Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Oh, please.
There's a lot of nay-sayers who diss these movies. To them I say, if you don't like the movies, fine..... it is not a personal attack by Jackson against your mind's creations. If the lot of you are such paragons of literary virtue, please band together and create your own movie series. It's always telling when the self-styled critics don't take the time to check their grammar, syntax and spelling in their bile-spewing "reviews". As if Peter Jackson and crew exist to please them. Same for all the people who complain OR praise that the hobbits are gay because they're loving and friendly. Again - get a life! Same for those professional critics who refuse to praise this film too highly because after all, it is ONLY fantasy. What elitism!
As if Peter Jackson and crew exist to please you. One of you whined about his "unhindered arrogance." Check yourself in the mirror, please!
Sure, I had disappointments. But not in the first movie: The extended edition (EE) of Fellowship was, I thought, a perfect movie. Nothing wrong. Simply took it's time in establishing all these wonderfully-drawn characters.
My overall compliant is in the casting: I know what Tokien wrote was a masculine, whitebread affair, but I have to wonder what reasons Jackson gave for turning away all non-white actors at the door. I hasten to add that despite the obvious prejudices of his tome, I think it is the greatest ever written. Jackson’s film, by contrast and comparison, is the greatest sci-fi/fantasy film ever produced. And one of the best movies ever.
The biggest letdowns were in Two Towers; I mean as soon as Aragon asked Legolas what his "elf-eyes" saw I knew something was wrong. What, Legolas need to be reminded he's an elf? Glimli was mere comic relief. It was dawn in the forest and Osgiliath while night raged on at Helm's Deep. And those Ents and trees were mightily unaware of things transpiring in their own forest, but once made aware moved frighteningly fast. Eomer's forces multiplied quickly - and at that, how many men were left in Theodon's kingdom, anyway, if Eomer took away so many? The Fellowship needs the Riders to tell them that a large funeral pyre is burning directly behind them. The Fellowship is again surprised that Merry and Pippin retreated to Fangorn; Glimi even wonders aloud why on earth they went in. Call me glib, Glimli, but maybe it was war and imminent demise? How did the Elves get through the Orc defenses? And why on earth did Frodo reveal the ring to the Wraith and suffer no repercussions? Doesn't that defeat the narrative of the rest of the film? How would Sauron then think that Pippin has the ring?
Many of these changes work - not better or worse than the movie, just different. And others lack narrative sense - just Jackson uping the dramatic tension bereft of logical cohesion. Directors do that.
But ROTK atones for most of these puzzzlers. I know the EE will provide more for us diehards. Most everything worked - and I have only seven minor complaints:
(1) Of course, Merry may have only believed that Sauron thought Pippin had the ring. But still, how did that help Frodo and Gondor? Shouldn't have Sauron's attack been larger and more immediate?
(2) Sauron IS the eye? It looked silly portrayed as a searchlight, then as a helpless orb casting about wildly for a means of escape as it toppled.
(3) The Army of the Dead looked like casting extras from "Pirates of the Caribbean". Something a little less Disney would have been in order. Their dialogue was Disney-esque too.
(4) Aragon never seemed to have that “king-making” moment; he seemed less to aspire to greatness than have greatness thrust upon him. I know this may merely be a cinematic difference from the book, but kings are supposed to inspire others to follow. Aragon did that in TT. Then again, maybe that was Jackson’s purpose: reveal this aspect of Aragon’s character in TT so he could deal with so many other things in ROTK.
(5) Boy, Elrond moved fast, didn't he? You'd think that if the elves could move as fast as they did in these films, and since they apparently didn't deal with Sauron in their realms as Tolkien described, they'd have been able to defeat Sauron in Mordor themselves.
(6) The Witch-King was easily defeated, huh? Makes you wonder if a battalion of women could have leveled the whole fortress. Then again, maybe women elves.
(7) Bilbo is replaced by an obvious fleet-footed, skinny double in the final scene. With a bad rubber wig, to boot.
None of these take away from my enjoyment of this movie.
Key scenes were missing, but again I hope they will be in the EE. These malcontents who complain loudly thought that the rest of the world would gladly sit through a four or five hour movie, and are dead wrong. If Jackson did that, his movies would not have made the money they did and would have died a quick death after the Fellowship, if having been green-lighted at all.
I heard many - including friends - who complained about the multiple farewells, but I think a film series of this magnitude needed them. Sigh - if only The Scouring of the Shire were filmed for the EE.
Fellowship was a character- and plot-driven movie. Two Towers action-orientated. Return of the King integrated these two elements seamlessly.
Peter Jackson made one for the ages, and I for one am deeply grateful for the wondrous effort. At least if the whiners had made a similar effort, I could then thank them for that. But instead they're content to damn others whose talent and ambition far outshine their own. Let them go back to their Internet role-playing games; I'm sure a lifetime of complaining about Jackson and whomever else they set in their crosshairs will make their lives very full, indeed.
Myself, I can't wait to watch the whole series in quick succession - again. Viewed as a whole, this series is peerless. And holds together exceptionally well. What, a long, strange trip it's been!
My deepest, deepest thanks to the cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings - and to the world, which made this triumphant vision such a success.
-Mark C. Still
posted by mark 9:13 PM
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