Twenty years of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings"

[GregX]

Over twenty years now... and I remember seeing Fellowship of the Ring on opening night while home on winter break from my freshman year of college.

In fact... for nostalgia's sake, I dug out my "Fellowship of the Ring" review from my old LiveJournal... LOL!!! The ancient days of LiveJournal... this is what I wrote after I got home from the theater.

*****

There were very few films this year that I really found worth my time to go see, let alone get excited about months before they open. There were a few.....some of them didn't disappoint, and some were abominable pieces of hot monkey feces (Burton's Planet of the Apes. Stick to the Goth crap, Tim.). There was one film though, that I had been waiting on for ages....The Fellowship of the Ring. Now, while I am a huge Tolkien fan, I'm not a super, uber, rabid foaming-at-the-mouth Tolkien fan. I recognize the man's genius, and that LOTR is THE definitive work of fantasy fiction, but I'm not somebody who has made LOTR their entire life. The trilogy ranks up there on my personal list of the greatest books ever written, but I'm not anal enough about the novels to start to pick the movie apart based upon them (more on that later).

Anyway, I caught the midnight screening, because hey, I wanted to be the first kid on my block to see the film, and why wait till the late morning to catch the flick when my insomnia dictated that I had a few hours of consciousness left to kill? So I checked out the late screening. The place was pretty packed, and the crowd was enthusiastic. After waiting for a good half-hour for them to run something other than advertisements and Britney Spears Pepsi commercials on the screen (we get it, Bob Dole isn't talking about the dog), the coming attractions played. I always love coming attractions....it gives me an idea of what flicks I may want to see in the near future, and what to stay the hell away from. Here's a rundown of the ones they aired.

"Queen of the Damned". Starring the Artist Formerly Alive Known As Aaliyah. This is some sort of bastard sequel to "Interview with a Vampire", and dear God does this reek of bad B-Movie. Here's the skinny – Aaliyah is big bad Egyptian-like Nubian vampire queen, who apparently likes to kill everything, human and vampire included. Lestat hooks up with her, other vampires plot to take them down. Yawn. Too bad THIS had to be her last flick before she died.

"Rollerball". Okay, here's a nifty idea. Take a really crappy 70s sci-fi flick, and update it for the new millennium. The result? Sh!t on a cracker. And they want you to take a big bite. Starring Jean Reno (who hasn't done anything interesting since The Professional), Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (donning the worst wig I've ever seen and using the worst accent I've ever heard), LL Cool J (who just nauseates me on many levels), and some pretty boy tool who I've never heard of before. This film looks only slightly better than that Rollerjam crap they had on TNN a year or so back.

"Spider-Man". WELL. So we know there will be one film I'll be seeing this summer! However, the plot seems weak, I'm not sure about Sam Raimi's directing, this has "blockbuster" written all over it (and not in the good way), Tobey MacGuire has muscles but sounds like a little girl, and the Green Goblin costume is maybe the most abysmal thing I've seen in years (I mean, it looks as if Joel Schumacher designed it). But, the sfx look good, Kirsten Dunst is hot (thank you, wet t-shirt shot), and I'm a comic book mark so I'll watch it anyway.

"Orange County". This has something to do with a kid in a California surfing town looking to leave his home and get accepted into Stanford. There's a mix-hap which forces him to try to apply in person.

"Blade 2" This was more of a teaser trailer. Most of the shots seemed to be lifted from the first film, with a couple new ones of Blade striking cool poses ("Great Saiyaman!!!"), and an all-too brief glimpse of the Vampire assault team (led by Ron Perlman) that Blade teams up with. I've heard this film is gory, gory, gory, and gory, AND it doesn't star Stephen Dorff, so I'm there.

"Austin Powers 3: Goldmember". Memo to Mike Myers: The joke has worn thin. That is all. Teaser trailer featuring Mini-Me dressed as Austin Powers running around being chased by other minutes in London. Way to run it into the ground, guys.

Finally, the movie started. So, what were my opinions of the flick? It was something like

BEST MOVIE EVER.

Well, that's really not that fair. I haven't seen every movie ever made, so I suppose I can't make that statement. In that case, I'd have to settle for

COOLEST MOVIE EVER.

Hmm.....again, there might be a cooler movie out there that I haven't seen....so, I'll just have to say that this movie is

PERFECT.

And it is. It's absolutely, 100%, perfect. This is as good as it gets, folks. From the acting, to the story, to the cinematography, to the special effects....it's perfect. It can get no better.

Now, I read ****'s review, and honestly, it really pissed me off and also it frightened me that there are people out there in this world who are so consumed with the small details, that they want to nitpick such a great film to pieces just because of meaningless sh!t like, for example, Tom Bombadil being left out of the film. WHO CARES. THIS IS AS GOOD AS YOU WILL EVER GET IT, SO STEP BACK AND REALIZE HOW GREAT THIS FILM. If Tolkien himself had ever deigned to write a screenplay for LOTR, it would look like this. Maybe not 100% exactly like this, but honestly, I don't even think Tolkien could do better than what Pete Jackson has done. So quit your goddamn nitpicking. This isn't Dungeons and Dragons, geek boys and girls. This is an absolutely perfect translation of the books, an adaptation created with such loving detail that in a thousand years of films no one could possibly approach this material and do a better job than was done here. "Well, this wasn't in the book, and this was done a little differently, and – " SHUT UP. It doesn't matter. Normally, I'm the first to nitpick. I mean, take Spider-Man. If they screw the movie up, I'll will have a mad-on for them like no one else. But my point is, criticism of such trivial matters concerning THIS film are just unnecessary and foolish. Why? Because this isn't some weak adaptation of the book. THIS IS PERFECT. This film is so good on so many levels, that petty and inconsequential criticism is worthless. It's like looking at the Mona Lisa and pointing out one lone chip of the paint, or listening to Mozart searching for one note hit off-key. This is perfection. Enjoy it for what it is, instead of trying to find a flaw.

