My Big Beef With the LOTR movies

[dontpunkme]

I'm gonna keep this list fairly short:
1) Where were the sons of Elrond? Would it be too much to show them just a handful of times?
2) Gimli- I loved him in the books and when we get to the movies he's just insipid comic relief.
3) Another group of missing characters- the Dunedain? Where was the grey company? How can anyone omit them for christ's sake they are the Westernese and the rangers of the north -- Aragorn's most faithful soldiers.
4) The Mouth of Sauron - as in yet another character than goes missing and completely ruins the final battle (Let alone, the significance he serves being to Sauron what Sauron was to Melkor). What about the drama when he hands over Frodo's clothes and gear? Oh wait, Sam gave it to Frodo.
5) Limiting the Ents on screen time, let alone no mention of the Entwives.
6) TOM BOMBADIL - seems to me from my rememberance of the books Tom Bombadil happens to put the ring on to no effect to his person. Let alone cutting out the fantastic barrow wight scenes. Hi Ho what the hell?
7) Way to completely ruin the whole men under the mountain scene. Let alone how fantastic they lead into the battle on the fields of Pelennor.

I'm not going to get into the intro cutting out the backstory or how Merry and Peregrin actually deviously ambush Frodo before he leaves on his journey. In all reality I could probably ramble on for hours and hours but I grow weary of complaining about something that will never be resolved.

 

[David Howery]

the Mouth will be in the EE. The entwives were mentioned in TTT EE. Tom Bombadil was a rather weird departure from the main adventure in the book and I wasn't sorry to see it dropped from the movie. I thought the Dunedain should have been included too... they could have come along with Elrond when he gave Aragorn the sword. Not sure what you're saying about the Dead... note that their screen time will be increased a lot in the EE.
So, was there anything about the movies you liked, or were they just one long disappointment after another?

 

[myrdden]

I don't get the point of this post.

 

[Kirin'Tor]

I don't get the point of this post.

It's commonly called a "rant": a form of self-expression often found on messagebaords & newsgroups, wherein a person expresses one or more, often negative, opinions on a subject that they do not have another outlet for.

This post, however, is not a "rant", but is infact the written expression of the oft misunderstood speech pattern known as sarcasm

 

[Truth Seeker]

It's commonly called a "rant": a form of self-expression often found on messagebaords & newsgroups, wherein a person expresses one or more, often negative, opinions on a subject that they do not have another outlet for.

This post, however, is not a "rant", but is infact the written expression of the oft misunderstood speech pattern known as sarcasm

Gol-le!!! That is a heck of translate, if I ever saw one.

 

[Truth Seeker]

I'm gonna keep this list fairly short:
1) Where were the sons of Elrond? Would it be too much to show them just a handful of times?
2) Gimli- I loved him in the books and when we get to the movies he's just insipid comic relief.
3) Another group of missing characters- the Dunedain? Where was the grey company? How can anyone omit them for christ's sake they are the Westernese and the rangers of the north -- Aragorn's most faithful soldiers.
4) The Mouth of Sauron - as in yet another character than goes missing and completely ruins the final battle (Let alone, the significance he serves being to Sauron what Sauron was to Melkor). What about the drama when he hands over Frodo's clothes and gear? Oh wait, Sam gave it to Frodo.
5) Limiting the Ents on screen time, let alone no mention of the Entwives.
6) TOM BOMBADIL - seems to me from my rememberance of the books Tom Bombadil happens to put the ring on to no effect to his person. Let alone cutting out the fantastic barrow wight scenes. Hi Ho what the hell?
7) Way to completely ruin the whole men under the mountain scene. Let alone how fantastic they lead into the battle on the fields of Pelennor.

I'm not going to get into the intro cutting out the backstory or how Merry and Peregrin actually deviously ambush Frodo before he leaves on his journey. In all reality I could probably ramble on for hours and hours but I grow weary of complaining about something that will never be resolved.

Well, to put it in context, it was Virtually Impossible to Put Everything in the Movie, from the Book(s), but know this, as it is known...the books' presence, was always on the set, in actor's hands, and in their thoughts.

This is probably, the only movie*thrice film* to have a book, used for resource material in great quantity.

And lastly, it is hard to choose what piece *scene* would have added dimension to the film overall, it was not a easy thing. Honestly, I would not have minded all, the entire series, but then, we be looking at a six part film, costing a near billion, and near 20+ hours of extended footage.

And the first cry, would be...'Were is the profit?', that in the end, govern on what was feasible and was not.

But be glad in a sense, that a lot of love,dedication and soul, went to into this. For we may never see such a herculean effort, like this...for a very, very, very, long time.

Just be glad to a point, that someone had to courage to buck the odds against the impossible, and give it their best shot.

 

[KenM]

I think the elves reforging the sword in Return of the King are Elronds son's, the movie just does not mention that they are.
I kind of agree with you about Gimli. I hope the drinking game scene in RotK EE fixes this. If Legolas beats Gimli at it, I will be very PO'ed. I would have liked just ONE SCENE where the dwarf does something better than the pretty boy elf.

Edited for spelling.

 

[Wombat]

Of course I may be in a minority, but I don't miss Tom Bombadil at all.

Oh, I miss the barrow wight scene, just not Bombadil.

Note to self: never add your children's stuffed animal to your stories...

 

[Faraer]

I think the omission of Elrond's sons and Halbarad's Rangers was legitimate instances of compression. The treatment of Gimli is indefensible, though. Whether it's part of the modern (and obviously unTolkienesque) tendency to fetishize youth and beauty at the expense of strength and dependability, or just coincides with it, it's ugly and nasty.

Tom Bombadil was a rather weird departure from the main adventure in the book and I wasn't sorry to see it dropped from the movie.

While I understand the reasons the scriptwriters gave for leaving out Tom, I don't like them: American films generally (and that's the mode these are in) tend to sacrifice too much at the altar of maintaining 'the plot'. To quote Mark Schilling's review of Howl's Moving Castle, 'Whereas the imaginative flights of Hollywood animators are nearly all in the service of character and plot, Miyazaki allows his mind and pencil to wander where they will, into the realm of pure flight or the bizarre world of dreams, where logic takes a holiday and meaning speaks from every stone.' And of course Tom was there to say precisely, there is more to this world than the conflict with Sauron.

In its countercultural sense, a 'rant' is a long, extreme, articulate gonzo screed about something, such that I'm hesitant to call most alleged Internet 'rants' by the name.

 

[ASH]

One thing to remember is that its a movie. If you like the books read them, but dont be down on the movies because of some obscure points that were left out for reasons that only the director could know.

Its simple for me... Dont persecute the movies because they are not exactly like the books. Enjoy each thing of its own accord.