[SPOILERS] THE Return of the King Thread

[Celtavian]

The point was he was not trying to win the battle, he was trying to buy Frodo time, keep Sauron's attention away from Mt. Doom.

Please do not tell me about this story. I know it better than you more than likely. Know now that I am far more on the Tolkien purist side than not. I much prefer the way the book handled certain scenes than PJ.

Aragorn arrayed his armies in as tactically sound a manner as possible to make it look like he meant real battle in the book. Why? Sauron is intelligent enough to see through a common farce like a battle commander who allows his people to be surrounded by the enemy army before attacking.

Another thing that was fairly corny was the "spotlight of Sauron". That was bad.

This movie was real "hit and miss" for me. Parts were very good (the charge of the Rohirrim being magnificent), but some parts just weren't right.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Fantastic! Wonderful! A fantastic climax to the greatest trilogy in motion picture history.

Parts I especially loved were:

The charge of the Rohirrim.
Eowyn and Merry battling the Witch-King.
Shelob's lair.
Sam's battle with Shelob.
Sam storming Cirith Ungol, slaying orcs as he goes.
The oliphants.
The midair battles between the nazgul and the eagles.

...and that's just off the top of my head.

Out of all the LotR movies, though, I believe that RotK will be the one to benefit most from having an Extended Edition. Things that could possibly be included in the extended edition would be the Eowyn/Faramir romance, the Sauruman scenes (which were cut because they didn't fit), more of Sam and Frodo's trek across Mordor, Aragorn and the dead warriors overtaking the corsairs, etc.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Parts I especially loved were:

The charge of the Rohirrim.

Henceforth known as "Rohgue Squadron"

-Hyp.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Things that could possibly be included in the extended edition would be Aragorn and the dead warriors overtaking the corsairs, etc.

I can't see that one happening... Aragorn's appearance over the side of the ship was supposed to surprise the audience as well as the orcs, but if you see them commandeering the ships in the first place, that would be... unlikely

I'd like to see Sam overhearing orcs talking about the "mighty Elven warrior" on the loose

-Hyp.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Henceforth known as "Rohgue Squadron"

*rimshot*

I can't see that one happening... Aragorn's appearance over the side of the ship was supposed to surprise the audience as well as the orcs, but if you see them commandeering the ships in the first place, that would be... unlikely

I'd like to see Sam overhearing orcs talking about the "mighty Elven warrior" on the loose

You're probably right about the corsairs part. Ah well.

I was kind of disappointed that the Mouth of Sauron didn't make it into the movie. I was looking forward to seeing him present Gandalf and Aragorn with Frodo's gear and seeing the despair on their faces as they believe that Frodo failed in the quest.

 

[TiQuinn]

Just an awesome flick, and I can't wait to see it again! It was very suspenseful, and definitely had some real emotional heft to it...something missing in The Two Towers.

I loved the charge of the Rohirrim! It was one of those scenes where I could almost feel myself rising up out of my seat.

Gollum was ten times nastier in this movie, just the way I like him. The wedge that he drives between Sam and Frodo, and the subsequent encounter with Shelob was fantastic and very suspenseful.

Sean Astin turned in the best performance of the bunch, IMO. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In a way, he really carried the movie.

It's too bad they cut out Saruman. I thought that I wouldn't miss it when I saw the film as a whole but it really did feel unresolved. Gandalf's dismissive "He has no more power" didn't provide the closure needed there. What makes it worse, is when the omission is considered alongside my biggest problem with the movie.....

...Did we really need four or five false endings? There was definitely excess fat on this thing. Take out the Sam gets married scenes, Sam comes home to his wife scenes, Frodo and gang hanging out in the bar afterwards scenes, etc, and you have probably trimmed a full ten to fifteen minutes off the film. What makes it more unbearable are the fade to whites/fade to blacks. It seemed deliberate, and it was funny (in a bad kind of way) to watch so many people in the theater get up from their seats, then sit back down, then get up again, then sit back down, etc., etc. Probably not the best way to end one of the biggest movie epics ever.

 

[Mark]

Please do not tell me about this story. I know it better than you more than likely.

I don't know you but I do know thalmin. You might want to rephrase that "I know it better than you more than likely" part to "There's a slim chance...(etc.)"

 

[Tsyr]

Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond! Grond!

Sorry... I would have seen the movie just to see Grond. And I'll see it again, and ya know what? Seeing Grond again is part of the reason.

 

[Ravellion]

Take out the Sam gets married scenes, Sam comes home to his wife scenes, Frodo and gang hanging out in the bar afterwards scenes, etc, and you have probably trimmed a full ten to fifteen minutes off the film. What makes it more unbearable are the fade to whites/fade to blacks. It seemed deliberate, and it was funny (in a bad kind of way) to watch so many people in the theater get up from their seats, then sit back down, then get up again, then sit back down, etc., etc. Probably not the best way to end one of the biggest movie epics ever.

I think the sailing away (end of an era), the sitting in the pub (going back to normality and a whole different kind of despair right after basking in glory) and the crowning (basking in glory) are too important to take out. I think you could take out at least one, probably both of the Sam/Rosie bits... probably the second one, where he comes home after seeing Frodo off.

Rav

 

[theburningman]

Four words.

Ho. Lee. Shee. It.