January 19, 2002

The Magic was Sacrificed for Unnecessary Action
Gary W.

My first viewing was a disappointment. The usual people talking all the way through even though I requested they be quiet (mostly kids and fat adults repeatedly reaching over several people in front of me for handfulls of popcorn) . There was too much war. The Hobbits were ignorant of the world outside the shire...except for rumors. They did not run from the black riders they just avoided them...there was a feeling of danger but they felt safe in the shire. They did not continually make it to each place "just in the nick of time". The Inn in Bree was not as represented in the book. Butterbur did not really exist in the movie...it was a bar...nothing more. There was no singing or joy, as the culture of the elves was represented in the books, in either Rivendale or Lothorian. Everyone was dead serious and dull. Other than some nice archetecture I would not really want to live or return to either place...there was no magic and no feelings of timelessness. After reading the book for the first time in 1966...I wanted to live in or try to create these magical places.

The story just moved along from event to event. I did not really care about any of the characters nor was I given an opportunty to learn about them...too much time spent in battles that were only briefly mentioned in the first book.
Too Dark. Little time was actually spent on important details but lots of time on sets and clanking swords. Even Boromires horn was almost a joke. What the book described as a sound that ecohed across the hills, stopping orks in thier tracks and lifting the spirits of the members of the fellowship as if an army of men had arrived in their defence ...was represented in the movie as a series of duck calls. I'll see it again...but I look forward to the next attempt at filming the LOTR...if I live long enough.