Return of the King, at last
Dec. 22nd, 2003 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ealgyldenI tried to post something this morning as I was running out the door, but the computer went all wooglie when I hit the button, and it didn't go through. Which, actually, is probably a good thing, since all day I was plagued by visions of people defriending me en masse because I spammed them with twelve copies of the same no-content post before traipsing off to see RotK. But that didn't happen after all (whew), and all was happy in the land of Joan.
So I accomplished absolutely nothing all weekend, not even writing out my Christmas cards, which will end up as Twelfth Night cards at this rate. Little Sister is up from school for the holidays, so I've been playing with her, watching hockey, the extras on my shiny, shiny Firefly DVDs (though none of the episodes yet), and the EEs of Fellowship and Two Towers, plus a bunch of those extras too. Despite all that, I still went into Return of the King today as calm and collected as if I were seeing the latest generic Hollywood actioner. Calm all through the annoying commercials, calm all through the previews, calm as the familiar letters swam up out of the dark... at which point I started crying. Not a lot, just a few tears welling up and running down my face every so often, but even so, I was already crying before anything, even just the appearance of any sort of picture on the screen, had happened. My stupid brain (in cahoots with my tear ducts) ambushed me, just like I'd figured. Hmph.
So I did, in fact, watch most of the movie with tears in my eyes. Poor Andrew Lesnie. His talents were not appreciated as they should have been (well, they were greatly appreciated, just... blurrily).
If you know me at all, you can probably guess what got the biggest weepy reaction of all. Yes, Théoden's death. Ah, min cyning. The theater is dead quiet, the tension is high... and there's me, practically breaking a rib as I struggle to hold in my great, wracking sobs. Just... when he looks at Éowyn and says, "I know your face. Éowyn," the same first words he says to her after Saruman's influence is broken and he comes out of his long darkness to see her, his wild girl, the daughter of his heart, and now she's there again at the end, his first and last vision in this darkest era of his life... sob! If I were in charge of the Oscars (and damn it, why aren't I?), they'd already be engraving Bernard Hill's.
I loved every single smidgin of the Rohirrim's screentime, from Éomer being snippy to his sister to Théoden's heartening his men by invoking their noble deaths to Gamling not being dead after TTT unlike poor, lamented Háma. The stream of riders pouring out of Édoras, and then turning to a river at Dunharrow. The Ride. Different from the book, yes, but wonderful and terrible nonetheless. Their brief moment of triumph lasting only long enough to turn around and see the Haradrim stomping toward them riding mountains. Éomer taking down two mûmakil while Éowyn and the other Rohirrim hamstring several more. Éowyn and the Witch King (of course, of course). Every minute of Rohan on the screen could have been twenty, and I would have been thrilled.
But I liked other stuff too, don't get me wrong. There wasn't much I didn't like, really, and I have high hopes that most of my quibbles will be fixed in the EE. I mean, we've seen pictures of Merry swearing fealty to Théoden, of Éomer grieving on the field of battle, and of the Houses of Healing. We know there was a Mouth of Sauron cast. And Christopher Lee has made darned sure that everyone knows there were more Saruman scenes filmed. So I'm not worried. I don't miss the Scouring of the Shire, which I can appreciate intellectually and historically but have never liked, and while I'm not fond of what happened to Denethor's character, I can live with it.
I'd been dreading Shelob since the first minute of the first movie, and I was so caught up in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields that when it cut away to Gollum leading Frodo into Cirith Ungol, I was irritated for a minute before it hit me, "Oh hell, the spider!" She wasn't so bad, though. Nothing could be as bad as what I dreamed up years ago, and boy howdy am I glad about that. She was still amply ooky, so I'm not complaining.
Liked Minas Morgul, fluorescent as it was. It was mostly the angles and that heights that did it for me, and the size of those doors. Awesome. Loved the Fell Beasts and the Nazgûl. Liked the corsair ships- nice and pointy-looking. Liked the Armies of the Dead, even with the potential Barbossa-esque cheesiness. Their home looked like a cross between the Mines of Moria and the Dead City at the end of The Neverending Story. Liked the pretty, Mediterranean-looking Gondorians. Liked Minas Tirith, although Édoras is still the prettiest. Loved broken-hearted Faramir and his men, riding off to their certain deaths. Loved Pippen (have always loved Pippen- he's my favorite hobbit), loved his parting from Merry (cried? Of course!), loved their reunion on the battlefield. Liked the replay of the Elrond/Isildur scene with Sam and Frodo. Liked Arwen's first scene (her leaving-that-wasn't and vision of plump little Eldarion, aw). Liked Aragorn and Arwen's reunion and kiss. Liked General Gandalf (though not his hitting Denethor with his staff, which is, again, part of my problem with this take on Denethor). Loved "release the prisoners!" (in an "eeek! no!" way, not a "yay!" way). Liked the eagles. Liked Aragorn's St. Crispin's Day speech, though I don't think Viggo had quite the voice for it. I would have loved to have heard Théoden (yes, I know he was already dead, sob!) or Gandalf or even Éomer give it, voice-wise, but still, yay Aragorn! Loved the lighting of the beacons, though I feel bad for the poor soldiers who drew mountain-top detail. Loved Denethor's first scene with Gandalf, Pippin and Boromir's horn. Liked Legolas and Gimli, even if we didn't get to see them sail off into the sunset together. Liked Sean Bean in the credits, though I wish Christopher Lee had been too.
