March 8, 2004

My Favorite Moments
Danny

It is nice to finally see the forum taking time to deliver the compliments and praises the movie deserves. I agree with the majority of the posts that have pointed out flaws in the movies, but have been worried that some have let relatively small things destroy their enjoyment of films that are on the whole incredibly well done and deserving of our praise and grattitude.

So I thought it would be fun to try and sit down and recall the moments that made a chill of excitement/pleasure run down my spine in all three films. Be advised this is a very very long post because the list is not short. It has been a while since I watched any of them though so I will probably miss some of my favorite moments. Anyway I am going to do all three films.

Fellowship

I think Fellowship was the most exciting one of the three because it was so exciting to finally see Middle earth brought to life, and to finally see an interpetation of our beloved characters fleshed out with detail and life that most of our imaginations cannot acheive without help. I Don't think I was the only one who could hardly contain themselves the first time they saw the Fellowship of the Ring's title on screen. The summary of the Ring's history was awesome. The first time I saw Gollum in the dark with that ray of light hitting him and refracting in his hair was incredible. Seeing Gandalf ride into the Shire was another great moment for me as a fan of the books (actually seeing Gandalf on screen any time was and still is awesome.) They got the Shire perfect. The dragon firework was a fun thing for them to have included. Gandalf's moment when he tells Bilbo not to take him as a cheap conjurer of tricks was right on with the moment in the text and I loved it. One of the best small moments in the movie for me was the first shot of Aragorn at Bree. That was sooooo perfectly captured from the book with his hood and the pipe. Wow. Ok, Rivendel was fabulous, as was Moria. I was sooo releived to hear Gandalf's words (which in my mind are some of the most important in the trilogy) about Bilbo's pitty ruling the fate of many put in, as well as his lines about how we cannot decide what times we see, just what to do with the time given too us. The Scene at Kazhad Dun (spelling?) is perhaps my favorite moment in any movie. I wasn't as pleased with Lothlorien, but that was mostly because it didn't look like I had imagined it, not because it wasn't well done. Boromir's last scenes were beyond perfect. Sean Bean was amazing when he tried to take the ring from Frodo, and I found myself feeling more sadness at his death on film than I did when I read that in the book. Ok, so that is what I remember as outstanding from Fellowship.

Two Towers

Ok if you have read this far, you rock 8). The opening scene with Gandalf's voice in the breeze as it flies through the mountains was great. It was thrilling to see them develop what happened with Gandalf and the Balrog as they did. Gandalf's voice over as he spoke of his dying and returning was great. The first time I saw Gollum on the big screen I just about died. He was so amazingly well done. The set at Rohan was incredible. I was immediately impressed with Eowyn. She played her part perfectly, and fortunately her script didn't get played with too much. I was thrilled to hear her words about fearing a cage and being locked away until all chance of valor and renown are gone. Those words defined her in the books and it was so good to have that in the films. Wormtong was fabulous, and so was his using some of Tolkien's words (though I beleive they were Gandalf's words in hindsight about what Wormtong may have said in the book) about Rohan as he taunted Eowyn. The black gates of Mordor were awesome and really well designed. Helms Deep was spectacular. When the ladders were first rising to the wall, I almost audibly said "I can't beleive they are pulling this off." Another moment that was absolutely perfect to me was when the ents flooded Isengard. Both of these moments were awesome not because the special effects were so good (which they were) but because they had actually succeeded in capturing the scope and scale that Tolkien wrote about perfectly. The special effects succeeded in recreating those moments, and that is what I loved more than any eye candy. Gandalf's leading the charge down the hill at the end, while dramatically different than the book was a beautifully composed piece of visual film makeing that I thoroughally enjoyed.

Return of the King

Ok Kudos to those who have made it this far. Return of the King had so many moments that were amazing. The Hobbits welcoming Gandalf and company to Isengard was so true to Tolkien I immediately felt that the movie was going to turn out well (which it did in my view.) I missed the parley between Gandalf and Saruman, but they handled its ommission well enough that it didn't sound any huge alarms. I personally was pleased to see they included the scene with the Palantir (one of my favorite moments that often gets forgotten.) Their portrayal was quite different than my own ideas, but it was good to see it in there. Merry and Pippin's fairwell was great. The first shots of Minas Tirith were amazing. Bringing Minas Tirith to film so majestically is a gift to all us Tolkien nerds in the world 8). The lighting of the beacons was beautiful and the music perfect for that. Eowyn's time with Merry where she had him sharpen his sword was awesome. As was her exchange with Eomer about him deserving to fight with them. Eowyn's exchange with Theoden about her duties was just dead on perfect. The moment outside Minas Morgul when the Witch King escorted his army out was also fabulous. It was thrilling to finally get to see the fell winged creature in all its horrifying glory. Shelob's lair was perfect. I would have prefered to have had Sam there the whole time as in the book, but the lair was fabulous. Shelob was so horrifying and amazing I just about died of disbeleif. Seeing Shelob stalk Frodo before the kill was awesome. Sams fighting Shelob was incredible too. Gandalf's riding out and repelling the wraiths to help Faramir was awesome. It was a moment from the books that came perfectly on film in my mind. Faramir's exchange with his father about Boromir's death was heart wrenching. Alas it would have been even more so if Faramir had not been changed. The audience would have liked him more then and his grief at his father's lack of affection would have hurt us more, but even so it was moving. Faramir's leading the charge on Osgiliath with the song playing was also great. Gandalf's talk about death not being the end while Minas Tirith was under seige was also awesome. Tons has been said about the charge of the Rohirim and I totally agree with all of it. That was amazing, and Theoden's speach was perfect. I loved his moment of realization when the Witch King swooped in for the kill, but even more moving was the stunend horror on Eowyn's face when she saw her uncle killed. Then her courage facing the witch king was perfect beyond words, and Theoden's fairwell words to her were amazingly delivered. Sam's reluctance to give Frodo the ring was perfect to me. It actually was less than the book's portrayal where Frodo suddenly saw Sam as an orc enemy trying to steal from him if I recall. Sam's and Frodo's exchange on Mt Doom about the shire was fabulous. Both Frodo and Sam acted it perfectly. Seeing Sam cary Frodo up the mountain was perfect too. The moment when Gollum gets the ring was amazing. The camera movement that followed Gollum's line of sight through the ring and then showed Gollum standing like a Child after 1000 Christmas mornings was briliant cinemetography. The arrival of the Eagles at the Black Gates was thrilling as well. Pretty much everything that ended the movie was fabulous, and I don't want to do a play by play of every moment in the last 20 minutes so just pretend I did and save us both the time 8). I only wish they hadn't done the silly fade outs on the slopes of Mt Doom and after the coronation as though they were trying to trick us into thinking it was over.

Ok so this is a very long post, but I just thought I would get in my list of reasons why the films were close to perfect. I failed to mention a lot of things, like hearing Elvish spoken for the first time (for myself at least.) I think that the portrayals of Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Theoden, Eowyn, and Saruman were all top notch and could each receive attention longer than this post in praise. So, while I do agree that there were things that the movie missed on, the list of things where they put the nail right between the eyes is far longer to me and far outweighs the blemishes. I for one absolutely love the films and think they deserve all the praise they have recieved.