[Lostgaeriel]

Hi davem!<P>I'm sorry to have to say that I AGREE WITH YOU. I'm sorry about it because Mr. Jackson had every resource necessary to make a film masterpiece. Everything except a well-conceived & well-written script. (I suspect that the Ring began to have a strong influence on him. He began to believe that he and his accomplices were screen writers. Not only that, but they believed they could write a better story with better characters and a better plot than Tolkien did. HUBRIS.)<P>My first impression of FOTR was that it was excellent with a few flaws - notably the 'dwarf-tossing' & the 'still Sharp(e)' jokes. The 3 hours flew by. I forgave the omissions and changes...until I had watched it 4 times. Then it began to grate on me. The wholesale changes - simplfications of the characters Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo and elaborations of Saruman, and especially Arwen (whose increased attributes came at the expense of A, G & F) began to drive me mad. I cannot watch the video without shouting in anger at the TV screen.<P>I saw TTT on Friday nite (Feb 28) for the first time. It was the longest 3 hours of my life. I almost walked out when Faramir decided to take the Ring to Minas Tirith. The relatively small plot & character changes up to that point were annoying (I still don't see the point), but Faramir was just too much. I stayed 'til the end, but cried most of the time because I was so dreadfully disappointed by the waste of money, time and especially talent in the making of these films.<P>There were moments of technical brilliance -especially in FOTR. If the serious, mythical, epic tone and artistry had been maintained throughout, this trilogy of films could have become a true classic to be revered for another fifty or hundred years. <P>Mr. Jackson flails between making a serious 'film' and a movie 'parody'. The 'dwarf-tossing' & 'orc-boarding' should have been kept to the 'out-take' reel shown at the wrap party only. It is possible that he (and the cast & crew) got so wrapped up in the project that they forgot that though they needed to have some fun while they were working so hard, this was not necessarily the best stuff to commit to film.<P>Further, in TTT, Jackson has the characters tell us thru conversations, no pardon me, thru speeches to each other or directly by narration, what is <I>his</I> interpretation of the story. Talk about disrespecting your audience - that they won't be able to figure it out themselves. Talk about not being confident in your film-making skills - that perhaps the images you show us won't get your point of view across! Not to mention leaving some of it open to the audience's interpretation. <P>Mr. Jackson may like to think he is independent of the Hollywood $ensiblity, but he has shown that he has a great fear of box-office failure or no real vision for his films. <P>I really regret that the great director, David Lean never considered Tolkien's work for a film. His version would have been truly wonderful. He knew how to make a movie that tells a great epic tale. And he wasn't afraid of serious material.<P>I'm most upset that I will probably not live long enough to see another film version of The Lord of the Rings made. I have no doubts that it would be better than Jackson's.<P>[ March 03, 2003: Message edited by: Lostgaeriel ]<p>[ March 03, 2003: Message edited by: Lostgaeriel ]