The Return of the King

[Mass_Liberal]

is the coolest movie ever. Ever. Evereverever. I like swords.

p.s Peter Jackson is a god

p.p.s kudos to Sean Bean, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Sir Ian McKellen, Kate Blanchett, Bernard Hill, and all the rest. Best cast of a movie ever. Ever. EVEREVEREVER!!!!!

see it.

[JohnKleeb]

1. I havent even seen the first two

:evilgrin: and Ive yet to see any of the Matrixes yet I've seen some shit I doubt you'll ever see or care to :D. :shrug: seems like everyone my age or there around is seeing this movie tonight, :shrug: I had to work man.

[Mass_Liberal]

2. thats sucks

it is epic. Really, see it at all costs. Trust in me when I say it beats the shit out of the matrix. Even buff macho me got kinda teary when it ended. Boohooo!!

[JohnKleeb]

3. An epic to me is a lot different than it is to most

This was a mini series that I have seen on this channel I have. Don't laugh dude but I cried when Bobby died. I also loved band of brothers. :shrug: for some reason man, fantasy has never cut it for me.

[mrsteve]

4. All I can say is Wow!

Just saw it tonight. Will need to see it again to get my speech center working again.

It's that good.

Wow.

[tokenlib]

5. Less than a year to the special expanded edition DVD!!

Maybe I can wait that long...maybe not....

[leftist_rebel1569]

6. Saw it tonight too

...you covered all I had to say :)

[JohnKleeb]

8. damn everyone saw it but me

I am gonna go wonder off now.

[durutti]

7. Jackson should direct the next Star Wars.

He should also do the trilogy that's supposed to come after the original trilogy.

[fujiyama]

11. Haha I like the suggestion...

Have Jackson remake the whole prequel trilogy...God those really have been dissapointing!

[durutti]

9. Stuff I would've changed (with the whole trilogy)

Now, before someone flames me: they're *still* great movies, and probably the best fantasy films of all time. That said...

Fellowship: include Tom Bombadil and the barrow wights. Get people who actually look elven (sculpted features and such) to play elves. Replace Liv Tyler with someone better. NO DWARF TOSSING JOKES! No goblins that crawl on walls.

Two Towers: Get a more realistic phial containing the light of Earendil's star. The one in the movie looks like a Christmas ornament. Some minor stuff dealing with who's present at the various battles. NO DWARF TOSSING JOKES!

Return of the King: Include the Mouth of Sauron. Include Denethor's palantir. Don't have Denethor jump off the ledge. Include the scene where they talk to Sauruman while he's imprisoned in Orthanc.

[Redneck Socialist]

10. I would add the scouring of the Shire.

That scene showed how the hobbits were changes by their journey. They lost their innocence and returned as warriors. It also pointed out that the age of men was not going to be all sweetness and light.

[Mass_Liberal]

13. I agree

that scene was amazingly powerful to me in the book, I wish they had put it in.

[durutti]

19. I was afraid...

I was afraid that they weren't going to have Frodo leave for the Grey Havens. I would've been extremely upset!

[DivinBreuvage]

14. Good thoughts! I agree with every one. ESPECIALLY

The cutting of the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs, two of the creepiest, most sinister, and scariest scenes in the entire trilogy and my personal favorites. :cry:

I do understand why Peter Jackson had to leave a great deal out, and I think he's chosen well, for the most part. I'd tend to disagree a little more strongly, but just a little bit, with some of the things he's chosen to emphasize. My husband (who hasn't read the books but loves the films) said last night on the way home that if Jackson is going to be unfaithful to anything it should be the idea that there are three books, and just extend the movie version over four films so he could get in so many of the big things like the Scouring of the Shire that have had to be left out. In fact most of the questions my husband asks me afterword about why things happened as they did would have been clear to him if Jackson had been able to include a little more of this material.

Liv Tyler didn't end up bothering me quite as much as I thought she would; in fact she was better than I expected. I also have a tiny little quibble about Hugo Weaving as Elrond: his hair seemed unpleasantly stringy and greasy for an elf, particularly in the first episode, and his mouth (or perhaps it's his teeth) have an indefinable disconcerting quality that jars me a little whenever he speaks, as if someone else's mouth has been transposed onto him. It doesn't seem to fit right. That being said, he's strangely captivating as Elrond, particularly in the 3rd episode.

