posted
Just came home from watching it, how I ache of sweet sorrow.
I surprised myself at one point, when Eowyn (Dernhelm) scoops up Merry, the "scrawny-bickering-puritan" in me actually sighed and rolled eyes at Merry's comment. My brother turned and said "Oh come on, what is it this time?" I said that her identity was to be kept a secret, as Dernhelm, until they arrive at the battle!
After that, the last shards of what was left of my petty "book-phile" side fell silent, at the thunder of the charging Mumakil.
And they DID catapult the decapitated Gondorian soldiers' heads! And you DID get to see Frodo's torn-off finger!
I'm still recovering from the fact that they pulled off the Gollum/Frodo struggle and came up with a satisfactory solution to Gollum's death. I was at ease. At the coronation I actually tried to get "in the mood" in order to be touched by it, but something was missing. I started worrying maybe it wouldn't get any better than this. Then they bowed to the hobbits. "Oh, there it is..." At Sam's wedding, my nose started bleeding from the pressure of holding back the tears (just a few seconds though). Finally, at the Grey Havens, I couldn't possibly hold back anymore, nor did I want to. Ever since I finished the last page of the book I had been waiting for this.
It was so cool of the hobbits to stay somber at the Green Dragon, and make a silent toast in remembrance of all that had transpired. I really appreciated that.
Also, I hadn't expected them to follow the book as close as they did in the last scene, and for that I will be eternally grateful to the moviemakers.
At last the three companions turned away, and never again looking back they rode slowly homewards; and they spoke no word to one another until they came back to the Shire, but each had great comfort in his friends on the long grey road. ...But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And Rose drew him in...and put little Elanor upon his lap. He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Eowyn has the single sharpest blade in all of moviedom: that, or that dragon's neck was made from jell-o. I was pretty suprised she was that tough, really. Her brother (whom I think of as "horsehead") runs around for a while looking for a suitable target for his spear: of course when he finds one....
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
You'd be surprised ho effective steel is against flesh. A heavy stroke from a sharp one-hand sword can cut the neck on a cow or horse with ease.
Registered: Aug 1999
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Said with far too much confidence for my tastes.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Nim: You'd be surprised ho effective steel is against flesh. A heavy stroke from a sharp one-hand sword can cut the neck on a cow or horse with ease.
My Nagitata can lop a pumpkin in two with ease but that thing's ......well, I guess I just expected a tiny bit of Samug's toughness in it's scaly hide.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Well she did have to chop about three times to have anything to show for it, but basically it was a big flying iguana-swine yes. Besides, it was word-for-word what happened in the book. Even down to the splintering of her shield, and Merry's stabbing his low-left knee. Perfect.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Now that the movie's out, might I ask if there are listings of what did and didn't go in? If someone could put a percentage on it, how much material could be considered "missing"?
posted
I really don't think that's a good or even useful way of looking at it, or that what you're asking for can be quantified in anything approaching a meaningful way. What sorts of things count, anyway? Plot events? Descriptions? "Feels?" "Themes?"
Registered: Mar 1999
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I guess I'm mostly after main plot events more than everyone else, plus things like characters left out, character switches (in terms of them doing stuff they didn't do before, like Arwen), and so forth...
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Well the Scouring was left out (duh!) which I give my blessing. After the grand events finishing the movie, the feeling of closure, sorrow of departure and happiness at the fortune of the survivors would've been muddled and just cloven-in-two by another action sequence with some petty characters that die after a short debate. The end as it was, had a beautiful pulse which was kept unbroken, immediately from Frodo & Sam's rescue to Sam's final dialogue.
As I said in my short review, the character Dernhelm was also left out, as it probably would've been hard to make Eowyn look like a man with a manly voice, not to mention confusing to some of the audience if it had succeeded.
The parley with the Mouth of Sauron was missing, maybe it will be added in the Extended Edition, it's certainly possible. It was more of a "fun" thing anyway, not really critical to the scene at the Black Gate, the result was the same.
The Palant�r's seductive nature wasn't adressed (as defense to Pippin), so the "treachery" of Pippin, speaking with Sauron as a result, was blamed solely on his inquisitive nature. But he was redeemed later anyway, so...
But I agree with Sol, listing some anal percentage of how much Peter Jackson allegedly failed in satisfying the "purists" is unjust to the movie as a separate work. It says after all in every opening credit and end credit of the movies, "BASED ON THE BOOK BY JRR TOLKIEN". The movie trilogy held true to the mechanics and integrity within itself.
Oh yes, Aragorn's "Messiah"-style wonders in the Houses of Healing were absent too. Though I think the Ext.Ed. will at least show the meeting of Faramir and Eowyn in HoH.
The next time I see ROTK in the movies I will bloody well stay to after the end credits, where the trailer of the Ext.Ed. is shown.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Considering that the initial cut of ROTK came out at 4 hours and 15 minutes, there's a lot of room for additions. Me, I would have loved to see Faramir as the last Steward of Gondor asking to surrender his office, as well as asking the citizens of Minas Tirith if Aragorn should enter the city and be king. Little stuff, I admit, but I always liked that scene.
I do know that Jackson did film scenes in the Houses of Healing, so that should be in the dvd version.
-------------------- The difference between genius and idiocy? Genius has its limits.
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I know nothing about the books, but wasn't the big-scary spider originally in The Two Towers, and not ROTK?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Yip Psy - it was... and the confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman was left out too... hopefully will be shown in the ext. edition - cuz that was one scene i looked forward to seeing.
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Some reports are already saying that the extended edition of the third film will be over FIVE HOURS LONG.
I'm not trying to directly compare the book and the movie, which is indeed pointless - I was at a sci-fi con this summer, and there was a "Rings" panel where people trying to do that were told to sit down and shut up. What I'm getting at is not WHY anything was left in or out, but simply WHAT and WHO were out. For example, some guy named Tom Bombadil was not in the movies, and apparently played a minor part in the book. Arwen did some stuff attributed to another character that was left out, etc. I'm looking for that, which is more quantifyable than the whys.
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