[TriLUG] OT: Lord of the Rings mini review

Bill Vinson billvinson at nc.rr.com
Wed Dec 19 04:04:22 EST 2001


I thought this might interest some of you, but I will say up front that I
spoil nothing here (I do mention the scene with one rather large enemy, but
give away nothing) ...

I just returned from seeing the midnight showing of LOTR: Fellowship of the
Ring.  It is quite good and quite different from the book with regards to
flow.  Though some scenes vary from the book and others are all but ignored,
the film seems to stay true to the spirit of the first book through its
entire length.  Some areas of the book are sped up to a great extent and I
believe that much of this is due to the fact that film just cannot convey
the detail that Tolkien so eloquently led the reader through.  In some cases
I felt that the film lacked the grandeur or depth of the book in that the
length of time that the FOTR dealt with does not come across while watching
the movie, at least in the pre-council segment.

My advice to individuals who have read at least the first book is to attempt
to forget it while watching the film.  I have not read the trilogy in
somewhere from 6 to 9 years and I just finished the last 30 pages of the
book while waiting in the theater for an hour for the film to begin (lines
were not as bad as Star Wars TPM).  For the first of three hours I
constantly was thinking things such as, 'I wonder how they will show x?' or
'Why didn't they portray x exactly like the book?'.  These questions hinder
the movie experience.  I came to regard the movie as an alternate telling of
the story and it does hit the same critical points as the book and
definitely gives a feel of the book to the viewer.  If you have read the
book just wait for the Balrog scene as it blew my mind :)

Not diminished by what I have mentioned, the movie is extremely pleasurable.
Some have said that this is to be one of the best movies ever made.  I
cannot tell yet as we need to see the other 2/3 of the story, but also the
books tend to cloud my judgement due to the fact that as wonderful as this
film is, it still is not as good as the book.  However, I do believe it is
better than any other literary -> film conversion that I have ever seen and
read.

Enjoy,
Bill




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