Top reasons why you enjoyed the movies.

[Turin]

Originally Posted by Essex

Not a surprise coming from me, but what did I like about the moives?




Everything.


PS, hello Turin. I see you're very protective of the old bard and his works. Is it because he may have been a neighbour of yours?

Thanks for the welcome, Essex.

In fact, I actually live in Moseley, around the Sarehole Mill area, though I didn't realise that Tolkien was a Brummie until after i'd read The Hobbit when I was about 8. Though it does help for my further interest and passion with regards to the Prof's works was sparked when I realised that he used his childhood experiences of the West Midlands area for much of his inspiration.

[Boromir88]

That's some interesting info Turin, you should post here and give a little introduction, or info, about yourself, to the rest of the downs. (If you haven't already).

[ivo]

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.)

[Boromir88]

I thought Ian Holm did a wonderful job as Bilbo, "It's mine! I found it! IT came to me!" I would love to see him as Bilbo in "The Hobbit," but he might be too old. Another movie that I enjoyed with Ian Holm was "Brazil." A movie made by one of the Monty Python troupe members, it's based off of 1984. So it's a bit of Orwell mixed with Monty Pythonism, good stuff.

[Evisse the Blue]

Top ten: (in this order)
1. Scenery (New Zealand - best country in a supporting role )
2. Costumes and set props, and especially the attention to detail given to everything
3. Score
4. Actors - Everybody fit their part perfectly... or almost perfectly (I'll give no names though )
5. Directing - I used to ignore the genius of directing, until I saw such magnificently done scenes like 'Faramir's ride to Osgiliath' or the Ride of the Rohirrim.
6. Sean Bean (and no, he shouldn't be at number 4 with the rest because he deserves a category of his own )
7. Cool battle scenes: like Aragorn fighting Lurtz or Sam fighting Shelob
8. Some of my favourite scenes in the book were done just right: Ride of the Rohirrim, Frodo at Mt Doom (*huge sigh of relief*)
9. Some cool special effects
10. *thinking really hard*...Well, they were more or less loosely based on one of my favourite books...

All in all, I agree with all of you who said that, despite minor flaws, the movie expressed the spirit of the book quite well.

[Lalwendë]

The first and foremost reason why I enjoyed them is that I never thought anyone would even dare attempt to film LotR, and I always make a point of watching film versions of my favourite books - even if they don't turn out so well. I was very perturbed when I turned up at the cinema and spent the next three hours with my mouth hanging open and no doubt swallowing a lot of flies or something.

The level of detail impressed me. There were things that only a book fan would notice as I found out after the first film while squealing about the fact that Boromir's vambraces had the white tree of gondor etched into them - everyone else was bemused. This level of detail extended to the artwork and graphics, even that used on merchandising packaging. I loved the fact that they actually made all the tapestries which hung in Meduseld, depite the fact that I still can't see them properly!

The acting was splendid in most cases. I single out special mention for Chris Lee, Ian McKellen, Sean Bean, Ian Holm and Bernard Hill, all of whom I liked already and brought those characters to life as I saw them. And I have to say that Andy Serkis did the voice of Gollum perfectly. Apparently this is based on the sound of a cat coughing up a furball and try as I might, I still can't copy it. I'll have to start chewing my own hair I suppose.

I liked most of the sets too - I was delighted to see Bag End, my dream home, finally brought to life, even the little gate and the desk - it was all perfect. The costumes too were rather lovely to look at - especially when you see Eowyn hanging around outside Meduseld looking wistful in her long white dress.

I think Mark 12_30 sums up what I think of the fims overall here:

Really, I think we have a magnificent set of movies, and I'm grateful for them. They are some of the best fanfiction ever generated

They are indeed like fan fiction. PJ's vision of the books translated into film. I would have liked a TV series, but I accept it was unlikely to happen (even though they tried Gormenghast on the BBC), and with some of the creatures, places and concepts in LotR needing big money throwing at them to make them look decent, then a big budget film was the only relaistic way to go.

Incidentally, in this regard, I learned with sadness that Tom Stoppard is no longer working on the script for the film version of His Dark Materials - a great shame

They'll probably get someone from Eastenders in now. The next film I am truly dreading them making a mess of.

[Rose Cotton]

Besides some nitpicking (which we've certainly done our share of) I thought these movies were fantastic. I loved every part of it.

But what I really loved was how they came into my life.

I started reading LotR in the summer of 2001 with absalutly no idea there was going to be a movie. But the fact that the movies were there to be watched just as I finished the books turned what would have been just one story out of many into an entire experience. These movies rekindled the fandom that existed after the books were published and ensured that they would continue into the new millenium.

It's kind of like a passing on of the torch kind of thing. Very much in the way the Red Book of Westmarch was passed from Bilbo to Frodo to Sam etc. The great stories and myths are always passed from one generation to another and shaped to fit the imaginations of the times. So, in anther half century we'll have yet a new revial of Tolkien. In what way, I can't even begin to fathom, but I'm glad I'll still be around to see it.

We are all just passing characters in the great story of life