Unfortunately, I do not share your view of this one Richard for all the
reasons you give and more.
I was horrified watching Aragorn beg the dead to help him.. He is the heir
of Isildur not a damned beggar, but this fit in with PJ's Aragoen which was
dramaticly different then the REAL one. In the movies Aragorn is an
excellent fighter but a lackluster leader and not at all kingly. He seems to
be hiding in Rivendell from his destiny and needed a pep talk from Elrond to
seek it. In the books, Aragorn has all of his magesty ( not all that is gold
does glitter) if not the actual throne. He was not a man who shirked his
duty but simply waited for the right opportunity to claim the kingship. This
was a fundamental change in Aragorn which I did not like, but fit right in
with the similarly remarkable changes in the characters of Theoden, Saruman
and Faramir. I could go on endlessly here, but these were not simply changes
to edit a massive work into a workable movie. This was Tolkien "fixed".
My favorite ME scene has to be Eowyn vs the Witch King and I was
disappointed in the movie version. My biggest gripe is that he cut the scene
in half, causing the scene to lose much of its excitement and tension, to
show Aragon, Legolas and Gimli disembarking from the corsair fleet. The
scene portrays none of the despair that Eowyn felt. In the book she was
despondent and hopeless. She had little chance in the encounter and she knew
it, but she did not flinch from her duty to defend her fallen king. Also, in
the book, the invincible Witch King has a moment of doubt when Eowyn is
found to be a woman and making the prophecy that he can not be killed by a
man have a new meaning. Unfortunately we do not get that reaction from the
nazgul because she does not reveal her sex until the moment of her killing
sword stroke. Also, where was the black breath?!!
I look forward to the extended edition of this one but, unfortunately, I do
not see additional footage or scenes fixing either of these two scenes.
Tim
···
----- Original Message -----
From: <mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>
To: <mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 5:15 PM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Digest Number 1535
There is 1 message in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Return of the King film
From: "richard devereux" <rd@pagan-47.fsnet.co.uk>________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________Message: 1
Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 19:08:46 -0000
From: "richard devereux" <rd@pagan-47.fsnet.co.uk>
Subject: Return of the King filmAt last got to see this film. Brilliant, awe-inspiring! Best battle
scenes in cinematic history, and I really could not see the join between
human actors and cgi. Made Star Wars look juvenile.
Yes, the mumakil were too big, but didn't that make their defeat all the
more impressive?
Yes, the Nazgul didn't in the book snatch defenders from the parapets of
Minas Tirith, but hell it looked good and you could understand why the
defenders were terrified.
Yes, the orcs shouldn't have stormed the first wall of Minas Tirith, but
that was poetic licence to demonstrate how desperate was the plight of the
besieged Gondorians.
Yes, I am disappointed Jackson did not include the confrontation between
the Witch-King and Gandalf, but we still got the confrontation between the
Witch-king and Eowyn, which was quite well done.
Yes, it's a shame that Vincent Price's Saruman had no further part to
play, as VP is an excellent villain, but what would you cut instead?
Jackson did the right thing here, having Gandalf wrap it up saying 'he can
do no more harm' thus disposing of the scouring of the shire etc which would
be a wretched anti-climax after the Battle of the Pelennor fields and
outside Morannon.
It must have been very difficult for anyone who has not read the books to
follow anyway - the last thing the film needed was any more secondary
threads.
Yes I can pick holes in it - I didn't like the pathetic dwarf jokes and
why was Gimli, who hated horses, riding one whilst Eowyn, a born horsewoman,
was walking on the way to Helm's Deep? But I can forgive that because
Jackson makes up for it elsewhere.
Full marks to Jackson and his team - it's the best film of its kind since
the original Alien, and the best trilogy since film trologies were invented.
Richard.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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That said; I've found all three movies to