LOTR movie
Dec. 21st, 2001 02:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eubSpoiler-free version:
W00t! No Bombadil! I am so living in fear of the point when Deanna reads up to Bombadil and starts hey-nonny-nonnying.
The movie was excellent overall. They could have done so, so much worse. It was visually spectacular, the acting was almost all good or better, and the world was solid. That's what I was most afraid of, that it would feel flimsy.
The Shire was very well done. I was afraid it would be all Quainte and false, but it looked lived-in. Bilbo's hole was lovely and I want one, but I will have to slo-mo the DVD to check if they explain how best to mount bookshelves on curved walls.
Gandalf's hat is perfect.
The Balrog scene was disappointing. First, the thing was too mundane -- take a troll, scale it up, and set it on fire. (And the horns? Doom boss city, man.) A Balrog is not a dumb beast, it's an angel fallen to fire and vengeance, casting awe before it. Second, the "I have withstood the Balrog's final lash... oops, but my arms pooped out" maneuver was just silly. I rather imagine Gandalf crying "fly, you fools" as he is dragged off the edge of the bridge.
Speaking of silly maneuvering, non-contact pro wrestling. I don't believe Tolkien's wizards do that.
The movie diddled with a bunch of smallish points of pacing and emphasis. Some were improvements, and some bothered me more than the large pieces that were gracefully cut. The way Frodo "died" by inches before our eyes after being speared, for example, and the heavy-handed cutting back and forth to show sleeping hobbits under Nazgul swords. This story doesn't need hamming up, and I wanted to sit back and trust the movie's taste. Simplifying Saruman's motives didn't seem quite necessary either.
Liv Tyler is not an elf no matter how you light her. The Matrix guy, though, is an excellent elf. Aragorn looked nothing like my image, but he did all right.
What was with the trippy perspective effect on the road the first time the Nazgul caught up with them? Just to put in the preview?
I didn't notice until Dee pointed it out, but the prologue made no mention that Bilbo ever met Gollum, which means we should have no idea how Gollum knew his name and homeland. Also, in the first book didn't we get Gollum's history as Smeagol, as a hobbit? Not here. I think Gollum may have been underplayed, which is a shame in the end.
But like I said, it was good stuff and I'm going to see it again.
W00t! No Bombadil! I am so living in fear of the point when Deanna reads up to Bombadil and starts hey-nonny-nonnying.
The movie was excellent overall. They could have done so, so much worse. It was visually spectacular, the acting was almost all good or better, and the world was solid. That's what I was most afraid of, that it would feel flimsy.
The Shire was very well done. I was afraid it would be all Quainte and false, but it looked lived-in. Bilbo's hole was lovely and I want one, but I will have to slo-mo the DVD to check if they explain how best to mount bookshelves on curved walls.
Gandalf's hat is perfect.
The Balrog scene was disappointing. First, the thing was too mundane -- take a troll, scale it up, and set it on fire. (And the horns? Doom boss city, man.) A Balrog is not a dumb beast, it's an angel fallen to fire and vengeance, casting awe before it. Second, the "I have withstood the Balrog's final lash... oops, but my arms pooped out" maneuver was just silly. I rather imagine Gandalf crying "fly, you fools" as he is dragged off the edge of the bridge.
Speaking of silly maneuvering, non-contact pro wrestling. I don't believe Tolkien's wizards do that.
The movie diddled with a bunch of smallish points of pacing and emphasis. Some were improvements, and some bothered me more than the large pieces that were gracefully cut. The way Frodo "died" by inches before our eyes after being speared, for example, and the heavy-handed cutting back and forth to show sleeping hobbits under Nazgul swords. This story doesn't need hamming up, and I wanted to sit back and trust the movie's taste. Simplifying Saruman's motives didn't seem quite necessary either.
Liv Tyler is not an elf no matter how you light her. The Matrix guy, though, is an excellent elf. Aragorn looked nothing like my image, but he did all right.
What was with the trippy perspective effect on the road the first time the Nazgul caught up with them? Just to put in the preview?
I didn't notice until Dee pointed it out, but the prologue made no mention that Bilbo ever met Gollum, which means we should have no idea how Gollum knew his name and homeland. Also, in the first book didn't we get Gollum's history as Smeagol, as a hobbit? Not here. I think Gollum may have been underplayed, which is a shame in the end.
But like I said, it was good stuff and I'm going to see it again.
