the inevitable Lord of the Rings thread

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the inevitable Lord of the Rings thread

Post by Latte Thunder »

Yeah.

So I saw it last night.

Three years of waiting (though I'd been hoping someone would make this since 6th grade). Hype and screen shots abound!

So does it live up to the hype? Did it meet my EXTREMELY high expectations?

Oh yes...

and more.

Truth is, I'm still reeling from it. Trying to process everything I saw last night. Rings isn't just a really good movie. It's Raiders of the Lost Ark good. It's Empire Strike Back good. This is the kind of movie that's going to have ten year olds reminiscing about it twenty years down the road.

Everything about it is fantastic. The incredible sets, the locations. Jackson shot this movie on location in Middle Earth, I swear! The actors aren't just actors portraying popular fantasy characters, the actors ARE the characters. Particularly Ian McKellen. I've seen him do his thing before and I thought he was pretty solid as James Whale, shit... I even liked his Magneto. But McKellen is entirely Gandalf here. This is the difinitive role for him. He can do all the Shakespeare he likes and he'll never be as in-character as he was for Rings. Everything about his Gandalf is the mark of a great actor. Even in the more lighter moments, before the story takes off into darkness, you can see the huge burden he carries. It's on his face. He knows what's coming and it pains him greatly to put that burden on good friends. It's all in his eyes.

Elijah Wood just looks like a hobbit naturally so he was a good choice to play the lead. He, like McKellen, is also good. Not nearly on the same level as McKellen but excellent none the less. The other hobbits are great too. The hobbit photography is really quite interesting as well. A lot of it seemed like clevel camera tricks to create a height difference, but when you see Bilbo compared to Gandalf's height for the first time, it's very off-putting. A weird shot, and I'm still trying to figure out how WETA did it.

I could go on and on but I'll cut it a little short with the characters. Just know that Aragorn and Legolas are bad ass. Vigo Mortensen just makes the character! He is so incredibly cool... Orlando Bloom's Legolas was something else also. His action scenes are incredible!

Highlights:

The Orc battle in Moria is one of the most intense fights ever. It's total chaos. Great stuff. Jackson's action photography isn't on par with some of my favorites but it's very appropriate to the battle scenes. These are big fights and there's an awful lot going on... I just wish he'd stop for a second so I could see what they were doing.

The Balrog is one of the coolest monsters ever put to film. EVER! Words can't accurately describe how awesome this thing is. all the build up and hype surrounding this creature is completely worth it. The CGI put into it is so awesome.

Uruk-Hai... The super orc's created by Saruman. These are just incredible, fearsome creatures. When they're finally armed and set loose on the forests, you know bad things are on the way. The make up on these characters is incredible. Lucas should be taking notes. Not EVERY creature needs to be CGI. Appliances and make up still get the job done. Especially here. This character design and make up job is incredible.

Christopher Lee as Saruman is awesome! Just awesome! I haven't seen him in anything recent (aside from his cameo in Sleepy Hollow) and he still rocks the world.

I suppose I could go on and on and on about this. Bottom line, drop the cash to see it. It's an incredible movie that lives up to the hype.
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Post by Griff [Mola] »

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK good? THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK good?

My god man, do you know what you're saying?

I guess I'll just have to find out for myself come 26th December.
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Post by Griff [Mola] »

This is the kind of movie that's going to have ten year olds reminiscing about it twenty years down the road.
Heh, heh...
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Post by Latte Thunder »

Griff, I speak no lies...

I really liked it THAT much considering that Empire and Raiders occupy my top 10 of all time list.
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Post by FOG »

Twas not bad. Great sets costumes.

A few shoddy effects... but all in all...not bad at all.

I enjoyed the seriousness it kept as opposed to oh say.... The Phantom Menace?
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Post by Darth Tanner »

I just got back from seeing this tonight and thought it was great as well. The sets, costumes, and special effects were all top-notch. The movie also benefitted from a great cast. Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee were both great even if their parts were somewhat smaller than expected. But I thought Elijah Wood, Sean Bean and Viggo Morteson all made the movie shine. Aside from a slow start, this movie kept me involved for the entire three hours (PEARL HARBOR couldn't even do that!). In short, I loved FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (this film's proper title) and look forward to the next two installments.
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Post by Kimberly »

I just got back a lil while ago from seeing it and was blown away... as someone
else mentioned I too could of sat for 9 more hours. The acting I love... the
location was just breathtaking at moments... the make up was killer... and I'm
not one fer cgi work but it was outstanding... by far the best work with cgi I
have ever seen. I can not say enough good things about this film!

