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mamajoanYay! Yesterday I saw a movie in an actual movie theater, for the first time since before Isaac was born. The movie, of course, was ROTK.
As a non-Tolkein-fan, I'm more interested in the LOTR story as historical artifact (template upon which thousands of scifi/fantasy stories have been based) and fandom phenomenon than for itself, but I still found the movies engaging. My mom, the dedicated Tolkein fan since her childhood, had more of an emotional investment in them, and she liked the first movie best. She thought the second was ehh and, as far as I can tell, thought that ROTK was lame.
Anyway, here are some of my thoughts on ROTK.
* Everyone on LJ seems to be ragging on Legolas for the fact that most of his lines consist of stating the obvious. What *I* think is obvious is that this is the exact reason for the casting. I can just see some hapless casting director reading the script and sighing, "Damn, Legolas sure is Exposition Boy, isn't he? Better find a way to distract the viewers. Get me Orlando Bloom, stat!"
* A lot of the not exactly obvious, but dumb and mostly meaningless things that Legolas says are clearly layered with meanings that escape the average viewer, not to mention the other characters. When Legolas is standing on the ledge at Rohan and says something like, "there is a darkness gathering in the east," it's clear that Aragorn does not realize this is gay elf code for "I want to top you, but am willing to switch." Poor Aragorn! If only he were up on his Elvish slang he coulda been getting laid through three movies!
* Samwise is a much more interesting and sympathetic character than Frodo. His love for Frodo is so unrequited *snif* oh well, at least Sam does get some tail at the end. I had to laugh at the part where he tells Frodo, "you can't go walking around Mordor in nowt but your skin." Sam is one of those guys who have to be their boyfriends' mother as well as lover. "Now listen Frodo dear, when you go to Mordor, I know everyone says it's always warm there this time of year, but take a sweater anyway, just in case." (My mom says that it's entirely possible for a guy to love another guy as much as Sam loves Frodo, but in a purely platonic way, so it makes complete sense that Sam marries a chick at the end. Uh-huh.)
* Not only did lots and lots of people steal from Tolkein, but Tolkein, or Peter Jackson, did some lifting himself. The whole "I am no man" bit was clearly homage to Macbeth, neh? Who didn't see that coming a mile away? Earlier in the film someone said that the baddie could be killed by "no man living," so I thought one of the Ungrateful Dead might do it, but then when Eowyn stepped onto the battlefield I was all, "aha, okay then." Eowyn may not have been from her mother's womb untimely ripp'd (another way in which Tolkein resembles Shakespeare -- lots of characters have fathers but no one has a mother) but she sure was a chip off the old block.
* Speaking of Eowyn's "you go girl" moment, was anyone reminded of Willow chopping off the head of the evil old lady/snake creature in BTVS episode "Doublemeat Palace"?
* Speaking of BTVS, didn't the whole Eowyn/Aragorn/Arwen triangle put you in mind of third-season Willow/Xander/Cordelia? I guess that means Faramir is Oz, notwithstanding no one tries to burn werewolves at the stake. But speaking of which, what the hell was up with that anyway? Why was Faramir's father trying to burn him alive and not listening when Pippin said he wasn't dead? Wait, is this one of those soap-opera plot things that you're not supposed to think about too hard?
* Where did Aragorn, Legolas, and the rest of 'em find the time, the energy, or the resources to clean up between battles? And why bother, anyway? It sure ain't for the benefit of the orcs, I'll tell ya that right off, cuz those guys aren't much for personal hygiene. Good thing we don't have Smell-O-Vision technology yet.
* The whole bit where Aragorn has to go into the freaky cave place to find the legions of the dead put me in mind of the bit where Luke Skywalker has to go into a rotted tree to find himself. Of course, Aragorn winds up with a bunch of kickass invincible fighters on his side; Luke should be so lucky. On the flip side, at least Luke can move things with his mind. Legolas and Gimli are slashier than C3PO and R2D2, but is Legolas fluent in over eight million forms of communication, nudge nudge wink wink? Oh wait, if you put it that way, maybe he is!
