ROTK : EE version Mooter reviews!

[Nurvingiel]

Val, you realize that peace on Earth would probably involve the annhialation of the human race right? How bad do you want it!

Anyway, I'm disappointed about the news that Gandalf still sucks in ROTK EE. Sir Ian McKellan is a genius, and Jackson totally wasted his talent with a script that was at least 50% rubbish in ROTK.

However, from the pictures I've seen of the Mouth, I think he looks properly evil and scary.

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Rosie Gamgee

:
:
And speaking of the Armies:
King of the Dead: The dead suffer none to enter.
Aragorn: You will suffer me!
King of the Dead: *looks at nails* I'd say "over my dead body", but...

you... are... joking...

... right???

[Artanis]

Originally Posted by Valandil

Ah rats!! I told my wife the only thing I really wanted for Christmas this year was the EE of ROTK (and, of course... Peace on Earth! ) ... when what I REALLY shoulda done was just gone out and BOUGHT it on the 14th... and WATCHED it by now!

Val, have you seen this ...

RotK EE humor

[Andúril]

Can someone grab a screenshot or two of the MoS and post it/them here, or direct me to a site where I can find MoS screenshots?

My set is on its way, but I'm impatient.

[Halbarad of the Dunedain]

Alright, I want to start by saying, The Lord of the Rings by Proffesor J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings Adaptation by Director Peter Jackson are two different things. I am a semi-film student and I understand that films made with a basis almost always have to have drastic changes. When you read you get ideas in your head yourself, it can be as long as it wants to be and it does not have to hold a vast audiance with its content. A film on the other hand is something to entertaine the masses. Knowing all of this I watch The Lord of the Rings films without my book expectations which allows me to enjoy them very much.

Aside from that rant I would like to point out a few scenes that were still a bit hard to swollow. the first was the drinking game. Peter Jackson has dummy'd Gimli enough I just didnt see the point of adding that scene! It's not that it was a bad scene it just wasn't needed. The second scene I had trouble with was the new Paths of the Dead scenes. Gimli once again not portrayed as the strong, stout, warrior dwarf he is. Instead Gimli is once again the bummbling baffoon! I didn;t see the point of the skull cracking, and I didn't see the point in the earthquake/skull roll!? As I have said before it's not that I am bothered at the book to movie translation it just is a totally uneccessary scene!

Finally I would like to speak on the behalf of the Mouth of Sauron scene. I may have been the first on Moot to find images of TMoS and as soon as I saw those I knew that the scene would be much like it turned out to be. One complaint from people is that he didnt look like MoS to them, well theres only one thing that can be said about that... there are thousands of true Tolkien nuts like us, each with a different image of every character. As for the Smile and the twitching thing, it's not how I[like most of you] saw MoS but I understand what PJ was trying to do and taken in the right manner MoS can be scary.

All in all, I liked the EE version, and aside from the two scenes discussed above I don't think anything else was so big it was worth mentioning. Even the Mouth of Sauron wasn't that bad in the right understanding. Well... thats my two cents....

[Elfhelm]

I FINALLY got to see it, it was wonderful! What would I change? I would add more, and more, and more. But that's nothing new. I have wanted six movies since about 15 minutes into the first one. I don't agree with the reviews here. I loved it. (No, I am not BB, so please don't shoot! haha) It's so sad that it's over.

Well, at least we have the prequel, The Hobbit, to look forward to. The Silmarillion can't and shouldn't be made into a movie because it has no hobbits. It would flop. And if the make The Hobbit a lot of people who don't read Tolkien will say, gee they sure made this one into a kid's story.

Anyhow, I loved it. There were things I would have done differently but that is true about every piece of music I hear, too, so it means nothing. I'm too happy with finally getting to see it, and I'm looking forward to the day long triple-EE festivals. Heck it's still shorter than Wagner's Ring Cycle, so I am sure I will do it a few times.

[azalea]

I have been kind of "back" this week from an unintended absence from the moot, but since Tuesday night I've been in an EE cocoon during my spare time, so I'm just now getting to post. I watched the extended and added scenes the first two nights, then the entire cast commentary version and a lot of the extras (yes, the Home of the Horse Lords is a great piece) the next two nights.