Maybe it's the rp geek in me... but I am now off to go play some Ultima
Online... *dons her mytheril chainmail* for I must rid the lands of the evil
orcs... and on my way slay a wraith or two *grabs elven bow* and on the way one
can only hope to run into a wyvrn..
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Post by I am 138 »

I guess I'll break the streak here. I think it was the least of Jackson's efforts. It seemed like a Hollywood movie to me, and even The Frighteners had distincly Jackson elements....

Not that being the least of his films is a bad thing. I did find the film slow(ish) but also realize characters and plots are being set into motion. Having never read the books, I will say that there are somethings that are not explained well enough from the film alone. Like the big hawk thing. And that elves are lighter or something 'cause they can walk on snow. Also, many of the characters are not developed, like the dwarf guy.

The cgi was good except for a few tracking shots and the airborne creatures.

Great battle scenes, chaotic yet pretty decipherable. Esp. the elven archer kickin' everyone's ass...that was neat.

I just don't like the story very much, so I was just left with a series of impressive visuals, which isn't enough for a three hour movie. It was well done, and I can appreciate it, but didn't find it very enjoyable.

And why didn't the dwarf guy know how to get into his cousin's place?



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Post by Chris Slack »

I just got back from this and have to say I was VERY impressed. The 3 hours went by so fast I could hardly believe it. I'm definitely ready for the next installment.

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Post by Griff [Mola] »

Alrighty, saw this a couple of days ago...

Hmmm, seemed like it went for four hours to me but that's a good four hours. Since I hadn't read the books, I kept expecting it to end but it would just keep on rocking.

Yes indeed, there's some absolute prime shit in this movie (My favourite? The cave troll, man!) but I won't go on. I think its only real fault would be that Jackson seems reliant on the 3 movie thing and has left the answers to a few nagging questions until the next parts.

But fuck it, who cares? I had a ball.
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Post by Remo D »

Caught it with the wife and daughter last night, and we were all blown away--no time for details right now, but Latte summed it up right from the start. All that and Christopher Lee! Excellent troll, excellent fire demon, hellacious battle scenes--a great way to end the year, all told.
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Post by Chris Slack »

I saw it again tonight and it was just as good as the first time Image
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Post by Muncher666 »

Lord of the Rings is easily one of the coolest films I have seen in centuries. It was startlingly good.

As for 138's comment about the film being not very Jackson-esque - in style, I agree. But this is admirable, Lord would not have worked as a Jackson style movie, and he obviously realised this need. However, the action scenes are shot with a very 'fast cut moving shot' style Jackson flair.

But I'll be the first man in this forum to say it brought me to tears to see a film work so very well.

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Post by Griff [Mola] »

Yup, just got back from seeing this for the second time and it seemed to move alot faster. Not only can I really appreciate Jacko's pacing of scenes but there's still plenty of stuff alluded to in the dialogue and action to keep the butter churning.

One thing: I could've used just one more taste of Christopher Lee towards the end. I'm sure I'll get my fill in the next two movies but without them on the horizon, this flick would have difficulty standing on its own so unsuspecting viewers beware: you'll be back for more.

Not neccessarily a bad thing...
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Post by I am 138 »

Originally posted by Muncher666:


As for 138's comment about the film being not very Jackson-esque - in style, I agree. But this is admirable, Lord would not have worked as a Jackson style movie, and he obviously realised this need. However, the action scenes are shot with a very 'fast cut moving shot' style Jackson flair.

I agree that he probably did that on purpose, but the lack of Jackson style made it have little interest for me, as I dislike the story. The only reason I was even remotely curious about this movie was PJ's involvement, and personaly I woulda prefered he spent his time doing a commentary for the Bad Taste DVD.

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Post by Griff [Mola] »

Scored the Malaysian bootleg DVD of this which, rumour has it, was sourced from a leaked New Line Academy Awards screener. As such the quality ain't half bad, well, as much as 3 hours on a single layer disc will allow. Its even got DD 5.1 but the mix sounds a bit off if you ask me.

Best of all its got a 'Property of New Line Cinema etc. etc.' scrolling text message that pops up every 15 minutes or so. Could make a good drinking game - try skulling/chugging a beer each time it pops up and see if you can make it to the end of the movie without soiling yourself - or each other.

All in all, not bad for $AUS8.00.
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Post by Latte Thunder »

I have the Academy Screener SVCD which is sourced from the DVD screener. It's spread across a monstrous 4 CDs but god damn! You just don't get much better in terms of quality. You could mistake it for a DVD if you didn't know that it was a CD in the player. This is probably the best release there will be for it until the DVD hits.
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Post by Latte Thunder »

The oscar nominations came down last night and Fellowship was nominated for a mean 13 awards. The most ever. While I doubt it'll sweep, it'll probably pick up quite a few. It'll probably take a back seat to the major awards. I'm betting that best picture will go to A Beautiful Mind and best director to Ron Howard but out of 13 it ought to take home a might reward.
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