So a friend of mine, not familliar with fantasy, wants to see RotK with Me.

[KenM]

She has not seen the two other movies, She wants to go see Return of the King with me. I told here its a fantasy adventure, and has medievil elements. (knights, kings, ects.). How can I explain to Her whats going with everyone without spoiling the movie for Her?

 

[Klaus]

I certainly do NOT recommend seeing RotK without seeing FotR and tTT... No matter how well you explain the characters and the plot so far, there's no way your friend will get the same empathy with Frodo, Gollum, Sam or Aragorn.

 

[s/LaSH]

Yes, six or eight hours of prep time is needed before going into the movie. Because it's not a movie, it's the last part of a much bigger one. Going in to see it an hour before the end would be just as ill-advised.

Other than that, there really isn't much that needs explaining. Hobbits are short, orcs are mean, that really big nasty looking thing is actually big and nasty. Geeks alone don't make these films big, they're pretty much universal.

 

[Kai Lord]

How can I explain to Her whats going with everyone without spoiling the movie for Her?

By having her watch FOTR and TTT.

 

[Dirigible]

Have her read the Silmarillion.

Kill or cure, mes ami.

 

[KenM]

Problem is, there is no time for her to see the first two before we go to RotK. I forgot to mention that. I would have her watch the first two if there was time. But saying "You have to watch these 7.25 hours(EE) of movie before we go see this one" might turn her off. i might try and change her mind and watch FotR first to see if she likes it and then go to RotK some other time.

 

[Klaus]

Well, watching FotR might be the best choice if watching both is unwieldy (specially the EE). It presents the basic characters, the main artifact, the Nazgul, Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul. Then you can show her a couple of trailers of TTT and explain what everyone did after that (Merry and Pippin got captured because the enemies thought either one of them might have the Ring; Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli pursued; and Frodo and Sam met Gollum, who became a henchman of sorts of Frodo and is leading them to a secret entrance to Mordor. Gollum mistakenly thought that Frodo betrayed him, and that destroyed the last shred of humanity left in the poor creature, who now plots revenge; Boromir's brother, Faramir, meets them, is tempted by the Ring, but ultimatedly lets them go; In a furious battle at a canyon fortress, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the ressurrected Gandalf (now the White) manage to rally the horse-riding nation of Rohan into beating back impossible odds)

Y'know, stuff...

 

[CCamfield]

Problem is, there is no time for her to see the first two before we go to RotK. I forgot to mention that. I would have her watch the first two if there was time. But saying "You have to watch these 7.25 hours(EE) of movie before we go see this one" might turn her off. i might try and change her mind and watch FotR first to see if she likes it and then go to RotK some other time.

Honestly, I think that's the best idea. You could go see another film instead for the moment - Hidalgo is supposed to be pretty good, for instance.

 

[Wombat]

Given that Peter Jackson has publically stated that if you haven't seen the other two films you shouldn't see the third, I'd have to go with the director here.

Without the background of the other two films, someone watching RotK will be lost.

 

[mojo1701]

Given that Peter Jackson has publically stated that if you haven't seen the other two films you shouldn't see the third, I'd have to go with the director here.

Without the background of the other two films, someone watching RotK will be lost.

[Rant]
I tried doing the same thing, and I kept on repeating what I had said before, since the person I told it to didn't understand at all. He kept on referring to Gollum as that "gray alien-thing"...

It's like trying to explain Star Wars. Even to people that have seen the movie. I tell them to read the opening crawl. That really helps. But noooooo. They don't go to a movie to read...
[/Rant]