December 28, 2003

One Small Question and Re: Dissapointment
Danny

After seeing ROTK the third time, I have a small question about a moment in the film. It is not big deal really, and it can be explained pretty easily, but I did wonder about it anyway. That is that either Frodo's mithril vest didn't hold out Shelob's stinger, or Frodo wasn't wearing the vest at the time. Either way leaves you to ask a question. Either why wasn't Frodo wearing the vest, or why didn't the vest stop Shelob's stinger.

In response to the recent post about ROTK being a dissapointment, I don't really know what to say. I disagree that all the film had was a sequence of action and special effects. I personally felt that all the characters were far more developed and given more dialogue for that purpose in this film than any others. The movie was the longest of all of them because they took the time to focus on characters. There were plenty of character developing scenes. Gimli's reunion with the hobbits was perfect; right down to Merry taunting Gimly with a few smoke rings, Pippin's comments on the salted pork and Gandalf's grumbling about Hobbits. Eowyn getting Merry dressed in armor and sending him off to the smithy to get his blade sharpened was a great character moment. Not a single moment of digital magic there, but the dialogues did a lot to develop both Eowyn and Merry. Eowyn's fairwell to Aragorn and her interchange with Theoden about her duties was awesome. Pippin's whole interaction with Denethor was great. Faramir's dialogue with his father as he left to reclaim Osgiliath was fabulous and quite moving. Sam and Frodo's dialogue on Mt Doom as Sam speaks of the Shire was right on. Gimli's words about an elf entering where a dwarf dare not were included too. Legolas and Gimli's words at the black gate did lots to develop the friendship they had developed. Denethor's death with Eowyn at his side was perfect and in my mind very moving. Gandalf has his perfect words right from the book as he departs at the havens "I will not say do not weep for not all tears ar an evil." Frodo's final voice over about the quest's effect on his life and then his departure at the havens was a pure character moment. Actually, had PJ not been concerned with finishing off the character elements of the story, he would have ended it at Minas Tirith where Aragorn bows to the Hobbits. Arwen was developed very nicely, and was an addition that was true enough to the story in the appendices of LOTR that was very nice. As a matter of fact, her whole enhanced role is a strong case for actions PJ did that defy the short attention span to put in very slow and purely character driven moments in the film. Had she ended up a Xena warior who kicked orc butt then we would have a strong case for the oppostie. The reason all three of the films are as long as they are is because PJ has tried to make sure his characters are developed and as far as I am concerned he succeeds.

One of the challenges with making a film is the different audience. Only die hard Tolkien fanatics would be willing to sit through the even longer hours that would have been required in theaters to see the trilogy with all chapters and characters included. Film by its very nature requires a certain momentum and speed that a story develops with. Where a writer can spend pages or even whole chapters on character development, a film has to move quicker. A lot of times things have to be conveyed in a few seconds that were explained in a whole chapter in a book. If you cannot accept that, then you are going to hate any adaptation of a book to film. If you cannot accept that than you really don't understand film enough to be a fair critic of the media anyway.

The need to convey more information in less time can create a new experience that can be quite fun. A well directed film can be watched multiple times because you become aware of different things they did to convey things with each viewing. You catch the context of a line differently, or you notice the body language of a character or other subtle things that are there to convey elements that the book spent more time on. The three viewings I have had of ROTK have been that way.

So wrapping up this lengthy reply, I will say that the thing that struck me as the strongest point about ROTK the first time I watched it was the character development. The second time I watched it was when I made an effort to pay closer attention to Shelob (absolutely amazing) and the Nazgul's fell beast (also amazing,) and the other special effects shots. Watching it a third time showed more layers of character development and friendship that was developed as well. ROTK is a character driven story with massive scale and spectacle in its events. Both are represented well in this film as far as I am concerned.