Matrix and LotR comparison poll

[LuYangShih]

The Lord Of The Rings movies are just good action flicks. Perhaps I am biased, but they certainly do not match the books upon which they are based.

 

[Tom Cashel]

And yet you can count the number of true "action" scenes in the first two LotR films on your fingers. i.e. less than ten of them in about 6 hrs. of film.

(Whether they "match" the books would make a good thread...there's probably about 4,837,932 of them out there in the archives...)

 

[LuYangShih]

Shall we count the running time of those battles? Helms Deep alone is nearly an hour long. The rest of the movies are usually focused on scenery shots and special effects. The character interaction is thin at best. Then again, perhaps I blocked out those parts from my mind.

 

[Quasqueton]

The Lord of the Rings films are truly epic, and tap into the deep, deep wellspring of mythology. They deal with loyalty, courage, fate, friendship, life and death...they ask eternal human questions. They depict (mostly) ordinary creatures faced with extraordinary circumstances. They do it with grace, and style, and a simplicity that is not degraded by the wealth of special effects.

Sounds like a horoscope. Vaguely poetic, but lacking in substantive information.

Are you reviewing the books or the movie? I suspect most people who rave on the films are really supporting their love of the books.

I'm not saying this just to argue, but I really did not see this in the LotR films. I'll not take issue line by line, but suffice it to say I think you couldn't back up those statements with examples from the movies.

Quasqueton

 

[Tom Cashel]

Heh. I notice you take no issue with my summary execution of The Matrix.

Eternal human dilemma: For me the LotR films are about death. The human constant, the fate that awaits us all, the burning eye and the shadow swelling in the east.

The Big Questions: As a human being, what will you do with the time that you've been given? Will you make a stand, try to achieve something noble in the face of certain doom? Or will you live in the shadow, side by side with it, and hope for the best?

Lu has a good point about the battle scenes...but the things that really resonate with me are not those scenes. The steady crumbling of Frodo, the last words of Boromir, the antics of Merry and Pippin, the loyalty of Sam Gamgee, the pitiful madness of Gollum, the inability and unwillingness of the ancient and magical races to muster any substantive resistance against Sauron--these are the things I remember best.

These films follow the cycle of myth as shown by Tolkien and explicated by Joseph Campbell...but they boil down Tolkien's tangential masterpiece into a single powerful tale.

The grace, style and simplicity are just my opinion.

...And whaddya mean "vaguely" poetic??

 

[Quasqueton]

Heh. I notice you take no issue with my summary execution of The Matrix.

I asked about LotR. Your "summary execution" was unsolicited and of no interest to me.

I asked about apples, and you answered about apples and oranges. I thought your apples comment was a non-answer, and I ignored your oranges comments as irrelevant.

Now I'll read the rest of your post.

Quasqueton

 

[Tom Cashel]

Nice attitude.

Now I'll stop posting in this thread.

 

[LuYangShih]

Well, Cashel, that is where we differ. The movies mutilated all of the characters so badly from their incarnations in the books, that I simply could not enjoy most of the moments you call your favorites. Boromir in particular was an utter disgrace.

PS

I really think it is silly to take a discussion about a fantasy movie on an internet board seriously, and especially personally.

 

[Quasqueton]

Eternal human dilemma: For me the LotR films are about death. The human constant, the fate that awaits us all, the burning eye and the shadow swelling in the east.

The Big Questions: As a human being, what will you do with the time that you've been given? Will you make a stand, try to achieve something noble in the face of certain doom? Or will you live in the shadow, side by side with it, and hope for the best?

Lu has a good point about the battle scenes...but the things that really resonate with me are not those scenes. The steady crumbling of Frodo, the last words of Boromir, the antics of Merry and Pippin, the loyalty of Sam Gamgee, the pitiful madness of Gollum, the inability and unwillingness of the ancient and magical races to muster any substantive resistance against Sauron--these are the things I remember best.

These films follow the cycle of myth as shown by Tolkien and explicated by Joseph Campbell...but they boil down Tolkien's tangential masterpiece into a single powerful tale.

The grace, style and simplicity are just my opinion.

Just as I thought. You must be thinking of the books, because this ain't in the movies.

How can you say that a movie with only 1 character death out of a dozen main characters is about death? Hell, 2 other characters come back from (near) death -- 1 with more power to show for the experience.

...And whaddya mean "vaguely" poetic??

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt ;-)

Isn't Frodo just "The One" by another name? Sauron is The Architect. Gandalf is Morpheus. Elrond is The Oracle. Gollum is Agent Smith. Sam is Trinity. Aragorn is Niobe. Saruman is Commander Lock. Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin are those now-dead characters who helped Neo get into the Source [Mordor].

I could compare the other characters too . . .

Quasqueton

 

[Quasqueton]

Nice attitude, .

Now I'll stop posting in this thread.

What? Because I didn't respond to the flame bait?

Quasqueton