Mooters' RotK reviews

[hectorberlioz]

Originally posted by Arien the Maia
I know! he was sooo gross!

yeah, he was so despicable. not like grishnak despicable. this guy was just plain horrid.
he's one of those guys whom you want to die immediatly.
just the ugliest guy i have seen in a movie for a long time...

[Elvengirl]

I definitely want to see this movie again. One reason being that it was soo awesome, another reason is because a whole bunch of giggling teenagers sitting next to me wouldn't shut up.

But about the movie; I was totally blown away. It completely exceeded my expectations. I agree with most of you on my likes and dislikes.

I loved the hobbits. Merry and Pippin were excellent in all their scenes. Sam...well I wanted to cheer when he picked up Frodo! And I was impressed with Frodo. He was exactly how I pictured him to be.
The ride of the Rohirrim was probably the best cavalry charge I have ever seen!
Eowyn, she was awesome, taking down the Witch-King with Merry's help!
The scenery was perfect. I was once more back in Middle Earth exactly how it should be.
Arwen was great. I actually like her in this one,but what was with her fate being bound to the ring.
Grey Havens.... that was beautiful.
The climactic scene with the destruction of the ring and the confrontation on the black gates was soo exciting!

I feel as if I am babbling but there was so much more that I liked! It did not feel as if it was 3 1/2 hours long. I just can't wait until the extended.

I think the most aggravating scenes for me were Frodo turning Sam away and Denethor's ridiculous death scene. There are a few other small complaints. I would have like to see more on Faramir and Eowyn, the House of Healing (but I have seen pictures for it so it should be in the extended) and Legolas and Gimli.

I think this is my favorite of the trilogy or maybe tied with FOTR.

[Dúnedain]

Originally posted by hectorberlioz
btw Dunadain, i dont remember Tolkien describing the Oliphaunts as unrealistically huge...

Nice try, but they weren't unrealistically huge. Tolkien describes them to carry HOUSES and TOWERS on their backs, which is exactly what was shown in the movie. No modern elephant would be able to carry HOUSES and TOWERS on their backs, thus Oliphaunts would have to be giant in comparision to Elephants.

[Telcontar]

I'll have to see it again to fully appreciate it. It's been a long time since I've wanted to see a movie more than once in the theater. I think I'll see it at least 4 times. One down, three to go!

The only things I can think of that changed were:
1) Saruman left out - I think it wasn't too necessary though, Gandalf made a statement saying that he no longer had any power. And he entrusted the Ents to watch over Isengard until he came back. I don't think it was crucial to have Saruman in the movie, it was just a nicety to have him fully mentioned in the book.
2) Scouring of the Shire left out - This kind of goes with my Saruman point of view b/c how could you do this part if Saruman was not involved? They kind of go hand in hand. But the most important part for not having this scene is b/c it definitely would have an anti-climatic effect on the movie. You have the end of the major struggle at the crowing of Aragorn, that is enough to start the conclusion. To have the Scouring would have added another climatic point. To me, it wasn't necessary especially since the narrator made a statement about the Hobbits returning and doing many great things (at least I'm sure that was said).
3) No Palantir with Denethor - Left out, but excusable when he told Gandalf that he knew about Aragorn and some other stuff. That could've meant he was told the info by someone else, but the Palantir could be added in the EE. The bad thing is that it didn't mention how he had seen Sauron in the Palantir and to explain his despair from Sauron's trickery and not for just the loss of Boromir.
4) Left out characters - I can understand leaving out the wild men, but they should've had Prince Imrahil at least. But on the other hand, they'd have to introduce a whole new character. That takes more time away.
5) Sam leaving - Of all the changes, I thought this was the worst. During the movie I thought Sam was either going to dispute Frodo's dismissal, or at least secretly follow him. Not whimper while falling down the stairs like a wuss.
6) Houses of Healing - But I can understand why it was left out (time constraints), and will be included in the EE.
7)Gandalf vs. The Mouth of Sauron.
For the non-fan, this stuff wouldn't even really matter. It's only cause we've read the books and know the story well that it bothers us. But to look at it from an overall audience perspective, I thought it was awesome.

