Who's going to see Return of the King tonight?

[gregebowman]

Originally posted by JayBdey:
Never seen any of them, never read any of the books, and don't ever plan to.

My reading life changed when I read The Hobbit, followed by trilogy of books. I was 17 at the time. I had never really read fantasy. I was a sci-fi geek, but I had heard of The Hobbit and thought I'd give it a try. Kind of juvenile, but when I read the LOTR books, I was blown away. Now I read as much fantasy as I do sci-fi. I can't imagine not at least reading them once. The writing style may take getting used to, especially with all of that poetry and songs (which is the only thing I don't like about the books), but I would say it's a must read for anyone, whether they're into fantasy or not.

[tesco samoa]

Baron, the books are the books and the movies are the movies. One must not equal them. As you can do things in books that you would not do in movies,,, visversa...

The movies are beautiful to watch. The effort in creating the middle earth enviroment is worth it alone. The detail on the armor. The stone work. Take them for what they are an adaptation and interpertation of the book nothing more nothing less.

[Iron Giant]

Originally posted by tesco samoa:
The movies are beautiful to watch. The effort in creating the middle earth enviroment is worth it alone. The detail on the armor. The stone work. Take them for what they are an adaptation and interpertation of the book nothing more nothing less.

Ditto. All things concidered, the movies are not only a faithful interpretation, but have some things that you simply cannot do in a book, like the imagery of the Elven king explaining the futility of his daughters love for a mortal king as the scenes of her future life pass on the screen behind or the expressions achieved when Gollum struggles with the person he is and the personality he hates... truly brilliant!

That said, the book simply MUST be read for those parts of the story to be enjoyed that cannot be done on the big screen.

For anyone over 25 (mentally and emotionally) the return of Frodo to the Shire is one of the most beautiful stories of paradise to be read and simply had to be cut from the movies. The extended stories are already well over 10 hours total and they took quite the gamble with that amount of material anyway.

If the movies detracted from the book, I never, ever would have seen past The Fellowship of the Ring. IMHO, they add to the experience of Middle Earth, and are more than a faithful interpretation, they deserve to be called the Lord of the Rings.

[Parasite]

Saw it! Loved it!, but tired today. I went to a Pre-party before the movie, got a bunch of free stuff . Saw the movie, went to a VIP Post-party, and got more GOOD free stuff . Got home at 6:00AM, went to work at 8:00AM (almost), then got two new SEIV turns to do tonight.


Very minor spoiler.

I can't wait for the Extended Version DVD. You can see where some extra scenes needed to be to make it closer to the books.

[Puke]

I heard that they are planning on six hours, for the extended Version of ROTK.

[General Woundwort]

Just got back from ROTK (and yes, I finished my PBW business before I came here, so relax, all concerned parties ). I must say that, for the theatrical cut (and those of us who follow these films know the difference between the theatrical and director's cuts), I liked this the best of the three. The theatrical FOTR was great - the theatrical TTT left a bad taste in my mouth. The theatrial ROTK is the best job of the three - but of course, there are things that we KNOW are going to be in the extended cut next year, so there's more to look forward to.

Regarding the Baron's comments - one of the problems I had with TTT originally was what you criticize - the departures from the books. After long discussions with friends and much consideration, I had to come to the conclusion that others here have already stated - film and novel are two very different media, and you cannot expect the exact same experience and story flow in both. To approximate LOTR comprehensively would take at least 50% more time than PJ has already done (and I'm assuming a 12-15 hour total of director's cuts when all is said and done), and to maintain the level of detail as the current movies in such an enterprise would be mind-boggling. I think the only way it could possibly be done is via total computer animation (like that Final Fantasy flick Last year), and that must wait until the level of investment would yield good returns - and let's face it, only real Tolkien geeks like us would sit through a 24-hour miniseries.

Enough rambling. Excellent movie. Go and see for yourself.

EDIT - P.S. - I must change my sig, as I misread the trailer. Mea culpa...

[ December 18, 2003, 01:05: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

[JayBdey]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
agub...abu...ahb...ahg...*thunk*

what? just JRRT or fantasy in general?

All fantasy, I just don't really like it. I like sci-fi though, except Star Trek and some others.