But my quibbles are really very small. I'll always love the books better, but the films do a miraculous job of capturing the beauty and wonder of Middle Earth.

[JaySherman]

17. Good thought about the four films.

What would you call the fourth film?

[JaySherman]

16. A few more...

Fellowship: Longer Council of Elrond that doesn't have the Fellowship members acting like 3rd rate D&D characters played by 14-year-olds ("And my AXE!).

TT: NO LEGOLAS SKATEBOARDING TRICK! No Aragorn going over the cliff since it seemed to serve no real purpose for the rest of the film.

RotK: Haven't seen it yet. Doesn't come out here for another month :(. Can't wait! But from what I've heard, I'm disappointed they didn't include the Battle of Bywater. However, if they did it would have added another full half-hour, which would have been too much for a lot of people (wimps!). Hopefully in the director's cut.

[Enraged_Ape]

12. I saw it too, and I am saddened as all hell

I know that there will never again be such a perfect combination of story, cast, director, crew, and location. Everything worked together perfectly for these movies. Everyone involved had a great respect and/or love for the source material, and it showed in every minute onscreen.

For three years I have so much looked forward to the next episode of this epic coming out, but alas, no more. We're back to the same old shite again.

I just wish and hope that someone somewhere (*cough* George Lucas *cough*) learns the lesson that Peter Jackson teaches us: that a good movie involves a good story with involving characters, whether it features zillion-dollar effects or not.

[LanternWaste]

15. Very, very moving film....

Sometimes I'll see a movie and it's impossbile for me to express my feelings about it and 'Return of the King' (actually, the whole trilogy) is one of those. I could point out the instances where I knew Jackson was trying to tug at my heart strings, but he did such a wonderful job at it, I simply let him.

Five times I almost cried and three times I actually did notice a tear or two on my face, and that's about as good a review as I can give it.

Just read on the DU boards this morning that New Zealand and WETA are teaming up again to do five books from C.S. Lewis' 'Chronicles of Narnia'. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better....


On Edit: I have to give a full amount of credit to the screenwriting team. I have absolutely no idea how they were able to jam as much information, character and action into the amount of time alloted for the films.

[TXlib]

20. Get outta town!!!

I've been predicting that they'll do a proper treatment to Chronicles of Narnia!

Kick Ass that it's WETA doing it!

[LanternWaste]

21. Here's the official movie website I found this morning

Yup. Heard it here first on DU (much as it seems I do most things). Did a bit of scouring on the web after that and here is the website. It's still kinda slim on content, but I figure that'll change soon.

<Pushes you hard with both hands..."No! YOU get outta town!">

http://www.narnia.com/

[NashVegas]

18. Now That the Haze is Wearing Off ...

I saw it for the second time yesterday afternoon, and it was just as satisfying, if not more, than the first.

But. On further reflection, I'm not as forgiving towards PJ for the character change to Faramir than initially.

For those who never read the book, in that, Faramir was one of the 'good' guys right from the start. Yes, Denethor did think of him as the lesser son, but he was regarded by everyone else as a great captain in his own right, and in a pivitol scene, inspired enough loyalty from at least one of his men (cut out from the movie) who was willing to risk Denethor's wrath on his captain's behalf.

In the movie, the scene where Faramir knowingly leads the troops into total suicide while Pippin sings his dirge, is indeed a haunting one.

But I gotta ask: would it have been too hard for PJ and company to at least written some kind of military strategy for that mission? In TTT, they show themselves to be very effective fighters with bow & arrow, so where were those weapons in RotK?

If he wanted to commit suicide for himself, hey, fine. But a good commander doesn't lead his troops into something where their sole option is to sit there and get slaughtered. Likewise in the battle where Osgiliath was taken, he had the option of ordering his guys to start firing at the orcs *before* they could disembark, instead he let them overrun the place from the start.

PJ just made Faramir weak, weak, weak.

Saying that doesn't mean I don't think the movie's a masterpiece - it is. I just think it could still have been a masterpiece without trashing the character.