, and Arwen is rather bleak I think and and and... )

[Furls Fire]

Joy!

Too much going on at the time.

Well if u'd stop making babies all the time maybe u could actually get out once in a while!

oh you hush, brat Those weren't baby years...

[Fist and Faith]

Ylva,

Spoiler

the lighting of the beacons left me breathless!!!!! Such a simple thing, but somehow so powerful!!!!!

[Blue_Spawn]

"I am no man."


ahhahahahahah!

[danlo]

YK! aside from the horse part, I think u're being much to hard on the movie-

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however I do agree with dead being a little 2 super and men of Gondor portrayed as a little 2 wimpy.

[Ylva Kresh]

Aaahh. I suspected an reaction as such so therefore I only mentioned less than half of the things that bothered me...

[Ylva Kresh]

And after reading Darths thread on "I watched TROTK" I feel that my puny little attack on the movie is like a burp in an hurricane...

[Loredoctor]

I saw ROTK today and I have to say it was a good movie, but not a great movie. There are a number of things that really annoyed me in the film:
1. Sam crying - the guy breaks into tears every second scene and it is really really silly.

2. Not having Saruman. I realise Peter Jackson did it to cut the length of the movie down, but seriously, they should have had at least some scenes with him at Isengard. So what if he's in the DVD. I don't buy the dvds to see the story - thats what the films are for. If he's going to edit important stufff out to leave it for the dvds, well that's just a cash ploy.

3. Legolas. This guy is supposedly popular on the net. And I can see why. He's a computer game/ superhere character doing amazing moves that defy belief. The entire Malephant scene was embarassing to say the least.

4. While we're at it - the big battle. How was that a battle? just special effects, very little tactical elements. The showing up of the ghosts was over the top.s

5. The lack of explanation for the ghosts at the battle. How did they get on the boats? Oh sorry, this is something PJ will reveal in his 'extended editions'.

6. And so many hollywood cliches. This was one of the most melodramatic films ever.

But regardless, I enjoyed the film.

[Theo]

I loved it, too. I could of course list dozens of little things I disagree with (as Ylva and Ermingard might confirm, I'm a dreadful nitpicker when it comes to movies), but most of them really didn't matter much.

(By the way, since this whole thread is marked "Spoilers", I'm not gonna put in any of those annoying Spoiler tags... )

I loved a lot of the little details, including my absolute favorite: the Grond Chant. It takes a particular kind of brilliance to transform an aside spoken by the omniscient narrator into a completely cinematic moment. (What am I talking about? In the book, Tolkien mentions that the huge battering ram brought up against the gates of Minas Tirith is named Grond - it's after the mace wielded by Morgoth in the First Age, but I don't recall if that's explicitly stated there. In the movie, they roll up the huge ram - and the trolls start chanting "Grond... Grond... Grond..." It's a priceless moment - and even if you haven't read that in the book, it's still a cool-sounding evil war chant. )

Of course, the Dead were a little cheesy in the way they single-handedly won the battle, and I thought it was a bit of a shame that we never really got to know anyone in Minas Tirith (actually, TTT, though an inferior film in general, created a much stronger pathos for Rohan to me than I felt for Gondor in this), and I really missed both Gandalf's confrontation with Saruman and the Mouth of Sauron (I'm looking forward a lot to the Extended Edition). By losing both these, the evil side was deprived of much of its human face and character. (I dug the Orc-general, though, even though he looked a bit like the Toxic Avenger.)

Also, as has been noted, Jackson has a dangerous weakness for visual Hollywoodic clichés (like the one Ylva pointed out with Frodo hanging over the abyss in Mount Doom). With this in mind I was very surprised that we didn't get a huge panoramic shot of the black-sailed Corsair fleet coming up the river.

On the other hand... the whole Frodo/Sam/Gollum strain was great (and I generally found this boring in the books), the doomed second charge of the Rohirrim was breathtaking, Minas Tirith looked great... almost everything looked great, actually. And best of all, the movie was never boring. Except when there's nothing but Elves on the screen, but we all know that Elves are boring.

