[SPOILERS] THE Return of the King Thread

[Desdichado]

Actually, Peter Jackson was struggling to make two films. When he went from Miramax to New Line, they actually told him that it didn't make any sense to not do three. Three cheers for the suits! That doesn't happen everyday.

 

[barsoomcore]

Yes. Michael de Luca (President at New Line at the time) deserves a lot of credit for his faith in Peter Jackson's vision and his willingness to do it right.

Will it change the way movies are made? No question -- it already has. I suspect that the decisions to make the Matrix sequels as a unit AND to make Kill Bill into two parts were both easier decisions to make in the wake of the bold decision by New Line to commit to the entire LotR project up front.

New Line looks awfully smart right now.

JD, what's up with the Wham! quote?

 

[Desdichado]

Hey, everyone's gotta celebrate the holidays in their own way.

Maybe next time I come to Vancouver, I'll celebrate it in that lovely leather bar you describe so well...

Err... also, don't forgot Back to the Future 2 and 3 were made as a single unit. For whatever reason that didn't change the way movies were made.

 

[dagger]

That's an odd scene to look forward to, since all they do is look at each other menacingly for a while, then a c0ck crows and the Witch-king hightails it away from the gate. That's hardly the stuff of epic film-making.
I kinda felt that way as well. At least I have some kind of cinematic LotR experience still to look forward to!

I actually think that is a very exciting point in the battle, not the end all be all of moments, but it is very cool nonetheless.

 

[shilsen]

That's an odd scene to look forward to, since all they do is look at each other menacingly for a while, then a c0ck crows and the Witch-king hightails it away from the gate. That's hardly the stuff of epic film-making.

In rode the Lord of the Nazgul. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgul, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dinen.

"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flame ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. And as if in answer, there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last."

____________

An odd scene? Maybe it wouldn't work as well on film (I think it would) , but that will always be the most memorable section of the book for me.

Edit: Apparently the synonym for rooster can't be used here

 

[Buttercup]

Sigh. I think I need to read the books again. It's been about 18 months. I read them for the first time in 1974, and have been reading them every two years or so since then. They still have the power to move me.

 

[Vocenoctum]

The pacing seemed off to me - the film just moved too fast. This made it less of a chore to sit through, but not so great a film as it otherwise might have been. It should have been 4 hours. I expect the EE to fix this, but waiting another year is going to grate.

I sort of felt the same way, that there was a rush to the battle, but then I remembered that the movie is 3 hours+!
I mean, at some point you have to say "stop" and I'm surprised they even let it get as long as it got.

Since it was announced back before the release of FotR, I've been defending Jackson's decision to cut the Scouring of the Shire as unnecessary and anticlimactic. Yet, at the end of RotK, I felt the lack of it.

I didn't miss it. The fact that Book Fans have been harping on it for so long is the only reason I even remembered it.
I like heroes that are content in themselves, the look the guy gave them when they came riding home in all their finery from saving the world...

that look that said "bah, another bunch of malcontents"

That was perfect for me! Sending them home to fight some more, that wasn't important to me. They did all they needed to do by that point.

 

[theburningman]

Without bragging too much, let me say that I wish I had had an eighth grade teacher as cool as I am. Today (the last day before Christmas break), we spent the morning before lunch watching FotR, and the afternoon watching TTT. Not a bad way to spend a school day, huh? I figure I'm going to single-handedly raise RotK's box office take by about $1500, since almost all of my 130 students said they were going to get their parents to take them to see it this weekend.

Anyway, while we were watching it, I was really focusing on details that I hadn't noticed before, and how they paid off in RotK. I can't remember who it was on this thread who commented about Frodo's abrupt decision to send Sam away and how it just wasn't believable. I might have been inclined to agree with them before today, but not anymore.

Frodo's Ring-induced paranoia and distrust are built very steadily through the first two movies. In Lothlorien he imagines that the others are giving him evil looks. In TTT he often sides with Gollum against Sam, most of the time because he is inspired by pity like Bilbo was. When I take the progression through all three movies, Frodo's abandonment of Sam doesn't seem abrupt or out of character at all to me. It also serves to ramp up the tension for the audience. Maybe it could have been done more closely to the book, but I'm not sure it would make for a better film scene.

My two cents.

 

[Endur]

I wonder how many hours of film it would have taken to make a complete remake of LOTR. Many more, I guess. Even with everything they covered, they left out a lot.

I'm very happy with ROTK. Especially the part covering the Rohirrim.

We didn't see as much of the Gondorians, mostly just Pippin and Faramir and Denethor and loyal soldiers obeying. Awesome architecture. Some mention of Denthor's use of the palantir as one of the causes of his insanity would have been appropriate.

 

[Mystery Man]

I wonder how many hours of film it would have taken to make a complete remake of LOTR. Many more, I guess. Even with everything they covered, they left out a lot.

Word is, there's 55 hours of good film. We've seen what, nie or ten? Word also is, there's a 55 hour version some time in the future.

Just a rumor, but wouldn't that be cool?