The mis-interpretation of dear Gimli

[davem]

Originally Posted by Elladan and Elrohir

And also, davem, while I would agree that PJ and Co. do well when they stick to the book, some of the films' greatest moments come in their departures. The lighting of the beacons in ROTK springs to mind immediately. The first encounter with the Black Rider. The death of Boromir. The exorcism of Theoden. Shelob's spectacularly suspenseful sting of Frodo. The plunge at Mount Doom. Regardless of what you think of those scenes' infidelity to the books, they certainly played well on screen, didn't they? It's not that they're better than the books; it's just that they work better in a movie than the way the book had it. And I don't think it's blaspheming Tolkien to admit that.

The Beacons scene was impressive - unfortunately it was completely illogical not to have lit them & summoned aid before, so it made no sense. The exorcism if Theoden was just silly - Theoden was not 'possessed' by Saruman, but psychologically broken by Wormtongue. The whole 'demonic possession' thing was a daft idea. There was nothing suspenseful about Shelob at all - Shelob is 'an evil thing in spider form', not a big spider. And the Mount Doom scenes (Frodo & Gollum in fisticuffs at dawn ) just annoyed me.