My initial thoughts:

Drinking game: stupid, unnecessary, and made Gimli once again the comic figure he shouldn't be. In the cast commentary, it is mentioned that PJ thought that there needed to be some comic relief after the tenseness of the previous scenes. I totally disagree. These last chapters in the book are very serious, giving a sense of tension and forboding. Very dark and scary. Comic relief breaks that mood, and thus is not only unnecessary, it's unwelcome and gets in the way of the story. The hobbits dancing was fine -- it's lighthearted, not base, and it fits with a hobbit's personality. They are so innocent that they can easily forget the impending doom to have some fun (remember The Prancing Pony -- in the book, I mean). But it is out of character for a dwarf, and makes Legolas look stupid. I mean, he's how many years old? And in case everyone forgot WOOD ELVES GET DRUNK!!! REMEMBER BARRELS OUT OF BOND?!?! LEGOLAS HAS CERTAINLY ENJOYED ELVISH WINE FOR MANY YEARS!! HE KNOWS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE !

More in a minute, I have to calm down.

[azalea]

My only other major (new) complaint is Aragorn BEHEADING the Mouth of Sauron. I really hated that, for the reasons others have stated. That said, I rather liked how he looked (aside from the large bloody cracks in his face ). The scene was fine (until the beheading), except I would have liked a little more dialog from the book. Along those lines, in the cast commentary (or on one of the extras, I can't remember) they discuss how the timeline was changed from the books so that they could intercut more easily between Sam/ Frodo and everyone else. But in the book, the last time we've seen Frodo is "alive, but taken by the enemy." So the MOS scene adds tension in the book, a great little plot twist. But in the movie, the audience already knows Frodo is alive and almost to Mt. Doom, so it isn't as effective. I love that scene in the book/ that plot twist so much that I would've left it in tact as much as possible.

I wish they had added more back in. (And left out the drinking game ).

So now for what I loved -- FARAMIR!!! He was soooo much more lovable in this EE, with his added scenes and dialog, plus the scenes with Eowyn!!!
David Wenham did comment on how he thought it would have made more sense if Faramir had gotten to go back out and fight (it was kind of cute because it's like the actor is paralleling the character -- "I wanted to go back out to the next battle!" ). And I agree, they didn't make him looking ill enough. He looked fine, or they needed to include (instead of the drinking game) THEIR DIALOG FROM THE BOOK, where Eowyn shows anger at not being allowed back out, and he responds yada yada, and she then has that realization/ sudden conciousness of him and of herself, etc. But I just had to watch those two scenes of them over and over.

I loved Merry's extras, but again, I felt just a little slighted that there wasn't more exchange between Merry and Theoden. It was a nice scene, but just too short. Maybe a convo with someone beforehand about feeling useless/ out of place, then making that decision. I just felt like Pippin's whole thing was really given a lot of time (which it deserved) but Merry was held back. Even his heroism with the Witch King was downplayed. Not only was he not given a close-up as he stabbed, (I think there was one right after?), he was sent right back out into battle! No healing for him! I know they wanted him there because Pippin is there, but with both him and Eowyn, the "otherly"
nature of their need for healing was shoved aside. Oh, well.

They talk on the commentary about how people complained of the "multiple endings." Of course, that never bothered me one bit -- more is better! But I was responding to their comments in my head thus: "He should have cut from scene to scene instead of fading out each time!!!"
Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching it again, most of the added stuff, and the extras. I plan to also watch the director's commentary.

[Millane]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Anyway, I'm disappointed about the news that Gandalf still sucks in ROTK EE. Sir Ian McKellan is a genius, and Jackson totally wasted his talent with a script that was at least 50% rubbish in ROTK.

WHAT!?, in no way does Gandalf suck at any point of the three movies, but most especially RotK, the convo with Pippin about death is ****ing awesome up their with the bit at fellowship, "so do all who live to see such times"... i dont care if you bitch whine and moan about some LotR bits, but steer well clear of Gandalf

Originally Posted by Elfhelm

I FINALLY got to see it, it was wonderful! What would I change? I would add more, and more, and more. But that's nothing new. I have wanted six movies since about 15 minutes into the first one. I don't agree with the reviews here. I loved it. (No, I am not BB, so please don't shoot! haha) It's so sad that it's over.

absolutely. HUZZZZZZZZZAH FOR ELFHELM

Originally Posted by azalea

WOOD ELVES GET DRUNK!!! REMEMBER BARRELS OUT OF BOND?!?! LEGOLAS HAS CERTAINLY ENJOYED ELVISH WINE FOR MANY YEARS!! HE KNOWS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE !

yes but something tells me it wasnt elvish wine in those mugs. There is different types of drunks for different brews, eg. Guinness makes me sleepy drunk. I imagine the wood elves getting merry and frolicking around under the trees. and i imagine the men of Rohan drinking a heavy mead and wrecking themselves.
Well Arwen singing does crop up in the EE, i didnt realise it when the movie played through but the special features show that it is arwen singing the song in the Houses of Healing, not too bad.

