ROTK - first impressions

[anotheranon]

Wow. WOW. "Epic" is a very good word to use just now.

Very brief impressions follow - I'm not going to write a book 'cos I know y'all are going to see it sometime!

• The battles - if it is possible, the battle at Minas Tirith was more impressive than Helms Deep - oliphants, lots of oliphants, and because it's in daylight you can see the legions of orcs more clearly. And shemhazai accurately pointed out - many trebuchets. If you're a medieval warfare nrrd, this is your scene :)
  
• Aragorn - gets the girl, kills the baddies, saves the entire planet (or Middle Earth, at least). Ladies, it's all about the King!
  
• Eowyn - earned several coolness points in my eyes when she killed the Nazgul! I was hoping that she'd suit up and sneak into the battle, and I was rewarded - girls really do kick ass!
  
• Legolas - looked pensive and had few lines. Sharpest knife in the drawer, clearly :P
  
• Gimli (also Merry and Pippin) - desperately needed comic relief, no matter what their roles in the books. This was an intense, action packed, very serious film that suffered going the overbearing way of David Lynch's "Dune" without them.
  
• Smeagol/Gollum - I liked the opening scene that highlights Smeagols downfall. I also now see the eerie resemblance between Andy Serkis and his computer-generated alter ego, though when I saw the actor I couldn't help but remember his role in "24 Hour Party People"; after he got the ring I half expected Gollum to say "I'm a genius, you're all wankers, you'll never see me again" :P
  
• The army of the dead - the only thing that smacked of the tiniest bit of cheesiness for me. When they showed up coming out of the boats it almost felt as though Pirates of the Carribean (the ride, not the movie) had infiltrated - but not quite.
  
• Minas Tirith - my only gripe is that this city doesn't look lived in, unless the citizens are extremely clean and it was planned from the ground up. Regal, just a bit too tidy.
  

Might add more later, but I was mightily impressed by the acting, the script, the effects, the sets, everything so fully thought out and executed. Go, go go - definitely must be seen in the theaters!

Comments

[timcharmorbien.livejournal.com]

I agree wholeheartedly, except I must respectfully point out that Aragorn didn't save the world, he just provided the much needed diversion.

Technically, I guess Gollum saved the world! ;)

Word is the extended DVD is going to be 5 hours long, so don't plan on siting comfortably for a while after that - - -

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I agree wholeheartedly, except I must respectfully point out that Aragorn didn't save the world, he just provided the much needed diversion.

Details, details :P Maybe I'm a bit biased; I find Aragorn more "scenic" than Frodo ;)

The argument could be made that Gollum saved the world, but frankly I think Sam did a DAMN LOT in this film - he held out the longest against the temptations of the ring, bodily carried Frodo to the mine, and even deigned to save him after he had demonstrated excessive assholism. Yay Sam!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Minas Tirith - my only gripe is that this city doesn't look lived in, unless the citizens are extremely clean and it was planned from the ground up. Regal, just a bit too tidy.

Then it's just the way it's described in the book. If I recall correctly, it WAS planned from the ground up, built all at once, and the first impression was of gleaming whiteness (the penalty for littering was to be thrown into Mount Doom ***chuckles***).

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

If Minas Tirith was a planned, pristine city, then that's definitely the impression you get in the movie! Hope y'all are enjoying it (checks clock) right about now, in fact!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Nah, we elected to be lazy. Right now we're watching "Horton Hears a Who" (which was included on our Grinch DVD)