Last movie watched...

[Dark Jimbo]

Finally convinced my girlfriend to give the LotR movies another try last night. She's always professed to hate them following the last time I tried to get her to watch them with me many years ago, but I'd always told myself (and her, repeatedly) that under the right circumstances - a decent AV setup and the Theatrical rather than Extended editions - she would enjoy them. I mean, how could any reasonable person not, right?

Oh, where to start? Love the books, the mythology, the world, but the Jackson films are an utter turn-off.

It's beyond me how he managed to make so many of the scenes and characters from the books so dull. Middle Earth is bathed eternally in a dingy patina of grey and looks utterly depressing. Most of the major roles are horribly miscast, particularly the crucial roles of Aragorn and Frodo. Aragorn is simply made a bit boring and unrelatable, like a no-charisma version of the book's gregarious rogue, but Frodo is one of the most punchable leads in film history and just impossible to root for. I hate the film versions of Merry and Pippin almost as much; in fact the only hobbit whose depiction I like is Sam (who is, in fairness, spot on). Sean Bean is potentially a good call for Boromir but the character as written in the films is a whiny, petty bully. Gimli is reduced to one-note comic relief. Robbed of any mystique or awe, the whole elven race come across as dull grey beauracrats and any scene of theirs drags unbelievably, particularly when they start talking elvish. The Ents are recreated with some laughably bad CGI. Half the battle scenes take place at night, which makes it impossible to see what's going on; nowhere is this worse than the interminable Battle of Helm's Deep, (another favourite bit from the books), which here is one of the most deathly dull battle sequences I have watched to this day. And I could go on and on in the same vein all day! There's a lot of stuff I do like, but the bad far outweighs the good.

You cannot fault Jackson's achievement or ambition, and I'll freely admit that his films are almost certainly the best filmic adaptation of LotR we'll ever see, but they are not for me and I'll admit to being a bit nonplussed as to why they're so universally loved.

[Jim_Campbell]

the book's gregarious rogue,

You appear to have read a completely different book to me.

Cheers

Jim

[Greg M.]

Love the books, the mythology, the world, but the Jackson films are an utter turn-off.

I agree with this entirely, particularly the comments about Helm's Deep - the first film's sort of all right, but it was such a struggle to make it through the second film.

My problem with the depiction of Aragorn in the movies is that he's neither particularly scary nor rough-looking - he doesn't look foul and feel fair. My perception will always be coloured by my huge fondness for John Hurt's voice-acting in the animated Ralph Bakshi film - his Aragorn is, on the surface, brusque and intimidating, particularly during the scenes at the Prancing Pony.

[Tiplodocus]

"Half the battle scenes take place at night, which makes it impossible to see what's going on; nowhere is this worse than the interminable Battle of Helm's Deep"

No, I just don't get that. One of the great things is that despite everything that is going on, it's always very clear what's going on in the fight scenes.  And Helm's Deep, ludicrous castle design aside, is edge of the seat tense and exciting for me. 

[Professor Bear]

I thought LotR's greatest strength was that it took something from what was until then embedded in a ponderous niche and turned it into a shamelessly populist adventure romp.  Fairly or otherwise, before the Jackson films, LotR was a synonym for geekiness, but now it's a mainstream franchise people aren't afraid to be seen watching - one of the biggest criticisms of the Helm's Deep thing was that it actually too populist, with elves surfing down steps on shields and stuff.

I would think that if anything, it was people being excited by the films and then trying the books that would have ended up disappointed.  I regularly read 1000+ page snooze-fests* but to this day have never made it past page 75 of Fellowship.  I recall the songs were particularly grating.





* If you're looking to blame anyone for the glut/low prices of Scott Turow and Clive Cussler novels on eBay right now, look no further.

[pictsy]

I purchased the book after the first film was released.  I had owned The Hobbit for many years but never took a great deal of interest in LotR.  I enjoyed FotR a huge amount despite the songs, which I agree are annoying and really ruin the pacing of the book.  I read TTT before seeing the respective film and ended up being disappointed in the film (I know feel it's the strongest of the three).  I didn't bother reading RofTK after seeing the film and it was a few years later that I felt I should finish the journey in the book.  I am glad I did because RofTK has some excellent stuff in it that was much better than what was in the film.  Overall buying the book wasn't a disappointing experience. 

It got me curious enough to have a crack at The Silmarillion.  I managed to get half way through and still keep up, but got distracted for a couple of weeks and couldn't get back into it.  I will finish that damn book one day though.  One day.

Of all Tolkien's stuff I've read, The Hobbit is no doubt the best as a piece of narrative literature and I have been thoroughly enjoying the films despite them only having a vague resemblance to the books.

[maryanddavid]

You are all wrong, the songs are great!
Silmarillion is well worth sticking with, I had a good few goes at it till I got it. Year since I read it but it reads like, and I presume that the point, old myth. It was a while till I realised what left the furrow after the Dagda;-P

[TordelBack]

Heh, IIRC the Dagda and his personal plough are in Jim Fitzpatrick's Book of Invasions. Nowt quite so spicy for the Valar. But I agree completely that the songs are great. Not enough songs in the movies, especially the Hobbit films.

[Daveycandlish]

Personally, I prefer the Bakshi version.

[Richmond Clements]

Whereas I love the movies, but consider the books to be some of the most over-rated, turgid, badly written, plodding rubbish ever put to paper.
Horses for courses.

[Theblazeuk]

Yep, though that doesn't hold true for the Hobbit IMO. Best book, exhaustingly drawn out movie trilogy. Still fun to watch the once mind, not like epic fantasy is done all that well anywhere else.

[Proudhuff]

'some of the most turgid, badly written, plodding rubbish ever put to paper'.

So you have read my Major scripts then 

[Richmond Clements]

'some of the most turgid, badly written, plodding rubbish ever put to paper'.

So you have read my Major scripts then 

It's a sliding scale... (Note to self - need top drop you a line!)

[Proudhuff]

sound of proudhuff digging foxhole...

[SmallBlueThing]

Some film about a heavily-armed supercop,  starring him off Star Trek and a blonde bit with mindreading powers. 
I stuck it on because the kids had been bugging me about it for ages,  and their mother is away.  Warnings were given in advance, but both were still enthusiastic,  so it got the green light.

Both enjoyed,  although little one didn't quite understand why MC1 looked so "boring". "They still have smartphones!" he laughed,  as Peach Trees cits snap away at the three bodies in the atrium.  He didn't like the uniforms,  or the lack of flying cars,  and tutted when it began with HASC chasing a van and not a mopad or similar.  Eldest was more forgiving,  rationalising it as "an alternative universe like Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions" and spent the movie ticking off references to the comics,  picking up even on 'Krysler's Mark' and making me very proud that he very obviously pores over the casefiles as much as I did the original weeklies when I was his age. 
Both thought "...is an automatic fail" was hilarious and have been using it as a catchprase this morning before school. 
On the whole,  they enjoyed it, and with all the usual parental worries about the language and violence (and the Anderson sex bit) talked about before and after,  both thought it a shame there wasn't a Dredd2.
SBT