The OAO Return of The King thread

[Damaramu 0]

I'm just not getting all the "He kissed him on the head! OMG~! The hobbits are fags~!!! LOLZ2K3~!~!~!"

[NoCalMike 0]

After the opening "origin of Golum" scene, I felt the next 30-45 mins could have been cut, or at least bits and pieces. It was just too long. The movie was good, but I really question the notion that it HAD to be 3hrs20mins.

[NoCalMike 0]

Ok I must have missed something in one of the films, or maybe have just forgotten since I have only seen each film once, but where exactly was Frodo going to at the end of the movie and why? Did it have something to do with his experience with the ring and it permanently messed him up or something?

[Soja 0]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

The whole buildup is that Frodo is the only one who can bring the ring to Mordor to be destroyed. He's the chosen one, and we see the effects the ring has on him during the journey. He sees what it did to Gollum, he sees how it made him turn against Sam, he understands how evil it is. But when it comes time to throw it into the lava, he decides to keep it! He doesn't even willfully throw it in. He & Gollum fight over who gets to keep it, and only as part of the struggle does Gollum fall into the lava w/ the ring.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

So does Gollum not gnaw off one of Frodo's fingers in the movie? I haven't had the chance to see it just yet.

[Guest Flyboy]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

So does Gollum not gnaw off one of Frodo's fingers in the movie? I haven't had the chance to see it just yet.

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Yes, he does.

[the max 0]

So let me get this straight... LotC and me are the only ones who cried like little bitches in the movie?

I'm sure I will once I see it, considering Fellowship had me crying at the end.

[Guest Flyboy]

So let me get this straight... LotC and me are the only ones who cried like little bitches in the movie?

I'm sure I will once I see it, considering Fellowship had me crying at the end.

Yeah, I cried at the end of Fellowship as well.

[the max 0]

Fellowship got me in the three major twists at the end :

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Gandalf's "death"

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Boromir's death

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

and "Sam, I'm glad you are with me

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

It is, as JR would call it, a "highway robbery" if this movie doesn't win best picture.

Uh, no it wouldn't. And while I'm pessimistic, I'm really hoping that Mystic River can pull off the semi-upset and take the best picture nod. I'd like to see Master and Commander get it, but that has almost no chance of happening.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

So let me get this straight... LotC and me are the only ones who cried like little bitches in the movie?

 

Correction, you cried like little wenches*...

 

* RRR

[Guest Flyboy]

From what I hear, you got choked up too, RRR.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

So let me get this straight... LotC and me are the only ones who cried like little bitches in the movie?

Wow, wouldn't expect you to be teary-eyed. You big softie...

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

This is all established in Fellowship where the ring corrupts Galadrial

 

What exactly happended during that scene?...

[cabbageboy 0]

I saw it again yesterday and liked it better. Then again I saw it at the midnight showing and was in the 3rd row of a BIG ASSED theater and the screen was scorching my eyes. Heh.

 

I haven't seen Eastwood's movie, and it's probably a quality film, but frankly there's nothing in it that can possibly be better than this. Seriously, if ROTK doesn't win best picture it'll be a travesty. Especially if it loses to a surefire turd like Cold Mountain.

 

My mom is notoriously hard to impress. After seeing some real good movies at the theater she doesn't hardly have anything to say. After ROTK she was like "That had to be the best movie I've ever seen. It's either that or Gone With the Wind."

[NoCalMike 0]

Really thought was it THAT GOOD? I still don't get the "best movie I have ever seen" sentiment going around.

[theintensifier 0]

LOL at people crying after the Fellowship and Return of the King.

[theintensifier 0]

I liked the movie, it's the best I've seen this year.

 

I will have nightmares after seeing the HUGE fucking spider sting Frodo and then spin him in a web.

[Jingus 0]

I saw the movie last night at the Imax. I liked it, was generally impressed, but I didn't think it was the best movie of all time or anything like that.

