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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amal Shukup" data-source="post: 1883334" data-attributes="member: 6291">Eh? Not hardly. Baddy lands. BRIEF dialog, then 'chop!' (from an awkward and frankly uncinematic angle even) and that's IT - off to the next scene. I think the scene of the Witch King pulling on his gauntlets or whatever before the battle was longer...But my problem with the scene isn't narrative - what needed to happen in order to propel the story forward happened. My problem is in terms of directoral emphasis: After all, this is the Witch King of Angmar, prophesized by Glorfindel to 'not perish by the hands of men'. Lord of the Nazgul. Sauron's single most powerful servant. He destroyed of the Northern Kingdom of Arnor, captured Minas Ithil (later Morgul), killed the last King of Gondor (why they have Stewards now). Sacked Osgilliath... The list goes on. One of the biggest baddies extant. The Balrog? A REALLY bad roll on the ol' Random Encounter Table. This guy? An actual big deal, Sauron's Main Henchman for, like, 2.5 Millenia...'Chop'?  'CHOP?!'  Come. On!  I want menace. I want some slo mo, I want despair and defiance. I want drawn out, loving, camera angles. The Rohirrim fleeing at his dread approach - save Dernhelm/Eowyn who stands in his way against all reason. (And I mean ALL reason. Had the dawn not arrived and forced the Witch King to go rally his army, he might have slapped GANDALF all over the place). I want the fell beast's beheading in glorious technicolor. I want he Witch King's palpable moment of doubt as he realizes that there might be an unfortunate loophole in his predestined invincibility. I want the blow that shatters Eowyn's shield (and arm). I want Merry (also no 'man') wielding the enspelled sword of Westernesse (forged during the desperate war against Angmar over 1000 years earlier) and disrupting the foul magics binding the Witch King to his twisted unlife. I want the desperate thrust between 'crown and mantle' that dispatches him shown for what it was - the single biggest blow for the side of good anybody managed in the whole darn story.And consequences: Just touching this guy with a weapon was so damaging as to be almost certainly fatal save for the intervention of the Returned King and his 'healing hands'...But no. We got 'Chop', a weird little fizzle, and some odd visual effects. Not. Good. Enough. Bombadil and the Wight? Sure, so be it. Scouring? Missed it, but so be it. Warg battle? Stupid, but so be it. No confrontation with Saruman at Orthanc? Unfortunate, but so be it. A 3 minute scene featuring Mumakil surfing by the twinked out elf? Grrrrr, but SO BE IT. But 'chop'? No. I'm sorry Peter, that's a reshoot. Do it the heck over.A'Mal</blockquote>

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