The Good and The Bad - a Quick Look at the Movies

[Sauron the White]

yes... over the years I have read many posted comments from many different people on several sites indicating that they were thankful for the changes in the character of Boromir making him much more of a sympathetic character than he came across as in the book .... so this should be interesting given the previously stated feelings of Matthew for the Boromir character......

and interesting may be too mild of a word.

[MatthewM]

Glad to see the interest, and I will be finishing this up tomorrow, however let it be known that I do not want to turn this thread into a debate on my opinions about Bean as Boromir...I have expressed these views numerous times on other threads. I was just going to say a few words about it, but again, I don't want this thread to turn into a discussion solely on that. I'm taking a lot of time writing all of this stuff out and I would like to discuss more than just that.

[Lush]

* The Old Forest - Tom Bombadil - The Barrow-Downs. Quite frankly, these chapters are so important and close to my heart that I am glad they did not get filmed. At first I was disappointed and that they should have been included, but thinking about it now- it's good that these scenes were not tampered with.

Preeecisely.

It's my favourite part of the book, and it's also 100% unfilmable.

[Folwren]

Nice. I have only read some of the list. I noted that your last 'Good' thing was the "Let's hunt some orc" line, and I just want to make note here that I disagree utterly. I hate that line. It is probably my least favorite line of any movie that I have ever watched. None other, to my knowledge, grates so badly on my nerves - not even the Legolas ones that people rant so much about.

Otherwise, everything else you've stated and that I've read, I agree with.

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Folwren

None other, to my knowledge, grates so badly on my nerves - not even the Legolas ones that people rant so much about.

Never, Legolas' lines are a thousand times worse! In fact, Orlando Bloom's depiction of Legolas has even furthered my dislike of elves. He plays Legolas in a very cocky and sort of arragant way.

[Quempel]

My view of Orlando and his Legolas is that of Plank from Ed, Edd and Eddy. The entire protrayal of Legolas is And the continual drooling by the fangurls One thing about Legolas that really ruined it for me was his lack of emotion at all, I blame Mr. Bloom for this, since he has of yet been able to prove he nothing more than a pretty face that couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Lush

Preeecisely.

It's my favourite part of the book, and it's also 100% unfilmable.

I don't agree it's unfilmable. In fact, many episodes of these chapters could have been fantastic visually, almost without special effects. Just picture the Hobbits leaving the Shire and entering the Old Forest in the grey dawn, with silver dew on the grass and fog in the air. Or the spooky atmosphere inside the Forest, the creaking of the trees, the sudden stirring of the leaves, a bransch falling right in front of them ("It's just the wind", says Merry). The Barrow Downs could also be great on film - when the Barrow Wight takes them you could use the book for a script and it would be a great scene. Tom Bombadill, as he is described, would be difficult to pull off though. But then again, he is silly, even in the book, with his hopping about, whistling, and hopeless fashion sense.

I think the problems have to do with plotting and time concerns, more than anything else. In order to do these chapters justice you'd have a running time of at least 20-30 minutes more. These episodes could also confuse the audience, since they are sort of a side quest with little or nothing to do with the ring.

[Lush]

The Old Forest itself is very filmable, but I only see the Tom Bombadil part as being sustainable in a good cartoon (possibly anime - that would be pretty, pretty interesting, or else disastrous, but you never know).

In my mind, there are some elements of the book that immediately lend themselves to filming, and they set the tone from the beginning. Then we come to Tom Bombadil, and we get this subtle, but important shift. And I honestly can't think of a single director who could do it justice.

I'd love to be proven wrong. Of course, by the time anyone gets around to doing a re-make (or re-interpretation, or whatever the kids are calling it these days), I'll probably be a senile old grandma.

*le sigh*

[skip spence]

I read Matthew's op and also agree with most of what is said. Some things I don't even recognise though, but I haven't watched the EE so that perhaps explains it. Should I? This tread makes it clear to me how much I enjoyed the first movie however. I think it was excellent, and the few gripes I do have are easy to look past in the light of all that was great. Prior to it's premiere I had great expectations but the movie was actually better than I had hoped for. Sadly, the second film failed to live up to my expectations, and when the third one came out I didn't even to go watch it until months after it's opening.

I didn't mind the "let's hunt some orc" comment though. As I remember it, Aragorn did express some similar thoughts in the book, and it did not seem out of place to me.

[Lush]

I always use the phrase "let's hunt some orc" when hunting cockroaches in my bedroom. So it must be good.