Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Many have asked my opinion of the LOTR trilogy. As an old Tolkien fan I must say I thought they were quite well done. I'm glad too because when the news was first released that a film was in the making, I feared the usual Hollywood garbage and thought the books would be butchered. That was, thankfully, not the case.
There were some parts I thought a bit overdone. Legolas bringing down the oliphaunt singlehandedly in the third movie was one instance. Arwen's presence in all three movies, but especially the second, was definitely another one. The third movie would not have been so long without the "she-elf"'s (greatly expanded) role in the second movie. That was unnecessary.
Overall, however, the actors and actresses (Liv Taylor excluded) portrayed very much what I had in mind from reading the books years ago. And the special effects were quite amazing--TIME credits the scenes in Shelob's lair as "the creepiest computer generated images ever" but I think the scenes with Aragorn in the Paths of the Dead beat Shelob out--perhaps because I'm not, as TIME reporters inevitably are, arachnophobic. Still, I must admit...Shelob would give me a start. Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen certainly shone in their respective roles and a good job was done by all. While the books are always better, the movies are worth seeing...again and again and again. Go for it, if you haven't already.
There were some parts I thought a bit overdone. Legolas bringing down the oliphaunt singlehandedly in the third movie was one instance. Arwen's presence in all three movies, but especially the second, was definitely another one. The third movie would not have been so long without the "she-elf"'s (greatly expanded) role in the second movie. That was unnecessary.
Overall, however, the actors and actresses (Liv Taylor excluded) portrayed very much what I had in mind from reading the books years ago. And the special effects were quite amazing--TIME credits the scenes in Shelob's lair as "the creepiest computer generated images ever" but I think the scenes with Aragorn in the Paths of the Dead beat Shelob out--perhaps because I'm not, as TIME reporters inevitably are, arachnophobic. Still, I must admit...Shelob would give me a start. Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen certainly shone in their respective roles and a good job was done by all. While the books are always better, the movies are worth seeing...again and again and again. Go for it, if you haven't already.
// posted by The Pendragon @ 9:49 PM 