* When the whole Fellowship comes in to see Frodo in his recovery bed, there was a definite Dorothy/Oz moment. "And you were there too, Aragorn! And you, Merry! And Pippin...." Meanwhile Gandalf just stands there smirking; pay no attention to the man behind the beard. Gandalf is everyone's pal, but he isn't really very huggable.
* The final leave-taking scene obviously inspired a lot of future filmmakers too, with its tear-jerking goodbye-fest. "Here's lookin' at you, Samwise. We'll always have Mordor!" Frodo to Gandalf: "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Gandalf: "Beginning?!?! I've saved your life how many times now - what new hobbit weed have you been smoking?"
I'm sure there's more, but that covers the main points. ;)
For my first moviegoing experience in over six months it was mostly a success, although I must say that I was highly irritated by the pre-movie entertainment. I cannot in any way condone the number of product commercials being shown before a movie -- a concept I am firmly against -- and as for the previews of upcoming movies, there wasn't a single one that failed to be lame. Usually there's at least *one* that makes you go "ooh, I wanna see that," but not this time. Hmf.
As a non-Tolkein-fan, I'm more interested in the LOTR story as historical artifact (template upon which thousands of scifi/fantasy stories have been based) and fandom phenomenon than for itself, but I still found the movies engaging. My mom, the dedicated Tolkein fan since her childhood, had more of an emotional investment in them, and she liked the first movie best. She thought the second was ehh and, as far as I can tell, thought that ROTK was lame.
Anyway, here are some of my thoughts on ROTK.
* Everyone on LJ seems to be ragging on Legolas for the fact that most of his lines consist of stating the obvious. What *I* think is obvious is that this is the exact reason for the casting. I can just see some hapless casting director reading the script and sighing, "Damn, Legolas sure is Exposition Boy, isn't he? Better find a way to distract the viewers. Get me Orlando Bloom, stat!"
* A lot of the not exactly obvious, but dumb and mostly meaningless things that Legolas says are clearly layered with meanings that escape the average viewer, not to mention the other characters. When Legolas is standing on the ledge at Rohan and says something like, "there is a darkness gathering in the east," it's clear that Aragorn does not realize this is gay elf code for "I want to top you, but am willing to switch." Poor Aragorn! If only he were up on his Elvish slang he coulda been getting laid through three movies!
* Samwise is a much more interesting and sympathetic character than Frodo. His love for Frodo is so unrequited *snif* oh well, at least Sam does get some tail at the end. I had to laugh at the part where he tells Frodo, "you can't go walking around Mordor in nowt but your skin." Sam is one of those guys who have to be their boyfriends' mother as well as lover. "Now listen Frodo dear, when you go to Mordor, I know everyone says it's always warm there this time of year, but take a sweater anyway, just in case." (My mom says that it's entirely possible for a guy to love another guy as much as Sam loves Frodo, but in a purely platonic way, so it makes complete sense that Sam marries a chick at the end. Uh-huh.)
* Not only did lots and lots of people steal from Tolkein, but Tolkein, or Peter Jackson, did some lifting himself. The whole "I am no man" bit was clearly homage to Macbeth, neh? Who didn't see that coming a mile away? Earlier in the film someone said that the baddie could be killed by "no man living," so I thought one of the Ungrateful Dead might do it, but then when Eowyn stepped onto the battlefield I was all, "aha, okay then." Eowyn may not have been from her mother's womb untimely ripp'd (another way in which Tolkein resembles Shakespeare -- lots of characters have fathers but no one has a mother) but she sure was a chip off the old block.
* Speaking of Eowyn's "you go girl" moment, was anyone reminded of Willow chopping off the head of the evil old lady/snake creature in BTVS episode "Doublemeat Palace"?
* Speaking of BTVS, didn't the whole Eowyn/Aragorn/Arwen triangle put you in mind of third-season Willow/Xander/Cordelia? I guess that means Faramir is Oz, notwithstanding no one tries to burn werewolves at the stake. But speaking of which, what the hell was up with that anyway? Why was Faramir's father trying to burn him alive and not listening when Pippin said he wasn't dead? Wait, is this one of those soap-opera plot things that you're not supposed to think about too hard?
