andrewducker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
andrewducker) wrote2002-12-18 02:47 pm
andrewducker) wrote2002-12-18 02:47 pm
Bigger, Longer and Uncut
I'm sure I've mentioned that I've got FOTR Extended Edition. I haven't mentioned how much better it is.
Simply by adding a few seconds here and there in the film they've made it eminently clearer. I didn't like the original hobbiton arrival very much, but I'm a big fan of the new one, and similarly the LothLorien sequence is vastly improved also (I can't believe they left out the gift giving sequence from the original cut).
Basically, I'd rather the original FOTR as an 8.5 and the extended edition a 10.
Simply by adding a few seconds here and there in the film they've made it eminently clearer. I didn't like the original hobbiton arrival very much, but I'm a big fan of the new one, and similarly the LothLorien sequence is vastly improved also (I can't believe they left out the gift giving sequence from the original cut).
Basically, I'd rather the original FOTR as an 8.5 and the extended edition a 10.
Re:
Treebeard was.... Well, I love the Ents. I was disappointed that they kind of changed the Ents motives for going to war -- in the book they didn't need to see Isengard to know that a terrible thing was happening.
The opening sequence is astounding. I sat there with my mouth agape in awe the whole time. And the battles.... I love the Elvish army. The fact that they were all stunningly attractive certainly didn't hurt, but the precision and the coordination was really awesome.
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And yeah, I'd have preferred Pippin or Merry to have used a stirring speech to point out that if Sauron won the forests would all be destroyed, rather than tricking him like they did.
Oh, and both films have had real problems with foreshortening - people hiding 3 seconds before someone else arrive have usually been visible for about 5 minutes - Treebeard should have realised there was devestation ahead long before he's standing there. When Gimli says "The walls of Moria", they must have been visible to all of them for the last 15 minutes.
Re:
*grin*
Merry and Pippin are so cool. They are such a big part of Two Towers that I was a little disappointed when the movie didn't start off with them and the Ents. But I suppose for your average film-goer, it would have shot the continuous narrative.
Which, by the way, I thought they handled admirably. Given that they were juggling three different plot lines and time chronicles. The best cut of the whole movie I think was when Aragorn was tracking what happening to them with the Orcs and he's envisioning them running into the forest. And then we're back the night before running into the forest with them. I thought that was just incredibly well done.
As for Helm's Deep.... It was just handled strangely. Because Theoden isn't that pig-headed and wacky. At least not quite. And while Rohen was not as populated as it used to be in legends past, it was still a much bigger city than depicted in the movie. Trying to defend Helm's Deep with 300 people.... That was a little silly. Still, it was one of those impossible odds moments that stir us all. Even we cynicals, so don't try to pretend you weren't impressed by it, too. *grin*
I love this movie. I'm already looking forward to the extended release of it -- just think, if Fellowship was so much better and so many things were cleared up, then that should be doubly true for this one. It drives me crazy that I have to wait an entire year for Return of the King. I swear, they made them all at the same time, they should have just released them all in some kind of megablockbuster frenzy for one night only or something and then gone on this year by year schedule. Though I don't know if they're finished with post-production so perhaps that wouldn't have been feasible.
What did you think about Gollum? Gollum the creepy. Gollum the incredibly creepy.
no subject
Re:
*grin*