Fellowship of the Ring - mini-review

GOING TO SEE THE MOVIE TONIGHT!!!!!!!
The wife said we could go. (Even though she has NO interest in hobbits or Tolkien at all) I can't wait. Then after the movie, we're probably going to......well, you guys don't know anything about THAT yet.
:smile:

 

answering some questions (scroll down for my thoughts on LotR)

Scientology is a religion that's been adopted by several Hollywood actors, notably Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

In his post, CharlesBHoff mentions a movie written by Scientologists that was awful. I think he's referring to Battlefield Earth, which was written by L. Ron Hubbard and happened to be an awful movie starring an awful actor based on an awful book by an awful author.

He also mentions the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (or something like that), which was written by Isaac Asimov.

There, I'm done answering questions (sorry if I'm wrong about any of them).

Here's what I thought of the movie:

Cate Blanchett was great. Too bad she didn't have more than 5 minutes of screen time.
Saruman and Gandalf play off each other really well, and basically everything with Saruman in it (anything happening in Isengard) were the best parts of the movie, because they didn't feel rushed. The Rivendell and Lorien stays were cut very short, but what can you do? The movie was 3 hours long, so lengthening any of those parts would have probably been way too much.
The sets were extraordinary. The locales for Rivendell, Lorien and Hobbiton were incredably well done for places that only saw about 5 to 20 minutes of screen time each. This movie really shines in the establishing shots, though it hurts to say so.
The acting is largely unneccesary - the camera spends very little time focused on any of the characters, instead jumping around a lot to take in the beautiful scenery of the movie.
Overall, the Lord of the Rings movie is beautiful, well worth the cost of admission, full of gorgeous eye candy, and a litle bit rushed. My only serious complaint is that the camera kept moving around too much and we never got good looks at very few of the characters or locations, despite the obvious amounts of labor put into them.
See this movie! It's almost perfect!

 

i loved the movie,but hated the fact that some parts(very important parts) are missing!
for example: there is no sign of Tom Bombadil or any other part on the way from the shire to the village of Bri!
so i think that those who didnt read the book yet,should first see the movie and only then read the book...
P.s.
IT'S THE BEST MOVIE THAT I HAD EVER SEEN!(and the longest...)

 

I have to go with Eros on this. As a movie, this one just doesn't stand well on it's own for a number of reasons. In fact, it really feels like you got up and walked out halfway through the story because there's relatively no climax or conclusion. Yes, I know there are more movies to come, however, any good series of movies should be able to have the individual movies stand on their own as movies. This one just doesn't.

It doesn't help that the last battle of the movie with the Uruk Hai was the easiest battle they had to fight. The Ringwraiths were well established as being scary, nasty things but they were temporarily defeated early on. The Cave Troll was defeated towards the end, it was fairly nasty and imposing. The Balrog could have used more of a background since Gandalf was scared of it, but they never really say why.

Then comes the battle with the Uruk Hai, which really don't seem threatening at all. You'd think Sauruman would have seen all the other battles, as he was watching the Fellowship, and sent something with more of a threat factor. Especially considering that's where they chose to end the film.

Either the Uruk Hai should have been better established as something formidable, or they should have extended the Moria area and ended with the Balrog.

 

Sorry to quibble, but Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was written by Philip K. Dick.

To me, confusing his work with that of Asimov is like confusing "Seinfeld" with "Bewitched"

 

sorry sherriff- my bad!

Ring lord, wasn't TOm Bombadil in the Sword of Shannarra? Apology in advance if I'm wrong.

 

Tom Bombadil is a character in Fellowship of the Ring.

 

I live on than fix income and I alway saw that the more their hype the movie more the change of the moive being bad. I would rather go
by what real people say who saw the moive not moive critical who can be brough or influence by
moive companies.
Battlefield Earth is one movie I can do without seeing. Scienceiot is looking upton by
most America as than disrepublate cult, I have more respect for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saint at least when you say that you are not interested they leave you alone unlike
most cult.Their also donot brainwash their follower like most cults like Scienceliost. Than other good belief is Bahai's. I would rather have my daughter if I have one marry than Muslum instead of than member of Scienistor.

 

Isn't it just the Church of Later Day Saints? Or is that the abbreviated version...come to think of it, it may be Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints...

I'm lucky, there aren't any Mormons, morons or Jehovah's Witnesses doorknocking in my area...

FUCK CULTS!

 

I condiser Mormon than realy regilion like christian, or Islam.

 

That's like saying you think a Silverado is more of a GM vehicle than a Chevy.

Mormon is a Christian faith.

 

i think i gotta see the movie soon. i want to see the orcs the most, just because playing an orc was the best role to play.
hmmm maybe i will put it off for weeks cause i cant be bothered walking down to the embassy which peter jackson is the patron of. must watch at peters theatre.

am i the only one who wanted the orcs to win and destroy minis torris(add your own spelling for the gondorian castle).
ahh the days when i was dressed as a gondorian and then was set upon by stunties and other extras dressed as orcs beating the shit out of me. thank god for armor, shields and... well swords to fight back. i came out brusied after every shot. fuck that was fun. just like fight club. we fought to kill and supported our own. you dont need stunties when you have slightly mental extras in combat gear, who have been sitting around for 4 hours doing nothing and need to blow off steam. sexual frustration nodoubt.

yes. the more successful it is the more pick up shots they will do.
so watch it and dont listen to eros. hes ummm. well wrong. my dad always said "never trust a gay man son".

