Full review beyond the lj-cut; due to possible spoilers.
Three hours of the most worthless over-hyped tripe!
Are words that do not apply to one of the finest films in a year of excellent fantasy films.
(Yeah….like I’d dare 😉
As many LoR addicts around me know. It’s one of the books that I have read the first chapter of countless times and never really gotten much further than that.
I felt that they captured the tone of the parts of the book I’ve read (limited as it was) very well. I now really want to read this series. Unlike Harry Potter, I think I will enjoy the book more after the film than before it. With HP I found myself dwelling on the parts that were cut. This way it can be more icing to a good story.
I will have to admit that I walked out of it thinking, “Gosh, Babylon-5 really wasn’t that original after all.”
I enjoyed it highly, and really like the language of the Elves and can see how the book creates young linguiphiles.
However, I do have some flaws in the film. The camera work in the fight sequences were just a little too erratic. This gave me the impression that they were trying to make the fighting more frenetic than it either was or I think meant to seem. Also, the camera work on the obscenely wide, look at our countless hordes, shots seemed very over the top and more unreal than the very prevelent realism that the rest of the film gave.
Acting in the film was absolutely stunning with few exceptions. It took me less than five minutes to not see Magneto. IM did a wonderous job as the old Wizard. I loved all _five_ primary Hobbit actors. (Kudos to the effect team for messing with sizes of people)
Unfortunately, from everything I heard I felt that Blanchett could have gone further with the mystical, serenety, and bittersweetness of Galadriel . Granted this may very well be book naivety. To me she came off as flat. Well, not when she was invoking Stargate’s Apophis and scaring the holy bejesus out of the audience.
My other acting flaw was a disappointment. I like Hugo Weaving. But even with pointed ears and pointed eyebrows…..I couldn’t shake Agent Smith from the matrix. As a friend relayed to me…all I could hear was:
Elrond: “Do you hear that Mr. Underhill? That is the sound of inevitability”
F: “My name is…Frodo.”
Galadriel : “It’s true. He is the one (ring bearer)”
I will probably thing about this one again after attempting yet again to read and then watching again…
Take the ring, Mr. Anders – errr, Baggins.
You know…
I could probably layer just about all of the movie into the Matrix for Parody value 🙂
“Sauron is….a virus.”
But OH MY GOD! I loved it. I like the movie better than the book, frankly, because the movie is not turgid and long-winded and it has–think of it!–pacing!
The look on Gandalf’s face in Rivendell when Frodo said he’d take the Ring. Galadriel’s “I will be beautiful and terrible” speech. Boromir’s last words. Pippin’s botched ‘move silently’ roll in Moria. “Not the beard!” “If I take one more step…” Arwen–enough said. (BTW, Shawn, Arwen and Aragorn were speaking Quenya–I’m sure of this because she said something about ‘many years’ and it had a word from your favorite quote in it in the right place.) The Shire. The acting
Tolkein wrote his book so they could make this movie.
The only thing I’m worried about is that ignorant folks will read too much into some of the relationships–most notably Frodo and Sam. Two men aren’t allowed to love each other in Hollywood films without being gay.
the thing is…..the movie was TOO fast paced (now don’t get me wrong, i’e seen it four times and will be seeing it more)…the book is very very very long and the movie i think moves through some things too fast…i mean the trip to bree took five minutes, ten tops, for god’s sake. but it’s still the bset movie i’ve seen in a very long time.
i agree with you about the relationship…especially frodo and sam….and hell even how aragorn interacts with people (boromir’s last moments, etc)…but the thing is….*most* people who are at that movie know better 🙂 cause if frodo and sam do end up in a relationship i’ll hunt the director downa nd shoot him myself ;P
one of my favourite scenes (there are many, it changes often) is the brief scene where boromir is teaching pip and merry how to swordfight *sniggers* that was cute.
a lot was left out, AND a good bit that was *filmed* was left out…specifically in lorien…which i think of all the cuts it suffered the most…the magic of lorien is *not* conveyed properly …the set is beautiful….and i loved galadriel but celebron’s actor made me wanna scream.
okay ramble over 🙂
Dude, I said the exact same thing about Babylon 5!
Yeah, I loved it. I really wish there had been an intermission because I had to go to the bathroom SO BADLY during the last hour.
*lol* I hate that feeling
It’s the downside of breaking the 28-year old level. Suddenly the drinks are far too big for me to make it thru a 100 minute movie. For some reason I actully didn’t suffer during this one…But it was a challenge!
😀
elrond grew on me…i like hugo weaving, but i just wasn’t getting the elf vibe off him….but four viewings later…i actually like him a lot, especially if you take into account that elrond is only half elven…
i thought she did galadriel very well…she got the mystical side down for me…but i thought the sort of….unemotional feel she had was actually spot on…galadriel is VERY old, older than elrond, she’s been around for ages…you dont excited about much after that long, y’know? but the scene where she turned into the “dark queen” was one of my favourite ones….and she was very symbiote wasn’t she? hehehe
as for reading the book *after* the movie…that depends. having read the book first helps you to appreciate some of the nuances the movie managed not to catch…about the relationships between the characters and racial specifics, etc…for me, i had to see it the second time to truly apprciate it. i spent the first time ticking off all the differences and the second time just really enjoying it 🙂 and the third and fourth….hehehe