 

A few points and quibbles:

 

I didn't like the bit where

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Gollum tricks Frodo into ditching Sam. I'm sorry, but I don't believe that Frodo would EVER believe Gollum over his best friend, and Gollum's little trick with the bread was lame, we're talking Three's Company=level contrivance here.

 

My personal favorite moment was when

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Frodo was above the lava in Mount Doom, and he turned around and simply said, "The Ring is mine." The expression on Elijah Wood's face was chilling, to say the least; it's like we just saw Frodo turn heel.

 

One last little bitch, and this one is more at the books than the movies, as Jackson was just working with what he had:

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Does it seem to anyone else that the good guys never actually win a battle by themselves in the movie? All throughout Fellowship, they're just running away from the enemies as fast as possible. At Helm's Deep in Two Towers, they were saved when outside help arrived (elves in the movie). At Pelleanor (sp?) Fields, they're mostly getting their asses kicked until the Dead Army saves their bacon. And finally, we've got the biggest deus ex machina of all in the battle at the Black Gate. Why did Tolkien never just let two armies fight, and have one win, period?

[ArkhamGlobe 0]

My quick thoughts:

 

Liked the film very much, though I certainly didn't think it was the best film of the year (my vote is still firmly behind Mystic River, as Lost in Translation still hasn't opened in Sweden, and I have a feeling that after seeing that one I might change my vote).

[MooreMark 0]

This was the first LOTR movie I saw.

 

I have read the Hobbit..so some names sounded familiar. I thought the movie was great. I had to ask my friends what the bloodclot was going on at certain parts but I caught on quick.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

The dead army was amazing. I loved how they ran all the bad guys over when they arrived.   Gandalf has a crazy beard. So does the short fat guy.   Legotos or whatever was very cool throughout the movie. The theatre when crazy when he killed the elephant.   I liked how the main bad guy was killed by the girl. "I am no man!"   The animals used for war on the bad side were amazing. I really liked the elephant, the rhino, the crazy flying long neck bird thing.   I burst out laughing during most of the Pippen and Pippen2 scenes. There faces were queer it was just funny. But there role in the movie was stellar.   I was hoping that Gollem would come back at the end and he did! And then he died   I didn't like the 20 teased endings. End it after Frodo and Sam got saved by Gandalf, I say. I also didn't like how after Arigorn(??) got the dead army on his side, they forgot about it until they came to fight. I would have put a scene to show that the army was coming.   Can someone explain what the eye was all about? And please correct my names.

 

I'll be watching the Fellowship and the Two Towers soon enough!

[cabbageboy 0]

Those were mostly good points, lemme discuss one in particular:

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

You were right about Aragorn and the Dead Guys being sorta forgotten, and the EE will likely rectify this. See, I'm assuming they took those ships from the pirates that were mentioned earlier. So that fight scene will likely be in the EE DVD.

I actually heard the EE of ROTK will end up being something like 4 hours and 50 minutes!

[Guest T®ITEC]

Just got back from the movie, and well, I feel like it is the best movie that I've ever seen. I've seen the previous two LotR movies, and while I wasn't really into them that much, I enjoyed them pretty well.

 

I was emotionally moved several times during this movie, and that just doesn't happen with me, soooo yeah. I love it. Just sayin'.

 

As for crying, I almost did. Just once. Just when Pippin was singing. Very stirring.

[Guest Cerebus]

One last little bitch, and this one is more at the books than the movies, as Jackson was just working with what he had:

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Does it seem to anyone else that the good guys never actually win a battle by themselves in the movie?  All throughout Fellowship, they're just running away from the enemies as fast as possible.  At Helm's Deep in Two Towers, they were saved when outside help arrived (elves in the movie).  At Pelleanor (sp?) Fields, they're mostly getting their asses kicked until the Dead Army saves their bacon.  And finally, we've got the biggest deus ex machina of all in the battle at the Black Gate.  Why did Tolkien never just let two armies fight, and have one win, period?