Anyway, too many parts of the movie to list that were good. I thought it followed the book quite well. Stuff I thought was really great:
Paths of the Dead scene - This was amazing. I like the way it was adapted for the screenplay.
The Battering ram with fire.
The trolls going into Minas Tirith.
The white tree shown as dead but then flowering again at the coronation.
Denethor and Faramir's performance during the whole "I wish you would've died instead" scene. Did you see Faramir's eyes well up? I thought that was awesome. It really struck me as intense and sincere.
Sam and Frodo at Mount Doom.
I liked the way Gollum tried to make Sam look bad.
Actually, I liked the whole freakin' thing. I shouldn't even list it all except for the stuff I didn't like but understood their change or dismissal. The Grey Havens was perfect. Don't think it could've been any better especially since it's the part that really made my eyes well up.

I sure hope that it will win Best Picture at every awards presentation. Not biased or anything, but I think it beats Braveheart and Gladiator as far as the entire movie. The shear utter despair, the triumphs and losses, and ultimate hope was absolutely captivating, along with breathtaking action and many sincere points of the film.

Got much more to say, but I gotta go.

[Khamûl]

It was a great movie, but concerning the Imperial Walkers on Hoth and the Oliphaunts -- yes, that thought crossed my mind. Must have been the camera angles. And I don't call him "Elephant-man orc", I call him "Sloth" because he reminds me of that character from The Goonies. "Hey you guys!"

I must see this movie again.

[Elvengirl]

Originally posted by Telcontar
The white tree shown as dead but then flowering again at the coronation.

Was it? Oh, I didn't notice that. We'll now I have another reason to see the movie again.

Btw, there's nothing wrong with the Oliphaunts. They were exactly as described in the books.

[Tolman Muggworts]

I thought that the Mumakil ruled.

[Evenstar1400]

I loved the movie. All the hobbits were so... awesome, and I loved Legolas's oliphaunt thing, and Gimili's sense of humor.

Yes I did cry on and off during the movie, and cried straight through the last hour or so.

Must go see again. Too bad I dont have time this weekend. But xmas break starts soon, and then Ill have all the time in the world.

[zinnite]

I liked the Pelennor battle, except for the Legolas stunt and the Army of the Dead bit. Way too cheesy.

Elephant Man Orc: was it just me, or did he have the same voice as Dr. Claw or whatever his name was from the Inspector Gadget cartoons?

The Eagles were wonderfully done.

Sauron as a spotlight. Enough said.

The Witch King: Even though he's the main "bad guy" that people have to actually face in battle, Jackson waits until halfway through the final movie to officially introduce him. Not cool. It seems he spent more time building up the badness of the Oliphaunt driver.

Okay movie, but it seemed like it was really rushed just to get to the battle, and once in the battle, it keeps moving to other scenes at a far too rapid pace. I could have used a lot more story and a lot less action

[The Dunedain]

The Good
-All the scenes with the Witch King
-SHELOB
-All the Mount Doom scenes were nerve wracking and spectacular
-Gandalf Fighting
-The dead
-The mumakil
-Farimers charge and return
-THE Charge of the Rohirrum was so beutiful, I got gooesbumps and tears at the same time
-The Entire battle of the Pellinor Fields
-Grond! Grond! Not only did we see it and did the orcs call it by it's name, but Grond looked awesome
-The Plantir
-The singing about the green dragon

The Bad
- The whole Wedge between Sam and Frodo. PJ should have not included it, but since he did, Sam should have disapered from our eyes, until the scene where he confront Shelob
-The eye of Sauron is not a spotlight
-Gorbag(The orc) wants the mithril shirt. PJ got it backwards


The Ugly
-That after seeing Frodo, the eye of Sauron let him go on!
-The fact that Frodo, with the RING, went within a mile of the Witch King

[Falagar]

I wrote a really, really bad review on another english board, and since I don't have the patients/will to write a new one (or translate my Norwegian one) I'll just quote it here:

I'll start off with the part that annoyed me the most:
Sauron the lighthousekeeper! God I dislike that stupid eye. And when the light stopped on Frodo (and Sam) on the plains of Gorgoth, it felt as if they where in the middle of a musical (spotlight's on!). I was partly expecting them both to break out in song.

As you may have guessed, this is another one of those personal-opinon-threads. So I'll just continue to rant.

Another thing which bothered me was that they went too fast through the story. This has nothing to do with changing the book, but watching the movie felt like seeing the story in fast foreward.
There was not enough tension at the sieging of Minas Tirith, they attacked almost right after having arrived. After the battle the whole army managed to assemble, placed under command of Aragorn, accept Aragorn as their new leader (no-one asking for Denethor?) and walk all the way from the Pellenor to Morannon without letting us know.
Frodo and Sam was in one scene fully dressed up as Orcs, and in the next in their normal clothes (which I can't remember that they even packed before they moved on). And though the scene where Eowyn slays the Nazgûl was good enough, it passed by too fast.

