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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 1276059" data-attributes="member: 2205">Well, I'm profoundly let down.  Yesterday, as has been my tradition for three years now, I went and saw a Lord of the Rings movie on opening day in a nice theatre, and now I can never do that again, except on the off-chance that the Hobbit really is made.  I'll have to see it again to tell for sure where this movie rates vs. it's predecessors (and I will on Friday, possibly twice, in fact.)  I also feel this was a fitting ending to the series, but I'm already anxiously awaiting the Extended Edition; much of this movie felt rushed, despite it's length.  In fact, I had to explain quite a bit to my wife who has never read the series and who wasn't following some of the abbreviated plot streams.  In particular, the movie didn't give a good explanation of why Frodo had to leave at the end, and she didn't get that one at all without some discussion.  I also explained about the dead men at Dunharrow, but as soon as I did, the movie did, so I was a bit premature there!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Despite Celtavian's complaints, I think this movie was quite possibly the one that cleaves most closely to the books; certainly there's nothing as significant a departure as Theoden and Faramir's characters from the Two Towers.There were some powerful emotional moments in this one as well.  I've been a bit surprised lately, while rewatching the Two Towers on extended DVD and now this one, at the emotional impact that still resonates in our modern culture from the portrayal of heroism as a kind of Ragnarokian fatalism.  When the Rohirrim all chanted "Death!" as they charged into battle against a host they had no hope of defeating, I had shivers throughout my body.  When Sam, realising (apparently) for the first time, that there would be no return trip, but he still stoutly picked Frodo up and carried him most of the way up the slope of Mt. Doom, I felt something similar.  And I understood the satisfaction Theoden had during his dying moments as he said he could now go to his mighty ancestors and not feel ashamed to stand amongst them, or Faramir's willingness to go on an errand that he knew to be suicide.Indeed, many of the moments that were taken straight from the book resonated much more powerfully with me than they ever did reading it, because I had never imagined them to be powerful moments somehow (although the reverse was certainly often true as well.)[sigh]  Like I said, I'm terribly let down to have the whole experience be essentially over, with the exception of the extended edition scenes to see still.  But it will be fun to have my own personal marathon of the three movies once I have all three extended DVDs -- certainly I can have that be my tradition every Christmas holiday when I have the time at home to do that!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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