[Millane]

ooooh and the bit in the special features about the stunt rider for Arwen, at the end of the filming and tha the horses were to be sold off but they were offered to cast and crew first, well Viggo bought his horse, but Arwens stund rider really wanted the white one but couldnt afford it, so Viggo went and bid on it and was able to buy it for her. It was so great, and the girl got all teary when she was talking about it on the SF it was heart warming...

[Durin1]

Originally Posted by Millane

WHAT!?, in no way does Gandalf suck at any point of the three movies, but most especially RotK, the convo with Pippin about death is ****ing awesome up their with the bit at fellowship, "so do all who live to see such times"... i dont care if you bitch whine and moan about some LotR bits, but steer well clear of Gandalf

But Gandalf's character is inconsistent though.

Firstly he humbles Saruman and breaks his staff, demonstrating change of authority. Next minute we see Gandalf looking S**t scared when confronting the Witch King, falling off his horse and getting his own staff broken! Hum...

Along with Gandalf's speech to Pippin about death [which, btw, doesn't make sense because Pippin is mortal and their (mortals) fate is to escape from the "circles of the world" - how is he ever going to glimpse Valinor?] there are also some bad lines such as when Gandalf is talking to Denethor.

Bashing Denethor.

Pushing away Pippin (after he has made a moving speech to Denethor about offering his services)

"coughing" Gandalf

Gandalf the deceiter - getting Pippin to light the beacons

There is more but I think they could wait

[Elemmírë]

Originally Posted by Durin1

Along with Gandalf's speech to Pippin about death [which, btw, doesn't make sense because Pippin is mortal and their (mortals) fate is to escape from the "circles of the world" - how is he ever going to glimpse Valinor?] there are also some bad lines such as when Gandalf is talking to Denethor.

That's the one that always bothered me.

How is a Maia going to know what death is like for mortals?

Well... tomorrow I get to go home and can annoy my mom into buying the EE. Looking forward to some quality viewing and bashing...

[Elfhelm]

It's been a while since I read The Hobbit. The wood elves sent empty barrels down river to the Lakemen, right? Doesn't that mean that what the wood elves drank was made by the Lakemen, not elvish wine? I'll have to find the time to read those pages this week. Grape vines grow best on sunny slopes that get a lot of rain. I don't think Mirkwood has any place where you might put a vineyard. But I'll check.

[azalea]

They drank both elf-wine (made by their "kinfolk in the South") and man-wine. The point is he certainly had felt "tingling" before that moment!

Awful too was the Witch-King breaking Gandalf's staff! Just bad and unecessary.

Funny that I have so many criticisms of a movie I liked so much to have watched it about 5 times now.

[Snowdog]

At least they gave closure to Sarumann.
I think the whole RotK movies gained closure when Legolas took out Peter Jackson with an arrow.

[Valandil]

Well - as I said, I don't think I'll be seeing this until after Christmas. This thread isn't exactly making me look forward to seeing it though.

I guess... it seems like in the first two EE's, most of what was added came straight from the books. So - it seemed like they had a lot of 'appeasement value' or whatever for all of us who have read the stories. Sorta like 'tossing us a bone' at least.

In THIS case - it sounds like a mixed bag. And they just KNOW they've 'got us' at this point... that we're all gonna buy the thing.

*sigh*

Please tell me it's better than all that... is it??

(and WAS Rosie joking about what the King of the Dead says?? )

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

And what's with Gandy's staff being broken by the Witch King? (btw, listening to the cast commentary, that Lawrence Mac-something guy played both the WK and the bumpy-orc-guy, as well as Lurz or whatever that guy was in FOTR. He sure didn't know his Tolkien - he thought "Nazgul" was the fell beast! He kept referring to "riding his Nazgul"!

Lawrence Makoare - outside of LotR he is a brilliant actor, and certainly one for the ladies

I still have yet to see it

[Elfhelm]

She was joking.

[Nothing]

TROTK EE is great. I kiked the original also, but extended made it even better.

I think The mouth of Sauron looks a little bit like judge death.

[Something]

Originally Posted by Nothing

TROTK EE is great. I kiked the original also, but extended made it even better.

I think The mouth of Sauron looks a little bit like judge death.

I agree. He looks like judge death.