Ah, so we come to one of my least favourite scenes in the FOTR movie,
Ford Follies.
Why sneak up on your boyfriend with a naked sword? Doesn't seem very nice to me, but I guess there's no telling what kinky games these two got up to on their long walks in the woods around Imladris.
Quite nice that Frodo sees Arwen as she is on the "other side", perhaps somewhat of a homage to Glorfindel as he sees him at the ford, when he is slipping into that other world himself.
But overall, I have to disagree with the appearance of Arwen as a "warrior princess", if only because she never displays that tendency again in the trilogy. I think it would have been just as well to introduce her at Rivendell. And why not have Glorfindel here, if only for a single scene? Well, I guess with the plethora of characters there are, PJ didn't wish to add yet another unfamiliar face. Understandable, I suppose, but then you might easily say, what about all those hobbits we saw at Bilbo's party, or in other scenes around Hobbiton? We weren't overly confused by Rosie Cotton, for example.
The horse chase (to coin a term) was fairly exciting, but I see no real reason to deviate from the book's version of events, which was exciting enough as it stood. By this I mean, keep Frodo with the others a little longer, have a slightly shorter chase (although still quite decent), and have his friends running towards the Riders with flaming torches.
I think that Frodo succumbs to his wound a little too far, a little too fast. It would have been nice to see some of the resilience which Gandalf later praises him for. He gets reduced to baggage quite quickly, and we get a much altered (for the worse) version of events at the ford. I would have loved to see Elijah Frodo astride Asfaloth, defying the servants of Sauron with his blade drawn! Alas! We get what is also in my opinion the
worst line in the movies, "Give up the halfling, she-elf!". Then, coming at a very close
second worst line in the movies, "If you want him, come and claim him". Then Arwen raises the river in flood, all on her own! No Gandalf or Elven Ring to aid her. If she is so powerful, then she should have been sent with the Fellowship instead of Gandalf!
The Riders see their plight, and attempt to escape... by riding downstream, instead of back to the further shore. Here we indeed miss the flaming brands of Strider and Glorfindel, as some explanation of why the Riders could not retreat. But it's all too much for Frodo, as he finally succumbs to the Morgul spell. So what does Arwen do? Gives up her immortality then and there, so that she can save Frodo's life! Is she allowed to do this? Even Lúthien had to plead her case to Mandos. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the most powerful elf to have ever lived... movie Arwen.
IMHO, this only adds to the confusion. Why not just have Frodo faint, and be healed by Elrond.
However that may be, Frodo awakes in Rivendell. Very peaceful, serene scene, perfect for convalescence. Gandalf's flashback is well done, and lends some credence to the theory that his entire capture at Orthanc could have been shown via flashback. I don't think having Saruman there at the time of Gandalf's escape works very well, however. Remember, this is the guy who can later control the weather over Caradhras, hundreds of leagues away. Yet he can't prevent Gwaihir making off with Gandalf right under his nose? Come on...
I appreciate the amount of work that went into creating Rivendell, but it wasn't as I had imagined it. To me, Rivendell has always had more of a homely feel (being indeed the Last Homely House). A little more indoors, rather than every room so exposed to the elements. Movie Rivendell must be mighty cold in winter! I think that showing the Hall of Fire would have gone a long way to showing that the place was not so alien and foreign, and that all folk, hobbits, dwarves, men and elves could be happy there. PJs elves seem to be a little too aloof at times.
I didn't like the scene between Gandalf and Elrond, mainly because Agent Elrond comes off as a bit of a jerk. He seems a bit too keen to use Frodo to solve Middle Earth's problem (although, admittedly, even book Elrond states that Frodo was chosen to do so). And he maligns the other races a bit too much. He's so "Elves are all that, and noone else is!" despite having been allied with Men in the Last Alliance. Excellent flashback to the Sammath Naur, though. "Isildur!". Here we learn that Aragorn is reluctant to take the throne of Gondor. Was this a credible change from the book? There must be a thread about that somewhere; I must delve into the Movies forum and search it out. I would have thought that the task of reclaiming the throne should be story enough, without Aragorn's self-doubt.
Seeing the Fellowship arrive was kinda cool. No problem for me that Boromir arrives on a horse... minor detail.
Not so sure what the filmmakers hoped to achieve by showing Boromir handling Narsil. Apart from, of course, the "still Sharpe" hook. Here they also expand on their weakness of Men theme, with Aragorn expressing his doubts to Arwen. I can't see why bother wasting time on this, to me, uninteresting and unnecessary sub-theme. They could have just spent some quality time together, without Arwen having to reassure the unconfident movie Aragorn.
The Evenstar stuff was quite touching, but I'm not quite sure of it as symbolic of immortality. Of love, fair enough, but I don't see it as quite as simple as: here's the Evenstar, so I'm not immortal anymore. I guess it works okay, though. The bridge scene is romantic. How well does the Arwen-Aragorn romance play out throughout the trilogy? Must be a thread on this somewhere, I shall get to work digging it out. I hate to play devil's advocate, but after having recently watched
Attack of the Clones,
Revenge of the Sith and FOTR, I have to say that Anakin and Padmé's love affair sets a kind of benchmark for romance in (space) fantasy. There, that at least should elicit some replies fairly quickly...