Not much Merry, not much Faramir, barely any Éomer. No Imrahil, but I didn't really expect him. Barely any palantíri, which I understand but still find unfortunate (my Denethor problem again).
Didn't like Gollum. Well, okay, that's not strictly accurate. I did like how Gollum was done, in as much as he was a convincing creation and true to the books. I just... don't like Gollum. Never have. And I've never understood why he's so popular. Sure, I pity him. He's a miserable creature. But that doesn't translate to liking him. Oh well.
Arwen's Ring-sickness, well. I've decided to hear Elrond's little speech about it as his dip into Legolas-states-the-obvious-land, and not as a reference to anything as silly as a Ring-linked wasting disease. She's dying? Well sure, she "chose a mortal life" about ten time in every one of her scenes, so of course she's dying. All of us mortals are dying. Her fate is tied to the Ring? Of course it is, everyone's fate is tied to the Ring. That's rather the point of the whole ring-destroying exercise. And don't wreck my willful misinterpretation, please, because I'm finding it rather comfortable. La la la...
I love all the new Théoden icons I'm seeing around LJ; some of them are just wonderful. Yes, everyone, recognize his greatness! Woo! Now I just need to convince my mother that he was a good king- she's really not fond of him in TTT, but she warmed up to him in this movie. Kind of lousy timing, considering.
And I really need to figure out when I can see it again. Soon, very, very soon.
I need to catch up on comments and email tomorrow, and I probably should do those Christmas cards. I'd rather just go to the movies.
Hey, I have 1066 posts in my memories! Keen! Nobody write anything else I might want to save, okay? Stop being smart and funny and interesting.
So I accomplished absolutely nothing all weekend, not even writing out my Christmas cards, which will end up as Twelfth Night cards at this rate. Little Sister is up from school for the holidays, so I've been playing with her, watching hockey, the extras on my shiny, shiny Firefly DVDs (though none of the episodes yet), and the EEs of Fellowship and Two Towers, plus a bunch of those extras too. Despite all that, I still went into Return of the King today as calm and collected as if I were seeing the latest generic Hollywood actioner. Calm all through the annoying commercials, calm all through the previews, calm as the familiar letters swam up out of the dark... at which point I started crying. Not a lot, just a few tears welling up and running down my face every so often, but even so, I was already crying before anything, even just the appearance of any sort of picture on the screen, had happened. My stupid brain (in cahoots with my tear ducts) ambushed me, just like I'd figured. Hmph.
So I did, in fact, watch most of the movie with tears in my eyes. Poor Andrew Lesnie. His talents were not appreciated as they should have been (well, they were greatly appreciated, just... blurrily).
If you know me at all, you can probably guess what got the biggest weepy reaction of all. Yes, Théoden's death. Ah, min cyning. The theater is dead quiet, the tension is high... and there's me, practically breaking a rib as I struggle to hold in my great, wracking sobs. Just... when he looks at Éowyn and says, "I know your face. Éowyn," the same first words he says to her after Saruman's influence is broken and he comes out of his long darkness to see her, his wild girl, the daughter of his heart, and now she's there again at the end, his first and last vision in this darkest era of his life... sob! If I were in charge of the Oscars (and damn it, why aren't I?), they'd already be engraving Bernard Hill's.
I loved every single smidgin of the Rohirrim's screentime, from Éomer being snippy to his sister to Théoden's heartening his men by invoking their noble deaths to Gamling not being dead after TTT unlike poor, lamented Háma. The stream of riders pouring out of Édoras, and then turning to a river at Dunharrow. The Ride. Different from the book, yes, but wonderful and terrible nonetheless. Their brief moment of triumph lasting only long enough to turn around and see the Haradrim stomping toward them riding mountains. Éomer taking down two mûmakil while Éowyn and the other Rohirrim hamstring several more. Éowyn and the Witch King (of course, of course). Every minute of Rohan on the screen could have been twenty, and I would have been thrilled.
But I liked other stuff too, don't get me wrong. There wasn't much I didn't like, really, and I have high hopes that most of my quibbles will be fixed in the EE. I mean, we've seen pictures of Merry swearing fealty to Théoden, of Éomer grieving on the field of battle, and of the Houses of Healing. We know there was a Mouth of Sauron cast. And Christopher Lee has made darned sure that everyone knows there were more Saruman scenes filmed. So I'm not worried. I don't miss the Scouring of the Shire, which I can appreciate intellectually and historically but have never liked, and while I'm not fond of what happened to Denethor's character, I can live with it.
I'd been dreading Shelob since the first minute of the first movie, and I was so caught up in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields that when it cut away to Gollum leading Frodo into Cirith Ungol, I was irritated for a minute before it hit me, "Oh hell, the spider!" She wasn't so bad, though. Nothing could be as bad as what I dreamed up years ago, and boy howdy am I glad about that. She was still amply ooky, so I'm not complaining.
