Don't read if you haven't seen the movie : I don't want to prejudice you about what is actually a very good movie.
quote:
If you want a STORY go read the damned book
I have - many times. I was dragged (well persuaded against my better judgement) to see the first movie. I was impressed with how they dealt with the story. The effects were good, and it could not have been done a few years ago (I saw the original LofR movie - so I know whereov I speak on bad LotR movies). I liked it, but what got me was how much the film got it right. How much the story was there and how much they held true to the ideas in the book. And the visuals were very good - they tended to get it the same way Tolkien described it. And they never overtly added everything - my only complaint was with the stuff they left out.
In TTT this did not happen. No way were those pieces of bad animation ENTS - they even messed up the scale. The whole White Tower bit was a fuck up, what they put there in place was pathetic to say the least. Like Tux I am most annoyed about the whole trees and entwives and all that missing section.
The reviews said more of the same (essentially the story continues). That is the main reason I went, and as such was sorely dissappointed. Now I accept that it is going to be hard for him to pull off.
I understand in the first one leaving out Tom Bombadil, the relevence of the barrows stuff was not important to the actual story. The adjustments subsequently made were subtle enough not to actually ruin anything. Again in TTT this did not happen. They failed on the Rohan - there was so much I wanted to see from that and Gondor, and they skimmed it and made it into a Henry V remake.
And there is no way you will convince me they were WraithWrogs, that was a bear on all fours.
But what really really annoyed me was that they made Gandalphs' return a religious experience - Something Tolkien denied it was. They put more into Gollum than was there. They made the whole Gollum thing sound like something from a Disney studio. There was no allegory in the book, therefore there should be no allegory in the film (excepting the language of course).
Now it could be that I read too much into the film, but you must understand that I am a Bibliomanic, for me the book and the story is all, everything else is just wannabes shouting to be heard. So when I go to see a film there has to be a good story, the story has to be 'intelligent', I went to see TTT on the basis that the first film was very very good, the second film made too many changes and added it's own stuff, which did not work in and of itself (let alone as part of the Lord of the Rings) which is probably why it annoyed me so much.
The battle though - that was very well done (although they messed up the passing of time a bit), the elves seemed to exhibit more elf like behaviour (Legolas mounting the horse in battle). The Rohan was very well shown, Fangorn looked very good, the atmosphere was wonderful and convayed the feel I get from the books, the ORCs actually look scary, saruman is wonderfully acted, the cast was very well chosen (contrary to many thoughts I think Elrond is what he should be and is well cast). The film overall suceeds, the portrayal of Gollum was great (even with the errors), and the marsh was exactly how I pictured it.
There I've said it. I got it off my chest. Apart from pedantic pickings on my part the film is very very good (although I will never see a first night performance again). And when they offer the marathon all three films option at the local art theatres - I'm gonna be there.