* Where did Aragorn, Legolas, and the rest of 'em find the time, the energy, or the resources to clean up between battles? And why bother, anyway? It sure ain't for the benefit of the orcs, I'll tell ya that right off, cuz those guys aren't much for personal hygiene. Good thing we don't have Smell-O-Vision technology yet.
* The whole bit where Aragorn has to go into the freaky cave place to find the legions of the dead put me in mind of the bit where Luke Skywalker has to go into a rotted tree to find himself. Of course, Aragorn winds up with a bunch of kickass invincible fighters on his side; Luke should be so lucky. On the flip side, at least Luke can move things with his mind. Legolas and Gimli are slashier than C3PO and R2D2, but is Legolas fluent in over eight million forms of communication, nudge nudge wink wink? Oh wait, if you put it that way, maybe he is!
* When the whole Fellowship comes in to see Frodo in his recovery bed, there was a definite Dorothy/Oz moment. "And you were there too, Aragorn! And you, Merry! And Pippin...." Meanwhile Gandalf just stands there smirking; pay no attention to the man behind the beard. Gandalf is everyone's pal, but he isn't really very huggable.
* The final leave-taking scene obviously inspired a lot of future filmmakers too, with its tear-jerking goodbye-fest. "Here's lookin' at you, Samwise. We'll always have Mordor!" Frodo to Gandalf: "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Gandalf: "Beginning?!?! I've saved your life how many times now - what new hobbit weed have you been smoking?"
I'm sure there's more, but that covers the main points. ;)
For my first moviegoing experience in over six months it was mostly a success, although I must say that I was highly irritated by the pre-movie entertainment. I cannot in any way condone the number of product commercials being shown before a movie -- a concept I am firmly against -- and as for the previews of upcoming movies, there wasn't a single one that failed to be lame. Usually there's at least *one* that makes you go "ooh, I wanna see that," but not this time. Hmf.
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 01:21 pm (UTC)Maybe it'll show in the extended edition.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 01:23 pm (UTC)I HATE being shown product commercials before a movie!! I'm already paying $7.75 to get in, I think that's plenty to pay to not have to be subjected to stupid commercials. Ah well, we just talk through them anyway. :P
BTW, it was Tolkien who lifted the "I am no man" bit. I hear in the book that you don't know it's her until that moment, which I think would have been a lot better for the movie too.
As for Faramir's father trying to burn himself and Faramir, that was apparently completely re-written for the movie, but I can't remember how it was written in the book (my husband told me after it was over because I had the same question). The burning still happened, but apparently what was going on made more sense, and Faramir's father wasn't quite as big of an ass.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 01:46 pm (UTC)As for the father burning stuff, I'm sure there will be stuff on the DVD that explains it all. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 05:53 pm (UTC)I thought maybe it meant, "We're probably all going to die because of this storm that is gathering in the East, so let's fuck like bunnies while we still can."
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 06:48 pm (UTC)I think the explaination is going to be in the extended edition, Denethor doesn't randomly go insane; there is actually a very good reason. Jackson cut out quite a few plot points which makes some of the characterisation as confusing as heck (Faramir, Denethor, Merry, Eowyn etc) for those who haven't read the novel, and in some cases for those who have (for instance I'm still confused about Sam leaving Frodo for Shelob, that was definitely a "eh wtf?" moment for me.)
His love for Frodo is so unrequited *snif* oh well
Heh. I always read/saw it as the other way around. Frodo loves Sam romantically *when he wasn't being consumed by the ring* and Sam was mostly with the platonic and quite straight. I could go on about the last chapter in the novel, but I might come across as a Tolkien purist, the dynamic was changed a little in the movie *personally I think to make the phobes a little more comfortable with the Sam/Frodo relationship*. I'll stop now. *hee*
But there is Merry/Pippin *hearts the cute couple*
no subject
Date: 2003-12-29 11:33 pm (UTC)2. When Sam tells Frodo, "You can't go walking around Mordor in nowt but your skin,"
no subject
Date: 2004-01-05 11:19 am (UTC)2. Elijah Wood is not sexy. It's like pedophilia! Ew! It's all about Viggo!