And it was nice that they took the time to wind down and finish it properly, even without the Scouring.

I´ll try to see it again.

[MsMary]

I loved a lot of the little details, including my absolute favorite: the Grond Chant. It takes a particular kind of brilliance to transform an aside spoken by the omniscient narrator into a completely cinematic moment. (What am I talking about? In the book, Tolkien mentions that the huge battering ram brought up against the gates of Minas Tirith is named Grond - it's after the mace wielded by Morgoth in the First Age, but I don't recall if that's explicitly stated there. In the movie, they roll up the huge ram - and the trolls start chanting "Grond... Grond... Grond..." It's a priceless moment - and even if you haven't read that in the book, it's still a cool-sounding evil war chant. )

I loved this too.

I thought the dead were okay, too, even if they were a little green. They worked for the movie.

~MsMary~

[Michael Giantfriend]

was sad about the burning of the shire omission but ..
i am waiting for the extended dvd for that

Sorry to break bubbles/be the bearer of bad tidings and all that, but...

Unless he's sitting on the best-kept secret in movie history (Oh God I hope he is! I really hope he is!!!), Peter Jackson didn't actually film the Scouring of the Shire.
There's a *perfectly valid* film-making excuse for this - after the cataclysmic battles of the Pelennor Fields and outside the Morannon, to have a bunch of hobbits squaring up with what is essentially a Middle Earth biker gang is a bit of a come-down. I can seee his point for a cinema audience - rather than have them going "Wow! That last fight scene was cool!", they'd be going "Wow, that last fight scene sucked!" But it would have been nice if it was going to be in the extended edition.
But it isn't!!!


* - perfectly valid, but still annoying!!!

[Furls Fire]

CONGRATULATIONS TO PETER JACKSON AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WORKED SO HARD!!!

Golden Globes, 2004

Best Original Score: Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Best Song: "Into the West", Howard Shore, Fran Walsh, Annie Lennox: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Best Director: Peter Jackson!!! The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

BEST PICTURE, DRAMA: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING!!

All Hail the King!!!

[danlo]

Peter Jackson just scored the Gloden Globes hattrick for all 3 movies and deservedly so! New Line Cinema bet the family farm and it paid off in spades!!!

[Skyweir]

yeah i watched the Golden Globies and how cool was that!! I was sooo hoping he would get best film .. and lol .. he got it all!!

far out fantastic!!!!!

YAY!!!! 3 CHEERS FOR PETER JACKSON .. DIRECTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE AND REALISER OF DREAMS!!!

*does happy dance --- twice*

Sorry to break bubbles/be the bearer of bad tidings and all that, but...

Unless he's sitting on the best-kept secret in movie history (Oh God I hope he is! I really hope he is!!!), Peter Jackson didn't actually film the Scouring of the Shire.
There's a *perfectly valid* film-making excuse for this - after the cataclysmic battles of the Pelennor Fields and outside the Morannon, to have a bunch of hobbits squaring up with what is essentially a Middle Earth biker gang is a bit of a come-down. I can seee his point for a cinema audience - rather than have them going "Wow! That last fight scene was cool!", they'd be going "Wow, that last fight scene sucked!" But it would have been nice if it was going to be in the extended edition.
But it isn't!!!


* - perfectly valid, but still annoying!!!

whaaattt??? noooooooo!! *bursts into flames* baaah whaaaa!

[Furls Fire]

Now, it's onto the Oscars.

[Skyweir]

aye ..

[Furls Fire]

The Oscar Nominations are OUT!! ROTK is up for 11!! Leading the pack!!

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Adapted Screen Play
Best Art Direction
Best Sound Mixing
Best Original Score
Best Original Song: Into the West
Best Custome Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup
Best Visual Effects

It is, indeed, the Year of the King!!!!