[Orual]

As my first midnight movie, the whole thing was slightly surreal for me, but I enjoyed it immensely. All the hype was justified: Pelennor Fields was SO much bigger than Helm's Deep. I was cringing in my seat; it was a teensy bit too intense for me, but overall, it was truly magnificent. Theoden's death scene didn't really do much for me, though...I cried like a baby when I read it in the books, but it was one of the few places in the movie where I <I>didn't</I> cry. Heh. It was me and eight boys, so I was the only one crying, but I didn't really mind...not all tears are an evil, after all.<P>Was I the only one who was somewhat shocked by the change in the Frodo/Sam/Gollum story, where Frodo sends Sam away? Not to mention the fact that <I>Sam actually goes?</I> I was kind of disappointed by that, though it worked in the end.<P>As for Arwen...yeah, this was her best movie. I still didn't really like her, but she was much more tolerable, even <I>almost</I> likeable. (You must understand that it's a huge thing that I'm admitting this at all.) I don't know what was different about her, but she was really much better.<P>I was a little disappointed that they left out the other Dunédain. I felt that that could have been cool. But I was more disappointed that they left out Saruman with no more than a "Oh, and by the way, Treebeard, watch out for Saruman, would you?" "Sure, no problem." Back to the main plotline, with no more mention of this incredibly dangerous villain. (Also, I know that this was vital to the 'revised' plotline, but Gandalf's statement that Saruman had 'no power' anymore irked me. It seems like that's getting off a little easy. You flood the town and all of a sudden Saruman's helpless?) And of course, the Scouring of the Shire is sorely missed. I heard that it was Peter Jackson's least favorite part of the books--which shows an abysmal lack of taste, IMHO--and that's why it wasn't filmed.<P>I was blown away by Billy Boyd's performance. The Palantír scene was awesome, as well as the scene where he pledges his service to Denethor, and...who knew he could sing? He has a beautiful voice!<P>Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. There were a few things I would have changed, but it was a beautiful ending to a beautiful trilogy. And I cried buckets when it ended.<P><B>Added:</B><P>I just got back from my second viewing, since my brother couldn't make it at midnight. Now that I'm a little calmer about the whole thing, I realize just how much better <I>all</I> of the actors were. Billy Boyd really got a chance to shine in Minas Tirith. Elijah Wood was spectacular, especially at Mt. Doom. Viggo Mortenson...I can't even begin to find words for just how much he made me love Aragorn again. Dom Monaghan made me cry when Pippin left Rohan, and I mean cry hard; the look on Merry's face was so sad. I couldn't love Sean Astin more than I already did, but he was wonderful again...I could just go on, but it would basically be a cast list, so I'll just stop there.<P>I have to give major props to all the actors who played the soldiers of Gondor and Rohan. The second time 'round I realized that part of the reason that the Battle of Pelennor Fields was so intense was that each and every soldier had really realistic expressions on their faces; each time you saw a soldier, you felt the terror and pain that they felt. Way to go, guys.<p>[ 6:34 PM December 17, 2003: Message edited by: Orual ]