 

Well, I'm back.

I've seen FotR and there are two questions that need to be asked. Firstly, is it a good film? And secondly, is it a good LotR film?
The answer to the first is a definite YES. The answer to the second is also a yes, but only a qualified yes.

My biggest gripe with the story is that, as others have said, it all seems a bit too rushed. Many parts of the book are left out, or, even worse, not properly explained. I fully understand about Tom Bombadil, the Barrow-Wights et al being missing, and didn't really miss them. But I did object to the fact that nobody actually gets introduced at the Council of Elrond. They really could have used just a one minute sequence where the characters simply stand up and tell us who they are, where they come from and their point of view of the whole Ring problem. As it is, we get no sense of this being a meeting of races and kingdoms, very little of the enmity between the Elves and Dwarves, and no sense of the importance of any of those present. Without such an introduction, I feel that much of the resonance of the story and character development that follows is lost. The Fellowship could just be a band of travellers working for their own interests, rather than princes and representatives of nations and races.

Arwen vs Glorfindel... works perfectly well and is no problem at all for me.:smile:

Frodo can outrun the Black Riders; Aragorn's sword, Narsil/Anduril is not reforged at Rivendell; the Bree sequence is far too short, muddled and leaves out any references to Gandalf's note to Butterbur; the wonder, history and other-worldliness of Lorien is almost totally absent; the Elves are stern-faced warriors with very little of the beautiful people that Sam worships in them; Sam and Frodo's relationship is hardly touched on - we never even find out that Sam works for Frodo - but this may well be rectified in the next films; even after saving Gimli, Legolas's growing friendship with him is completely ignored etc, etc.

So a lot of annoying little things missing for those of us familiar with the story, but I think that the uninitiated viewer won't miss them at all and should enjoy the film.

As for the good bits...

For me, my favourite moment was Gimli standing on Balin's tomb and shouting his defiance at the Orcs - spine-tingling stuff for a Dwarf-lover like me.:smile:

Other good moments: the Balrog; 'Fool of a Took!'; the Elven army in the prologue; Legolas's archery; Galadriel's tempting; Gandalf's anger when Bilbo tries to hold on to the Ring; 'ProudFEET!'; the scenery; the glimpses of Gollum; Gandalf's imprisonment; the whole pacing and flow of the film.

Sean Bean steals the show as far as acting goes. Getting to play a character who is both Good AND Evil obviously gives him a head start, but he carries it off brilliantly and his final scene of the film is excellent.

Overall, the film does a good job of capturing the spirit of the book, if not always the letter, and deserves every success.

 

You seem to be a huje Tolkien fan!(like me)
the movie is a little bit too fast...
some things in the book that lasted two days(for example the visit of Gandalf to Frodo 17 years after Bilbo's party)
(and many other places...)
and i just HATED the fact that Tom Bombadil isn't mentioned in the movie!

another thing problem is when Bilbo gives Frodo the Mithril chainmail and "Tern"(his sword) he turned to some kind of an orc/creature when he saw the ring....
that was weird,and totaly not by the book!

 

Is it just me or is there some repressed mutual attraction in the boat scene between sam and frodo? why did they play something sounding a lot likethe titanic themesong there?

 

I watched the movie 1 day after it was launched..and wow it was great. But every great movie has its flaws, and lotr isnt spared either. First a VERY big mistake. They changed Glorfindel to Arwen. So, it was Arwen who met frodo and friends, and it was SHE ALL ALONE who commanded the flood while in the book it was Elrond who commanded the floods and Gandalf who made the horse shapes. They also made other changes, and added scenes of their own such as Gandalf fighting Saruman and more. The movie is cool too, wow top notch graphics which makes Middle Earth come to life. The acting is great too. I think the collest part of the movie is the Moria mines. So grand. Overall, the movie is worth a watch.

 

uh, forgive me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I read the books (like 2 years)... but doesn't Aragorn fall inlove with Eowyn, the king of Rohan's daughter, not Arwen?

 

No, Eowyn falls in love with Aragorn for a while, but ends up with Faramir. Arwen was around in the books as Aragorn's love, just not as obviously.

 

Like I care what you are your DADDY think. BTW I am really getting sick and tired of your lame assed attempts to try and bait me into an argument, get a life fag hag unk:

Yes I once tried to encourage your illiterate ass to keep writing and you took that as a que to attack me and my sexuality. But I said so what therre are lots of children in the world and you are just another loud mouth punk who can spell yet is afraid of things he knows nothing about. But now it's getting old so go away before someone drops a house on U2. I still stand by my POV however I think all peps should be encouraged to write more often. Regardless of the fact that they may turn out to be vicious little snots like yourself.


It was 3 hours of hell (well 2 actually the first hour rocked), I did not watch Forest Gump and Titanic cause I refused to hand over 3 hours of my life to see anyones vision and PAY for it, and from what I can see BOTH of those movies were much more worth the sarifice then this story was. But I made an exception and all I can say is "Nevermore" as the Raven quotes.

 

well i never attacked you like that before eros, not that i did this time. i guess i shouldve just put down. dont trust eros and thats it, just say the point. oh yes i will do that because thats my natural way of doing things. you would be thinking of another who brutally attacked you and left you in the street naked and crying. so sensitive sometimes arnt you but this is about lord fo the rings.

liz tyler. not liked by many on the set and peter jackson really. wonder if her part will get smaller and smaller as it goes on.