And then over to bashing a plot-hole:
Sam turning back to Frodo after finding the lembas. Why? He must have already known that Gollum had thrown them down the hill or hid them. No point in going back only because of that. And we never get to know what Denethor feels after Gandalf hitting him. He just disappears, and shows up again in time to burn himself.

Which brings me on to the scene I disliked the most: Gandalf beating up Denethor. A stupid scene, which goes against much of his policy of counseling and protecting only. Wholly out of character, IMO.

And the relationships between Aragorn and Eomer/Aragorn and Faramir/Faramir and Eowyn (who gets togeter at the end) are not mentioned at all. We don't get to know what Faramir felt towards Aragorn, what Eomer thought of suddenly meeting Aragorn again when he thought they would never meet again (or what he thought at all about Aragorn leaving, actually).

Now you probably/perhaps expect me to say that I hate these movies, and that I want to kill PJ. You will be disappointed. I actually liked this movie very, very much. The scene where Faramir, in an attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of his father, hopelessly charges Sauron's forces at Osgiliath is beautiful, and one of the best I've ever seen anywhere (though the slurping of Denethor sometimes interrupted that beautiful song).
And the charge of the Rohirrim was Very Well Done. And the Greyhavens. And I'm almost glad they didn't include the scouring.

All in all a very good film (I loved it, despite all the bad stuff), but it goes too fast and forgets to explain some things along the way.


PS: By the way, I do not mind many of changes from book to movie - had expected them. Therefore I don't include themm in a review of the movie. Most of the things above are (I hope) things which have very little to do with the books.

[Finrod Felagund]

You know, we got so much development from Pippin, and missed merry's. I think (and hope) more Merry/Theoden/Rohirrim will be in the DVD.

[hectorberlioz]

yeah, pippin was the best thing about rotk in my opinion.
awww his song is so beautiful...i didnt actually think there was goingo to be any singing in it, but it was a pleasant surprise!

[Falagar]

Originally posted by hectorberlioz
yeah, pippin was the best thing about rotk in my opinion.
awww his song is so beautiful...i didnt actually think there was goingo to be any singing in it, but it was a pleasant surprise!

True. I was almost expecting one of the drinking-songs from the Shire, but was pleasantly surprised (the best thing, it is put together by lines from one of Bilbo's songs).

[Finrod Felagund]

But there was a Shire drinking song...

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Finrod Felagund
But there was a Shire drinking song...

Which is exactly why I feared another one.

[hectorberlioz]

yeah, that was ok, but that wasnt emotionally wracking.

hey, lets have a vote for best part in rotk.
i vote pippins song.

[Falagar]

Originally posted by hectorberlioz
yeah, that was ok, but that wasnt emotionally wracking.

hey, lets have a vote for best part in rotk.
i vote pippins song.

Same here. A beautiful scene.

On a second place I'll put the charge of the Rohirrim. My whole body shook when the horses trampled down the hill...

[Elvengirl]

I like your review Falagar.

I don't really have a problem with the Eye of Sauron, but I did have a problem with the fact that he saw Frodo and then seemed to disregard him. That seemed ridiculous.

My favorite part, that is hard to choose, I have so many.
The Rohirrim was spectacular, but I'd say Sam's carrying Frodo and the whole scene with the destructrion of the ring.

I didn't really get to enjoy the beauty of Pippin's song, because a lot of a group next to me were laughing hysterically

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Elvengirl
I like your review Falagar.

I don't really have a problem with the Eye of Sauron, but I did have a problem with the fact that he saw Frodo and then seemed to disregard him. That seemed ridiculous.

My favorite part, that is hard to choose, I have so many.
The Rohirrim was spectacular, but I'd say Sam's carrying Frodo and the whole scene with the destructrion of the ring.

I didn't really get to enjoy the beauty of Pippin's song, because a lot of a group next to me were laughing hysterically

Aww, too bad. You should see it again, he had a beautiful voice!

There were people clapping all the time on the cinema, and though it may have been out of respect in the beginnning it became a bit annoying.

Didn't really like Mount Doom and the Eagles seemed a little too powerful (and I bet the non-bookies were asking where those eagles where under the siege of Minas Tirith...or perhaps not), but it worked very well.