As I said earlier, I went to the midnight showing of The Return of the King last night, along with my kids. As a consequence, I got about 3 hours of sleep before coming in to work this morning.
It was worth it.
In a year of disappointing sequels, (Matrix Eroded & Matrix Revolting, anyone?) it was wonderful to sit down and see the end of a story, and not be left wondering "Is that all there was?" Where the Matrix sequels squandered the promise of the first movie, The Return of the King fully realizes the promise of the first movie. Granted there was much left out, some of which we can hope will be restored in the DVD version, Jackson does full justice to the Tolkien's tale with a movie that leaves us eager for more.
How soon can he start shooting on The Hobbit?
I'm not going to drone on and on about the movie, since most of you will be seeing it within the next day or two, regardless of what I write, but I do want to point out a few things.
"Scouring the Shire" is totally absent. Never scripted or filmed, don't expect it to show up on the DVD either. Considering that the events in that one chapter could make a movie on it's own, I understand the decision, although part of me really regrets missing it.
Shelob was magnificent. For one of the few times ever, I forgot I was watching CG magic.
Aragorn may be king, but Legolas is THE MAN! (You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.)
In a like manner, Arwen may be prettier, but I'll take Eowyn over her any day of the week.
I want to live in Minas Tirith. If I can't, then I want to emigrate to New Zealand. Do they have blogs there?
Sam is the Hobbit's Hobbit. Without him, Frodo would have never even come close to succeeding.
Gandlaf swings a mean sword, but there were several parts of the movie where I heard Goose from Top Gun in the back of my head shouting, "Come on, Gandalf, do some of that wizard sh*t!"
If you liked the books, or if you liked the first two movies, you'll like this one. The only minor quibble, and it is very minor, is that the ending seems protracted, like the coda to the William Tell Overture. There are several scenes that feel like the end, but aren't, until you get to the one that is the end, but doesn't feel like it.
Posted by Rich at December 17, 2003 12:57 PM | TrackBackI rewatched most of "Fellowship" on DVD Monday night and last night, rewatched most of "Two Towers" on DVD the rest of last night and hopefully will finish up this afternoon, already have tickets for 8:30 show at West Town tonight.
Can't wait!
Posted by: Barry on December 17, 2003 2:19 PMYep,
Arwin just sort of Pines and Whines, Eowyn rules.
Oh, and it sure looks like Elven smiths swing hammers like girls.
I shouldn't have had that soda before going in though, they really need an intermission.
Posted by: Leo on December 21, 2003 9:44 PM