Quote:
|
As I recall, it seemed to me when I watched that sequence that it necessarily involved Legolas' arm passing through his upper body. Or something like that. "Superhuman" abilities I can live with. Anatomically impossible maneuvres I cannot.
|
How so? As I recall he was standing with his back slightly to the horse. He then grabbed the reins (or the neck, I don't remember which) with his left hand and bent his elbow as he swung up, thereby turning his body around and landing facing forward. And even if I have that completely wrong and he was in fact standing facing the horse and grabbed it with his right hand, it's still not impossible.
But I will grant that it does bring you out of the fantasy the film has created. The reason that the episode with the cave troll is largely ignored is likely because most people (wrongly or rightly) find Fellowship to be the truest to the books and so are more involved in the fantasy, and are pulled out less easily. Also, the focus is not on Legolas for as long as it is with the shield or Oliphaunt stunts. It's fast and over quickly, moving the action on to someone else straight away.
The thing is that I did actually notice it and it bugged me and always has. I didn't like Legolas from the beginning though which wasn't a great help. But it's just like the problem we were discussing in SbS, when he jumps off the troll you can see the switch between CGI and real person, and that was quite jarring. I also saw no real need for it. In the books it was Frodo who was the only one that did any real damage to it, though of course there was not a proper fight. But still I saw no reason to take that act of bravery away from Frodo and give it to a character we know to be strong and brave. It detracts a little from the point of the episode.