Liked Minas Morgul, fluorescent as it was. It was mostly the angles and that heights that did it for me, and the size of those doors. Awesome. Loved the Fell Beasts and the Nazgûl. Liked the corsair ships- nice and pointy-looking. Liked the Armies of the Dead, even with the potential Barbossa-esque cheesiness. Their home looked like a cross between the Mines of Moria and the Dead City at the end of The Neverending Story. Liked the pretty, Mediterranean-looking Gondorians. Liked Minas Tirith, although Édoras is still the prettiest. Loved broken-hearted Faramir and his men, riding off to their certain deaths. Loved Pippen (have always loved Pippen- he's my favorite hobbit), loved his parting from Merry (cried? Of course!), loved their reunion on the battlefield. Liked the replay of the Elrond/Isildur scene with Sam and Frodo. Liked Arwen's first scene (her leaving-that-wasn't and vision of plump little Eldarion, aw). Liked Aragorn and Arwen's reunion and kiss. Liked General Gandalf (though not his hitting Denethor with his staff, which is, again, part of my problem with this take on Denethor). Loved "release the prisoners!" (in an "eeek! no!" way, not a "yay!" way). Liked the eagles. Liked Aragorn's St. Crispin's Day speech, though I don't think Viggo had quite the voice for it. I would have loved to have heard Théoden (yes, I know he was already dead, sob!) or Gandalf or even Éomer give it, voice-wise, but still, yay Aragorn! Loved the lighting of the beacons, though I feel bad for the poor soldiers who drew mountain-top detail. Loved Denethor's first scene with Gandalf, Pippin and Boromir's horn. Liked Legolas and Gimli, even if we didn't get to see them sail off into the sunset together. Liked Sean Bean in the credits, though I wish Christopher Lee had been too.
Not much Merry, not much Faramir, barely any Éomer. No Imrahil, but I didn't really expect him. Barely any palantíri, which I understand but still find unfortunate (my Denethor problem again).
Didn't like Gollum. Well, okay, that's not strictly accurate. I did like how Gollum was done, in as much as he was a convincing creation and true to the books. I just... don't like Gollum. Never have. And I've never understood why he's so popular. Sure, I pity him. He's a miserable creature. But that doesn't translate to liking him. Oh well.
Arwen's Ring-sickness, well. I've decided to hear Elrond's little speech about it as his dip into Legolas-states-the-obvious-land, and not as a reference to anything as silly as a Ring-linked wasting disease. She's dying? Well sure, she "chose a mortal life" about ten time in every one of her scenes, so of course she's dying. All of us mortals are dying. Her fate is tied to the Ring? Of course it is, everyone's fate is tied to the Ring. That's rather the point of the whole ring-destroying exercise. And don't wreck my willful misinterpretation, please, because I'm finding it rather comfortable. La la la...
I love all the new Théoden icons I'm seeing around LJ; some of them are just wonderful. Yes, everyone, recognize his greatness! Woo! Now I just need to convince my mother that he was a good king- she's really not fond of him in TTT, but she warmed up to him in this movie. Kind of lousy timing, considering.
And I really need to figure out when I can see it again. Soon, very, very soon.
I need to catch up on comments and email tomorrow, and I probably should do those Christmas cards. I'd rather just go to the movies.
Hey, I have 1066 posts in my memories! Keen! Nobody write anything else I might want to save, okay? Stop being smart and funny and interesting.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-24 07:26 am (UTC)Yeah, that's it exactly. I guess I can see why they cut the palantir, though I'm not entirely sure it was worth it (not after only one viewing and only the vaguest idea of what might be on the EE, anyway), but I think your attitude is a good one. I won't dwell either. It was an amazing movie, and I'm 99% thrilled and satisfied. And really, really impressed with what everyone involved accomplished- I was sure it couldn't be done.
If I can figure out what questions Theoden would ask I may try to drabble that.
Hee! Oh, that would be fabulous! What do they have in common? Headstrong children (stubborn daughters, especially). Leadership stress. Aragorn. Um... gee, not a lot, really (or not a lot that comes to mind at 2am, anyway). I'd love to see a drabble, though, if you were inspired. It's such a great idea.
See, that's the thing about movieverse, the Rohirrim aren't terrified by Elves. I remember how surprised I was by that fellow grinning madly when the Galadhrim come marching in. He should have been cowering!
Yeah, that was a surprise, though one I liked. I guess the movie!Rohirrim are just that brave (or desperate). That extra certainly did look pleased, didn't he? Maybe he was dazzled by all that shiny hair.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-24 04:44 pm (UTC)Again, untrusting as I am, I have not had the nerve to count the beacons.v_v
I took the other path regarding the soundtrack, utterly immersing myself therein from the moment I got it. I'll never know if your approach, shared by many of my friends, would have been better, but I'm so happy I don't care.*g* It is magnificent and I can safely say that I would enjoy the movies only fractionally as much as I do had they lesser music. Waiting for anything else they put out in that line!
I'm considering an early showing christmas day.*g*