December 18, 2003

RotK Rocks
Danny

To those who don't want to have anything spoiled because they have yet to see the movie, you are warned not to read this post.

Now that I have that out of my way, I must say that ROTK was incredible. It was the truest to the books of the three in my mind, and the changes that did come did make the film work wonderfully. I had read in a review that the sequence of events at Mt Doom had a very major change from the book, and that left me terrified that things were going to be disasterous. However, I think the changes worked wonders for the movie as a film.

I had been afraid that Frodo was not going to be seen as any kind of a hero at all. However, I liked how they did it. Sam was still the supporting hero that he is, and Frodo wouldn't have made it without him, but they gave Frodo moments of strength and courage as well. I felt that TTT and Fellowship kind of had left Frodo bereft of any heroism. So I liked the way Frodo knocked Golum off. It did scare me badly though. I also was half afraid that they were going to have Frodo die at Mt Doom, and they certainly shot it to appear that way.

I thought the shot of Golum as he finally had the ring was perfect.

The movie was very moving and emotionally powerful. There were several moments in the film where I got wattery eyed.

The ending was great. The house of Healing, and Scouring of the Shire would not have worked in the story, and I didn't miss them at all. I was pleased to see how PJ finished it. Most directors would have rolled the credits where Aragorn kneels to the hobbits and the camera flies off. I am glad PJ didn't do that and think that the final ending was more moving and effective. It was great to see the last lines in the movie being "well I'm back."

Ok, this movie was the best of the three without a question. I am sure there will be some debates sparked by those who are more purist than I am, but I for one am incredibly pleased with how the film trilogy concluded.

When it ended, I wanted to just stay in my seat and hope they would let me stay for the next showing in that theater. However since I knew that didn't work, I was seriously tempted to get tickets for the next available showing. Wow that belongs on the top of my list of best movies I have ever seen. WOW. Cheers to PJ for concluding such a wonderful film. I look forward to the Extended version to hopefully see snipets of the houses of healing, Saruman's ultimate defeat and maybe even Ghanburi Gan (spelling?)