I want to see it again - now!
19 Dec 2001 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karohemdSo I saw Lord of the Rings and it was good. Well worth waiting 16 odd years for.
To those who haven't seen it, I say "See it now", those who have can read (the now updated)
I arrived at the cinema at about a quarter past 10, to find only a small group of people there waiting. A queue started to form and we finally were let in. I couldn't believe that it actually wasn't sold out, and it was in one of the small screens. There were still quite a few gaps in the seats when it started.
I won't write a full review of the film here, just present some random thoughts, possibly out of order.
Great opening sequence telling the story of the One Ring. My biggest (and one of the few) nag of the film right there. Why did they rephrase the poem and didn't quote it straight?
Pretty much all sets and landscapes looked like I always imagined them, the hobbit holes were wonderful (although the first shot of Bagend reminded me of Teletubbyland), Barad-Dur scary, Isengard/Ortanc impressive, Rivendell and Lothlorien beautful, Moria/Khazad Dum awesome. It's the illustrations of the books brought to life.
There were a few bits missing like the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs. I guess they aren't really that important and although Robin Williams would have made a great Tom Bombadil, it would have added another 20 minutes or so to the 3 hour marathon it was.
The Prancing Pony was a bit too dark for my taste, to be honest. It feels like a much more homly place in the book. Oh, another small niggle, Butterbur wasn't bald.
The scenes with the Black Riders were also well made and quite haunting, their faces always in shadow.
Unnecessarily added was the Arwen/Aragorn love scene, my second nag. Yes, they are/will become a couple but it has little to do with the story.
The scene in Moria from the trailer where Pippin causes the skeleton and bucket to fall into that well is almost too funny because of Pippin's expression. At least Gandalf's "Fool of a Took!" (which I always had to quote when watching the trailer) put it back into perspective.
Lothlorien worked surprisingly well. It was a bit OTT in places, especially Eomer and Galadriel glowing like angels but OK. The tempting of Galadriel was very impressive (mm, full plate corset). It was quite unlike to what I always imagined it, but it worked. The giving of the presents (the cloaks and brooches, the bread and the boats) was missing, except for Frodo's vial.
The battle scenes and the ones at Barad-Dur and Isengard/Ortanc were well done, as well.
For a PG film, the fight scenes in general were quite graphic with limbs and heads getting chopped off but with very little blood, even the swords weren't bloody.
Oh, correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't read the book in a while, wasn't it Glorfindel who carries Frodo to Rivendell, not Arwen? Another great SFX scene when the raging river flushes away the Nazgul, though.
Which brings me to the characters:
- The Hobbits worked quite well and Frodo was better than I thought he would be. Merry and Pippin were the clowns of the fellowship and provided much needed comic relief.
- Much kudos to Ian McKellen for his portrayal of Gandalf. I wouldn't have expected anything less.
- Saruman was superb (all hail Christopher Lee!), again exceeding my expectations. Another of my supporting actor favourites for the Oscar, the other being Alan Rickman for Snape.
- Aragorn didn't really stick out but he wasn't bad, either, but Sean Bean as Boromir rocked. However, the two were a little bit too alike, at least visually. Nice touch was when Aragorn put on Boromir's bracers before they put him out on the river.
- Legolas was the punchbag from the book. I hate his guts, still well played. His fighting style was just a bit OTT which redeemed him for me. And he proved that you can shoot three arrows in a combat round ;o) Strange that he didn't even have a proper longbow, at least it was a recursive one.
- Gimli was wonderful but I would have liked some more of the elf-dwarf relationship. There wasn't much of it. Oh, and did you spot the continuity glitch? Gimli's axe shatters when he tries to destroy the ring but in the next scene (when they all squabble), he has it again.
The best line in the film goes to him as well. When they are on the collapsing stairs on their way to the bridge of Khazad-Dum and Aragorn reaches for him and he says "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" and then the "Not the beard!" when Legolas catches him.
- Sorry, but Agent Smith as Elrond simply didn't work. The voice didn't fit.
- Arwen was beautiful and I liked the fact that they often spoke Elven. Eomer and Galadriel were good, but they could have done without their halos.
- All the rest were good, solid performances.
- The cave troll and especially the Balrog were most likely the best CGI creatures I've seen so far. The fiery whip was well done. The integration of CGI creatures into films becomes better and better. You still see that it is CGI but the textures and lighting are now pretty much perfect. Strangely enough, the worst part was Gimli in group shots. As they had reduced the usually quite formidable Rhys-Davies in scale and put back in, you sometimes could see it. Hm.
All the sets, the costumes, the armour and weapons and the make up/prosthetics were outstanding. All the real life locations were well chosen, and the extras like ruins and stone circles blended in perfectly.
The Uruk-hai were really scary and their armour was cool. The orcs (and the creation of the Uruk-hai) was another thing I thought was quite harsh in a PG film.
I also liked the ring-o-vision, whenever Frodo put the ring on. Brought along the wrongness of the act quite well.
On top of all that, the soundtrack complimented the film all the time and was never too imposing. Great work by Howard Shore. A lot better than the Potter one.
I was humming the main theme over and over again when I left the cinema.
And another advantage of the film: no bloody singing. This could have been very wrong and tedious. Purists will probably hit me for this, but I always hated the songs and poems in the book...
All in all, a very good rendition of the book, no real slow moments and there were fewer cringy scenes than there could have been (except the Arwen/Aragorn scene in Rivendell) and you probably have to see it a couple of times to take it all in properly. There are some bits where you just sit there in awe watching the scenery. Well, I'm going to see it at least one more time in the new year, then I want to see it in one of the big screens.