First, the Elves never show up at Helm's Deep in the book. Secondly, as Gandalf notes in the movie, Men are weak. The Exiled Realms of Numenor are a shadow of what they once were, three thousand years of constant warfare has crippled them to the point to where it takes an enormous effort to successfully stand up to Sauron. They are so weak that, without help, they are doomed to fail.

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Thirdly, though the specific battle you're talking about is only partially "saved" by the Oathbreakers in the books, included, also, in the battle were the men of South Gondor and the Knights of Don Amroth (another chief Gondorian city along with Minas Tirith and Osgiliath).

Also you have to remember, that everything about Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was epic and heroic. It is NOT a military or political themed fantasy novel (if you're interested in that I STRONGLY recommend Glen Cook's Black Company seriesor George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series) and it has, as one of the primary motifs, a sense of dread and near-hopelessness that is always saved by the heroism and bravery of allies. Also, remember, that Tolkien was NOT a fiction writer, his trade was as a professor of English and Anglo-Saxon language and literature. So he wasn't interested in avoiding a "Deus Ex Machina" as much as he was in telling the story he wanted to tell.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

I didn't like the 20 teased endings. End it after Frodo and Sam got saved by Gandalf, I say.

 

Why Jackson faded out about 4 times I don't know, but there were things that needed to be established

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

(Aragorn's coorination and wedding to Arwen, the reunion of the Hobbits and their return to the Shire etc.) and it would have been quite unfair to Tolkien to leave out the final scenes with Frodo, Sam, and the ship to the Undying Lands.

Remember, Tolkien was a WWI vet, and just like all vets who come home there are always different ways of handling it. Sam comes back, marries Rosy, has children, and becomes mayor of Hobbiton. But for Frodo, the pain and wounds are too deep and they never fully heal, as he says in the movie. There isn't any doubt that Tolkien saw the exact same thing happen to his friends after coming home and he decided to include it at the finish of his novel so to exclude what, I believe, was one of the most personal scenes in LotR to Tolkien would be a crying shame and unfaithful to him in my opinion. Edited December 24, 2003 by cerebus316

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Well...

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

It's pretty much official that the Mouth of Sauron and Ghan-buri-Ghan will be in the extended edition because both are listed in the cast

[Kardo 0]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Whoa, how much damage control were they in about the Hobbits being gay   If you watch TTT again it becomes noticable why they pulled this with Frodos, "Oh Sam" strange gaze.   That tacked on bit about marrying Rose was terrible.

[Guest Cerebus]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

That tacked on bit about marrying Rose was terrible.

Why do you think that?

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Whoa, how much damage control were they in about the Hobbits being gay   If you watch TTT again it becomes noticable why they pulled this with Frodos, "Oh Sam" strange gaze.   That tacked on bit about marrying Rose was terrible.

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Seeing as how Sam married Rosie in the book I don't think it was just tacked on. Can't anyone admire a close relationship between lifelong friends without considering it gay??? Trust me there were things left out that were in the book that would have been considered even more gay, but they weren't. Back then it was acceptable for men to show a little more emotion towards close friends.

[Kardo 0]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Okay, I've read the book 3 times and I know there are worse things. But its the portrayal of Frodo that does it. His staring at Sam and "Oh Sam", seemed pretty weird.   And when I say tacked on, I mean he blurts it out of nowhere on the mountain at the end that he'd marry her.

[Guest Cerebus]

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

And when I say tacked on, I mean he blurts it out of nowhere on the mountain at the end that he'd marry her.

Right, but if he had blabbed about it throughout the three movies people would have complained to no end. As it was, you could see pretty big hints to it at the beginning of FotR.

[razazteca 0]

I have problems with extra endings, did it have to have a happy ending?

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Hell I was expecting the Blue Fairy to walk in and join the laughfest or someone to make a Wizard of Oz remark.

I think all of the extra endings should of just been saved for the DVD.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

For someone who hasn't read the books, what exactly is the Mouth of Sauron?