Who's going to see Return of the King tonight?

[gregebowman]

Still haven't seen the extended Two Towers dvd I bought recently, but I'm going to see the movie in about 2 hours from now. Can't wait. It's supposed to be the best of the three, and I truly hope it is.

[Iron Giant]

Originally posted by gregebowman:
Still haven't seen the extended Two Towers dvd I bought recently, but I'm going to see the movie in about 2 hours from now. Can't wait. It's supposed to be the best of the three, and I truly hope it is.

From Penny-Arcade.com:

You may be wondering whether or not this is a good movie. You want to know if the hopes you have invested in it will be dashed, your good heart trampled as it was when you left Episode One - gasping at the naked contempt displayed by George Lucas.

I predict that you will be knocked clean on your ***, in the absence of mercy, pounded by raw craft and quality for the film's over three hour duration. I liked Two Towers well enough, preferred Fellowship, you know, but it'll do. It was better than jabbing your hand into a box of used medical sharps. Return of the King, by comparison, is every element executed with laser-guided precision.

[tesco samoa]

well i just watched the extended Version of the two towers.

All I have to say is that it was a completely different movie. ( i saw the other Version 2 times )

I thought the extended Version was beautiful. I cannot wait to see #3 but I am looking more forward to seeing the extended Version this time next year.

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
agub...abu...ahb...ahg...*thunk*

what? just JRRT or fantasy in general?

Note: Some of us might actually refuse to see the movies precisely because we like the books. It is well known that you cannot cram the story of LotR into even three movies, so he inevitably had to mutilate the story to make these... 'adaptations' possible.

Now if they made SIX movies (one for each 'book' of LotR) it might be possible to fit all of the real story in. Personally, I think there will be a 'miniseries' some day in HDTV format, maybe by PBS or A&E, and that would have a decent chance of doing it right.

[gregebowman]

Originally posted by JayBdey:
Never seen any of them, never read any of the books, and don't ever plan to.

My reading life changed when I read The Hobbit, followed by trilogy of books. I was 17 at the time. I had never really read fantasy. I was a sci-fi geek, but I had heard of The Hobbit and thought I'd give it a try. Kind of juvenile, but when I read the LOTR books, I was blown away. Now I read as much fantasy as I do sci-fi. I can't imagine not at least reading them once. The writing style may take getting used to, especially with all of that poetry and songs (which is the only thing I don't like about the books), but I would say it's a must read for anyone, whether they're into fantasy or not.

[tesco samoa]

Baron, the books are the books and the movies are the movies. One must not equal them. As you can do things in books that you would not do in movies,,, visversa...

The movies are beautiful to watch. The effort in creating the middle earth enviroment is worth it alone. The detail on the armor. The stone work. Take them for what they are an adaptation and interpertation of the book nothing more nothing less.

[Iron Giant]

Originally posted by tesco samoa:
The movies are beautiful to watch. The effort in creating the middle earth enviroment is worth it alone. The detail on the armor. The stone work. Take them for what they are an adaptation and interpertation of the book nothing more nothing less.

Ditto. All things concidered, the movies are not only a faithful interpretation, but have some things that you simply cannot do in a book, like the imagery of the Elven king explaining the futility of his daughters love for a mortal king as the scenes of her future life pass on the screen behind or the expressions achieved when Gollum struggles with the person he is and the personality he hates... truly brilliant!

That said, the book simply MUST be read for those parts of the story to be enjoyed that cannot be done on the big screen.

For anyone over 25 (mentally and emotionally) the return of Frodo to the Shire is one of the most beautiful stories of paradise to be read and simply had to be cut from the movies. The extended stories are already well over 10 hours total and they took quite the gamble with that amount of material anyway.

If the movies detracted from the book, I never, ever would have seen past The Fellowship of the Ring. IMHO, they add to the experience of Middle Earth, and are more than a faithful interpretation, they deserve to be called the Lord of the Rings.

[Parasite]

Saw it! Loved it!, but tired today. I went to a Pre-party before the movie, got a bunch of free stuff . Saw the movie, went to a VIP Post-party, and got more GOOD free stuff . Got home at 6:00AM, went to work at 8:00AM (almost), then got two new SEIV turns to do tonight.


Very minor spoiler.

I can't wait for the Extended Version DVD. You can see where some extra scenes needed to be to make it closer to the books.

[Puke]

I heard that they are planning on six hours, for the extended Version of ROTK.

[Gryphin]

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