RotK won the Oscars, but which of the LotR movies is really the best?

[Morrus]

Although Return of the King was the movie which scooped all of the Oscars, many people feel that the awards were for the trilogy as a whole, rather than just that episode.

Personally, I feel that RotK contained many of the very best bits of the trilogy (Shelob, the charge of the Rohirrim, the whole battle at Pelenor Fields), but it was the weakest overall of the three movies. I still think it's a remarkably good movie, of course, but the trilogy as a whole is what makes the whole LotR phenomenon so special.

Anyway; now you've seen all three movies, and now the Oscars are over, what would you do if you were the Academy and had a time-machine? If you had to pick one of the three to laud with 11 Oscars, which would it be? For me, it would be the first movie, FotR; it had a special magic which the sequels shared but did not quite match (although, as mentioned, I felt that RotK had the best bits of the trilogy, save one or two).

 

[Shadowdancer]

I really like RotK. I thought TTT EE was much better than the theatrical release. But my all-time favorite chapter of the saga is the first movie -- that's when I became enthralled with the world and the characters.

 

[Chain Lightning]

When I voted in the poll, the decision was based on the theatrical releases. I won't compare the Extended Editions because RotK isn't out in the EE format yet and thus we can't make comparisons at this time. For example, it would be unfair to compare the EE version of Two Towers to theatrical RotK.

I voted for "Fellowship of the Ring". To me, this was the strongest overall. The editing was the best of the three. The craftmanship of the shots, the scenes were most consistant in high quality in the first.

To me, I love RotK and all, but it had the most mistakes of the three. As far as film-making goes. Things that took me out of the realism of the setting the Jackson worked so hard to create in the first movie started falling apart as time went on. I suspect it was due to the fact that....as they got closer to the end of the project they ran out of time, and thus things got more rushed as the series went on. Thus, RotK showed the most signs of ''rushed" scenes and other elements that would've been up to the usual level of quality the first movie showed, but time was running out.

Another reason Fellowship seemed to flow smoother was the fact that ...at that time, the Fellowship was still intact. There were less intercutting to between groups of characters in Fellowship. Once the Fellowship broke into different groups progessing in different parts of the story, the intercutting got more difficult to juggle. Especially when they were trying to make a theatrical version under a certain time limit. That's why we love the EE's so much. Much that was sacrificed is put back in. The difference in quality between FotR theatrical and FotR EE wasn't that big. EE was nicer of course...sure. But the largest jump in quality was between Two Towers theatrical and Two Towers EE. The EE was sooo much better. IMHO.

For now. Fellowship has my vote for the best crafted of the three. Yes, some of the coolest stuff happens in RotK, but as far as film quality goes....FotR is my vote.

 

[LiVeWiRe]

I too voted for FoTR and because I liked the Fellowship together and not separated across Middle Earth. Guess with all of them together it seems most like a 'D&D' party of characters which appeals to me...

And, I'm sure there is some 'it's the first movie' sentiment there as well since this movie provided our 'first look' at Tolkien's world on the silver screen.

-LW

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I voted for RotK using the same reasoning as Chain Lightning. I had to go with only the theatrical releases to base off of since the EEs are entirely different and RotK EE is not even out. FotR was excelent, but RotK inches out ahead. I always felt part of FotR was missing when I first saw it, and I was right when I saw the EE. With RotK it didn't feel like anything was missing (although I know it is). I do feel that FotR EE is better than RotK Theatrical but we shall see what everyone thinks when RotK EE is released. As fot TT I was not happy at all with the theatrical and while the EE helps it still falls short of either FotR or RotK theatricals.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I don't know if you can look at them against each other, they are greater as a whole.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I am voting for The Two Towers for one reason and one reason only:

Gandalf vs. the Balrog

Oooooh yeah.

 

[Wombat]

I love them all. I would gladly watch each of them at least once a month (probably won't, but would be willing to).

But for all that and all that, FotR does it for me most.

Why?

First up, it begins right. The prologue sets the entire tone for the whole trilogy. After that you get the wonderful pastoral feel of The Shire, thus bringing in the sense that the Hobbits are, indeed, common, ordinary, basically goodly folk who know nothing of the outer world. After that the terrors start, slowly, but building. The wider import of what they are up against becomes more pronounced. Bree. Helm's Deep. Rivendell. Moria. Lothlorien. And then the powerful, moving death of Boromir.

From the homelike to the epic, it's all in there.

I love these films to pieces.

They are not word for word they books, but they are the spirit of the books intact, and for me that counts above all.

 

[Celtavian]

re

I liked Fellowship of the Ring best because it cleaved closest to the book of the same name.

 

[KenM]

I am voting for The Two Towers for one reason and one reason only:

Gandalf vs. the Balrog

Oooooh yeah.

That was in FotR. If by best you mean closest to the book, you have to go with Fellowship.