So I finally saw LotR:RotK, and it sucked. Hard. I’m probably too late to do anyone any good with this, but if you haven’t seen it, don’t. Jackson treats the characters and the story without respect, pretty much exactly as I’d expected him to do in the first two movies. I was suprised when he exceeded my expectations with FotR and TTT, but the signs were there in some of the egregious abuses of character and plot, and the third movie makes it abundantly clear that Jackson simply does not understand the nature of Tolkien’s work. He reduces it to Hollywood pabulum — Graydon (in this thread) is exactly right when he says, “The generosity has been leeched out of [the story], along with the restraint.” Even viewed as schlock RotK is a lousy piece of work. Editing, pacing and visual continuity are all sloppy. The spousal unit postulated time/money problems and/or studio interference, but in the end Jackson must take the blame for turning a grand and epic tale into a stupid action flick.
Open Reading Frame
Yeah, I found the first two miles ahead of the last.
Interestingly though, I’m actually happy about this. Now that the films are done (bar the extended DVD) I feel sort of free to go back and read the books again without mental speculation on the movies. The finale’s failings has let me truely appreciate the depth of Tolkien’s writing.
Ralf
Ralf, you bastard. I thought you had a new site. You do know I can ban IP ranges on this thing, don’t you?
LOL
Oh, gosh, is it that bad? Hell.
Peri: it’s that bad if you’ve read the books. It’s only tedious with brief moments of grandeur if you haven’t.
Obviously most peple love it. That doesn’t mean it’s good; it simply means that P. Jackson has tapped into some sort of American zeitgeist.
I, too, found the films disappointing, though I disliked the middle installment more than the other two. I actually kind of like the first film in its extended DVD format.
What I find most disturbing is that it’s not permissable to voice displeasure with P. Jackson’s adaptation. It’s strange, the hostile reactions that occur when you admit you’re disappointed.
I still think a decent film could be made from the footage. Perhaps I’ll find a way to rip all three films to a hard drive and then edit my own J.D.-edition which reduces the combat by an order of magnitude and emphasizes the story…
Yes, remixing the whole thing when the extended final is out is something I wanted to also play with. The beauty of having all I need on my mac…
Hmm, which character do I want to replace with my mug?
And do I have a picture of Bill’s EYE?
😛
Ralf
I must say I agree entirely with Graydon’s assessment of what is essentially wrong with Mr Jackson’s adaptation as a whole. I’m still looking forward to seeing RotK, in hopes of, if nothing else, seeing Elijah Wood upstage Andy Serkis just once, instead of so much the other way round.