**RotK - General impressions and opinions**

[Ughósh the Abominable]

See, I went *expecting* to cry...but was disappointed. I suppose I have only my self to blame; I got my expectations way higher up than I suppose they reasonably should have been.<P>Many of the scenes that should have been really dramatic - dramatic enough to make me cry - simply weren't, or were melodramatic, leaving me saying "OK, PJ, you don't have to shove it in my face, I get that it's supposed to be dramatic." Some scenes that I thought defined the book - such as the part where Aragorn unfirls his banner on the mast of the Corsair ship as his forces are sailing up Anduin - simply weren't there, while others - such as Sam being "kicked out" of the Gollum-Frodo-Sam trio, only to come back a couple scenes later - I thought totally unnecessary, just as the part where Aragorn falls off the cliff in Two Towers was unnecessary; it's all the same thing: Peter Jackson thinking the movie isn't dramatic enough, and trying to pack artificial drama in so modern audiences, used to soap-operas, don't get bored. Frankly I think he would've been a lot wiser to forget the weird new scenes and use the time saved to enable him to leave in scenes he actually had to cut for the theatre release - like, for instance, the encounter with Saruman. Cutting Frodo's "Go home, Sam" speech and replacing it with the Saruman scene would have made the movie as a whole drastically better for me, personally.<P>There were scenes I thought excellent. The death of the Witch-King was straight from the book; that was one part I always loved, and I was delighted to no end when I saw it so perfectly represented on screen. Everything from Shelob on in the Frodo-Sam-Gollum storyline was excellent.<P>But now we come to Minas Tirith. In my considered opinion, this entire battle sequence was awe-inspiring - until Aragorn showed up. The Dead Army, instead of playing the minor (yet vital) role they did in the book, instead took all desperation and drama from the Battle of Pelennor Field as soon as they arrived in the movie version. That battle was supposed to be a struggle to the bitter end; Aragorn's arrival in the book was a clear turning of the tide, yet even so, the battle was fought for the rest of the day, and it was clear by the end of it that victory had been by the barest of margins; this is important, because it makes clear to the reader that though Men have turned back the tide *this* time, the will not be able to do so again. But since the Dead take part in the movie version, it looses that desperation; it looses its ability to affect me emotionally. It makes the battle look like cake; it makes Sauron look impotent, and it gives the War of the Ring a feel of certain victory for Men. True, the Dead are dismissed immediately afterward; but they do so only *after* leaving the most emotionally affecting battle of the entire book trilogy completely bereft of drama. I should have cried right there in the theatre. Instead I found myself shaking my head and laughing sardonically.<P>Furthermore: why was Pelennor Fields fought in what looked like total daylight? In the book, the battle in the sky between Sauron's darkness and the morning light peeking through before the wind from the South is clearly a reflection of the raging tide of the battle on the field itself, and therefore gives the entire conflagration what can only be called supernatural significance, and therefore furthers this scene's emotional potency. Yet this element seems entirely absent from the film. I understand this may have been difficult to do cinematically; but still, I think if PJ had taken just a bit of extra effort to attempt this affect, I would be much happier.<P>Finally: why does the ROTK movie make it seem as if everything in Middle-Earth is about a brisk 5-minute walk from everything else? In one scene we see Aragorn proposing his plan to march on the Black Gate; a snap of the fingers, and he's there, all gussied up, with an army at his back. What? I'm not saying PJ should show the journey in real-time; I'm saying he could at least through in some scenes of chit-chat between the commanders or major characters who are making the journey, as with the journey from Edoras to Helm's Deep in Two Towers. Or maybe PJ could just show a travel-montage like he did in much of Fellowship, when the characters are travelling long distances and it just shows them from an aerial view with a nice angle on the surrounding landscape. That could be really sweet when it's an army marching to battle. I'm hoping that something like the above will maybe be in the Extended Ed.<P>There's all kinds of other things I didn't see that I was expecting too; but I'm not worried to much, because there are *so* many places in the theatre release where it's painfully obvious they cut stuff to make the film short enough; that means that much of the stuff I'm looking for is no doubt in the Extended Ed. Things like the White Tree's rejuvination, the Wild Men of the Woods, Aragorn's attack on Pelargir, and Faramir and Eowyn's rendezvous.