To those who haven't seen it, I say "See it now", those who have can read (the now updated)
I arrived at the cinema at about a quarter past 10, to find only a small group of people there waiting. A queue started to form and we finally were let in. I couldn't believe that it actually wasn't sold out, and it was in one of the small screens. There were still quite a few gaps in the seats when it started.
I won't write a full review of the film here, just present some random thoughts, possibly out of order.
Great opening sequence telling the story of the One Ring. My biggest (and one of the few) nag of the film right there. Why did they rephrase the poem and didn't quote it straight?
Pretty much all sets and landscapes looked like I always imagined them, the hobbit holes were wonderful (although the first shot of Bagend reminded me of Teletubbyland), Barad-Dur scary, Isengard/Ortanc impressive, Rivendell and Lothlorien beautful, Moria/Khazad Dum awesome. It's the illustrations of the books brought to life.
There were a few bits missing like the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs. I guess they aren't really that important and although Robin Williams would have made a great Tom Bombadil, it would have added another 20 minutes or so to the 3 hour marathon it was.
The Prancing Pony was a bit too dark for my taste, to be honest. It feels like a much more homly place in the book. Oh, another small niggle, Butterbur wasn't bald.
The scenes with the Black Riders were also well made and quite haunting, their faces always in shadow.
Unnecessarily added was the Arwen/Aragorn love scene, my second nag. Yes, they are/will become a couple but it has little to do with the story.
The scene in Moria from the trailer where Pippin causes the skeleton and bucket to fall into that well is almost too funny because of Pippin's expression. At least Gandalf's "Fool of a Took!" (which I always had to quote when watching the trailer) put it back into perspective.
Lothlorien worked surprisingly well. It was a bit OTT in places, especially Eomer and Galadriel glowing like angels but OK. The tempting of Galadriel was very impressive (mm, full plate corset). It was quite unlike to what I always imagined it, but it worked. The giving of the presents (the cloaks and brooches, the bread and the boats) was missing, except for Frodo's vial.
The battle scenes and the ones at Barad-Dur and Isengard/Ortanc were well done, as well.
For a PG film, the fight scenes in general were quite graphic with limbs and heads getting chopped off but with very little blood, even the swords weren't bloody.
Oh, correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't read the book in a while, wasn't it Glorfindel who carries Frodo to Rivendell, not Arwen? Another great SFX scene when the raging river flushes away the Nazgul, though.
Which brings me to the characters:
- The Hobbits worked quite well and Frodo was better than I thought he would be. Merry and Pippin were the clowns of the fellowship and provided much needed comic relief.
- Much kudos to Ian McKellen for his portrayal of Gandalf. I wouldn't have expected anything less.
- Saruman was superb (all hail Christopher Lee!), again exceeding my expectations. Another of my supporting actor favourites for the Oscar, the other being Alan Rickman for Snape.
- Aragorn didn't really stick out but he wasn't bad, either, but Sean Bean as Boromir rocked. However, the two were a little bit too alike, at least visually. Nice touch was when Aragorn put on Boromir's bracers before they put him out on the river.
- Legolas was the punchbag from the book. I hate his guts, still well played. His fighting style was just a bit OTT which redeemed him for me. And he proved that you can shoot three arrows in a combat round ;o) Strange that he didn't even have a proper longbow, at least it was a recursive one.
- Gimli was wonderful but I would have liked some more of the elf-dwarf relationship. There wasn't much of it. Oh, and did you spot the continuity glitch? Gimli's axe shatters when he tries to destroy the ring but in the next scene (when they all squabble), he has it again.
The best line in the film goes to him as well. When they are on the collapsing stairs on their way to the bridge of Khazad-Dum and Aragorn reaches for him and he says "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" and then the "Not the beard!" when Legolas catches him.
- Sorry, but Agent Smith as Elrond simply didn't work. The voice didn't fit.
- Arwen was beautiful and I liked the fact that they often spoke Elven. Eomer and Galadriel were good, but they could have done without their halos.
- All the rest were good, solid performances.
- The cave troll and especially the Balrog were most likely the best CGI creatures I've seen so far. The fiery whip was well done. The integration of CGI creatures into films becomes better and better. You still see that it is CGI but the textures and lighting are now pretty much perfect. Strangely enough, the worst part was Gimli in group shots. As they had reduced the usually quite formidable Rhys-Davies in scale and put back in, you sometimes could see it. Hm.
All the sets, the costumes, the armour and weapons and the make up/prosthetics were outstanding. All the real life locations were well chosen, and the extras like ruins and stone circles blended in perfectly.
The Uruk-hai were really scary and their armour was cool. The orcs (and the creation of the Uruk-hai) was another thing I thought was quite harsh in a PG film.
I also liked the ring-o-vision, whenever Frodo put the ring on. Brought along the wrongness of the act quite well.
On top of all that, the soundtrack complimented the film all the time and was never too imposing. Great work by Howard Shore. A lot better than the Potter one.
I was humming the main theme over and over again when I left the cinema.
And another advantage of the film: no bloody singing. This could have been very wrong and tedious. Purists will probably hit me for this, but I always hated the songs and poems in the book...
All in all, a very good rendition of the book, no real slow moments and there were fewer cringy scenes than there could have been (except the Arwen/Aragorn scene in Rivendell) and you probably have to see it a couple of times to take it all in properly. There are some bits where you just sit there in awe watching the scenery. Well, I'm going to see it at least one more time in the new year, then I want to see it in one of the big screens.
