LotR2-TTT-Seq25

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Trotter

Really, my whole beef with the script for TTT was that it was badly structured. It just didn't feel smooth to me, there was far too much cutting back and forth between the two story lines for my taste. Now I certainly realize that it could not have been structured like Tolkien's novel, given that film is a largely different medium, but changes could have been made. Personally, I would have preferred TTT to stick with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum for the most part. But I understand that Peter Jackson wanted Frodo and Aragorn to be 'joint main characters,' so to speak.

It was a challenge to be able to keep in the audience's brains three main story lines. Not sure how I would have done that differently, as we can't have three mini movies within one movie. The changes may have been abrupt and could have been cut better, but...

As for what scenes dragged on... Well... Helm's Deep for one! I know that is not a popular view, but there it is. I simply think that that battle was ridiculously overblown and badly staged, stealing precious screen time from 'true Tolkien' moments that could have been in the film instead. Sure, it had its highlights, but most of them were smashed under the weight of everything else!

I would have taken a few more minutes of battle at Helm's Deep and would have given the Ents and falling Aragorn scenes. Maybe PJ, thinking of his audience, thought that a big fantasy world battle scene would really catch some people's attention. We, the book fans, were going regardless, and so he may have wanted to have something for those looking for an action flick...

Other scenes that come to mind are the ones with Arwen and Aragorn... ugh! Granted, some romance was needed, but these scenes were too much for me! I believe that far too much time was given to their relationship in the trilogy as a whole.

...or a romantic 'date' movie. "It's a love story, you'll see. There's this guy who one day might be King, and he's in love with this Elf, but her dad's against the relationship, and so she has to leave...but there's this other woman, and she likes the King guy, but he almost dies (I won't mention Brego) then comes back and, when he could go after the second woman, claims the pendant given to him from woman #1, who may yet defy her father. It's so romantic...sniff...and that battle scene that you heard about isn't really 30 minutes long."

P.S. It may seem to some that I'm nitpicking TTT, and that may be true, but oh well...

Well, if you call that nitpicking, then I'm picking the nits on your nits.

[Trotter]

Ho Hum...

The whole problem is that PJ made the films with all the 'other' people in mind, not just the fans. Sorry, couldn't resist that... Anyway, I simply think that Pete and crew went in the wrong direction with this second installment. Their unnessary character alterations and created plot threads bog down this already-complicated-story in my opinion. But of course... none of this can be helped now.

P.S. Now what they needed was Christoper Tolkien to review and approve the scripts... Yeah right, like he would've ever been satisfied!

[Elladan and Elrohir]

I think with TTT, they did the best they could, which is still very, very good. And honestly, I think the length of the battle is well nigh perfect. Of course, I only currently own the theatrical releases, so I haven't watched the extended versions in a while. But I thought it was very well done. It progresses clearly, never gets repetitive, and builds upward to the Forth Eorlingas climax.

The Ent scenes are the toughest to adapt, IMHO. If they had went with the book, it would have been an emotional letdown. Same for Frodo and Sam's storyline. If Faramir just lets 'em go, they basically have nothing to do for the rest of the film, since they aren't going to Cirith and Torech Ungol in this movie.

[Trotter]

Originally Posted by Elladan and Elrohir

If Faramir just lets 'em go, they basically have nothing to do for the rest of the film, since they aren't going to Cirith and Torech Ungol in this movie.

In my humble opinion...


I think that the pass of Cirith Ungol should have been in the film. Indeed, it should have been the climax of the film. I have heard the arguements about why it wasn't in though, something about it clashing with Helm's Deep, which was supposed to be the climactic moment in Pete's TTT. And it not fitting into the timeline of the other storylines. Granted, those are good arguements, and the entire film would've had to have been reworked had old Shelob made an appearance. But I still believe that the film could have been better had they kept the voice of Saruman and Shelob in...

I'll just have to wait until I make my own version...

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Trotter

I think that the pass of Cirith Ungol should have been in the film. Indeed, it should have been the climax of the film. I have heard the arguements about why it wasn't in though, something about it clashing with Helm's Deep, which was supposed to be the climactic moment in Pete's TTT. And it not fitting into the timeline of the other storylines.

The timeline issue is the key one. Cirith Ungol takes place during the siege of Minas Tirith. It would not have worked to have the siege of MT/Cirith Ungol as the climax of the second film, particularly after Helm's Deep. I think that Jackson and co made the correct choice here.

[Trotter]

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

The timeline issue is the key one. Cirith Ungol takes place during the siege of Minas Tirith. It would not have worked to have the siege of MT/Cirith Ungol as the climax of the second film, particularly after Helm's Deep. I think that Jackson and co made the correct choice here.

Yeah, as I said, the entire film would've had to have been reworked, which is something I wish they would have done. I would've had Frodo, Sam, and Gollum for the last half hour of the movie, and then bring them in later in ROTK so that the timelines would fit.


Trotter

[Elladan and Elrohir]

Well, that works in the book, but I don't think it would work very well in the film. If they'd thought it would work, they could have just split TTT and ROTK up into the separate books the way Tolkien did, and had half of the movie be one story, and half the other.