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Old 12-14-2004, 11:49 AM   #12
ivo
Newly Deceased
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 10
ivo has just left Hobbiton.
I think the movies are great. They are almost exactly as I pictured them in my head.

Having said this, I do think there are some crucial aspects not presented in the movies, which made me appreciate the book so much.

That is: a sense of majesty and a feeling of the spirit world.
Some examples.

When Frodo puts on the Ring to escape Boromir, and flees on top of an old watch tower for the Kings of old, Tolkien describes a black hand moving over the plains of Gondor, strechting out to grasp the ring.

When Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli meet Eomer, who speaks to them sternly, Aragorn seems to rise to kingly stature with silver flames on his eyebrows when he replies.

The mind battle between Gandalf and the Witch-King at the Gate.

Tolkien describes the siege of Gondor in a very specific way: the ballistas, orcs and trolls are guided by a strong will, that gives their assault a direction (maybe hard to portray on screen, but I think it could be done. And actually Sauron isn't scary at all. When the Barad-Dur collapses the blinking eye looks kind of hilarious)

PJ did it in part One for example, when Bilbo has to leave the Ring for Frodo. When he's getting angry, Gandalf rises, the room shrinks and is filled with a sense of a terrible power (his voice lowers, it gets darker). I just loved that scene!

To wrap this up: yesterday I saw the documentaries on ROTK EE, and it turns out that finishing part III for the deadline was a very hasty job. The people at Weta digital had to make 16 hours a day. You can't tell that didn't effect the movie. Maybe if PJ had more time, he would have added the majestical extra's that I miss in ROTK. But that's just a wild guess. (And it doesn't stop me from doing a marathon on Saturday, all EE, 12 hours long, wow.)

Last edited by ivo; 12-14-2004 at 11:59 AM.
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