There's the acting. If you can call it that. Because the actors don't act, they *become* their roles. McKellan IS Gandalf. Never did I look at him and think about the actor in the role, because he WAS the role. It's almost ungodly. Elijah Wood is Frodo. From the beginning of the film, showing Frodo's carefree nature, to the end where the burden of the Ring is upon him, he's perfect. Sean Austin as Sam is remarkable. He conveys all of the brotherly love and unwavering loyalty perfectly. Billy Boyd as Pip and Dominic Monaghan as Merry add humor and a light-hearted nature to a film that is often immensely dark. Viggo Mortensen is utterly believable in his role as Aragorn. John Rhys-Davies as Gimli, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Sean Bean as Boromir, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Liv Tyler as Arwen, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Ian Holm as Bilbo......all are unbelievable. They take their roles, and make them real. It's dead on perfect.

The story is perfect too. The adaptation here is perhaps the best I've ever seen for a novel to the screen. The parts that were added brought a new layer of depth to the film, IMO outweighing anything that was cut or reduced to make the film fit time constraints. Saruman's increased role in the film was wonderful (The fight with him and Gandalf was UNNECESSARY??? There is no hope for you.), as it shows just how corrupted he has become and how much of a threat he truly is, the birth of the Uruk-Hai was chilling (as was their field commander, Lurtz), and the opening introductory sequence was among the best and most awesome intros to a film that I have ever seen. There's too much to get into here, little parts which I loved, like the other world that Frodo slips into using the ring, the horror of the Ringwraiths, the awful power of the Great Eye of Sauron.....it's scary what Jackson has done here.

The directing is dead on.....I have seen every film that Jackson had directed, from "Bad Taste" to "Meet the Feebles" to "Heavenly Creatures"....and this is by far his best work ever. He has accomplished something here that I don't really think the big guns of Hollywood could have. Spielberg couldn't have made a film this good with the same material.

The special effects were.....they can't be described by words. The imagery here.....Middle Earth is REAL. It's real. It exists somewhere, and Pete Jackson found it, and that's where they've been filming things these past 2 years, not New Zealand. From the Shire, to Rivendell, to the terror of Mordor to the dwarven architecture of the Mines of Moria, this IS Middle-Earth. It's real. The attention to detail here is breathtaking. I defy you to not look at Rivendell in particular or Moria and not have your jaw drop. It doesn't look like cheesy CGI effects. It's astounding, realistic imagery.

The forces of Sauron......incredible. The Orc army kicks the ass of anything I've ever seen in a film as far as bad guy hordes go. Stormtroopers? Screw them. Armies of Anubis, a la Mummy 2? Cheap crap. Orcs rule. They move like animals, they act like beasts, they swarm like insects. They are truly frightening creatures to behold, and no two are alike. The detail in the Orcs alone, from their costumes and weaponry to their facial characteristics is unreal. I want to join the Fighting Uruk Hai. The Ringwraiths? Some of the most nightmarish creatures ever created for film. Sauron? I want to grow up to be just like him. From his all-too-brief scene in the beginning (bitch-slapping away the forces of good with his mace) to the Great Eye, Sauron is a real force of evil in the film. You can literally feel how dark and powerful he is. The Ring itself is a living thing in this film, drawing others to it and bending their will to its own. There wasn't enough Gollum for me, but what we did see was disturbing. The Cave Troll was horrific, and truly one hell of monstrous force. That's what the damn Rancor should have been. The Krakken (I know that's not it's true name) was fantastic. And finally.....there was IT. The Balrog. GodDAMN. It may not go down in history as the coolest looking movie monster of all time (although it arguably damn well is), but it will be remembered as one of the most memorable). It was truly an awe-inspiring creation. It looks exactly like what I would imagine the demons of hell to appear as.

I could go on for hours about this film. Bottom line: this is it, folks. It will get no better. Never before, and never again, will Tolkien's work be done so perfectly. And you will be hard-pressed to fine a film that is as all-together flawless as this film is. Best adaptation of a book EVER. This is the film – and trilogy – that changes everything. It will most likely change genre films as we know them (at least in terms of special effects and attention to storytelling) and fantasy films will NEVER be the same, because this movie unzips its pants, whips out it's mule, and pisses on everything that has ever come before it. It's THAT DAMN GOOD.

If you haven't seen the film yet, DO IT NOW. Don't wait. Sit back, and be blown away.

As it stands, I can't wait for another two years to see this trilogy complete. Hell, I may have to put aside my plans to destroy the world just long enough to see this trilogy done. I have a new god to worship, and his name is Pete Jackson. Come kneel at his altar.

Lucas who?

***

That was... a little over the top. Definitely the younger, more obnoxious GregX from back in the day. As opposed to the much older and maybe slightly less obnoxious GregX of today. Although, I think my commentary on the trailers was fun. Except for Spider-Man and Blade 2 who remembers the rest?

But I love those movies to death even all these years later. Every year I watch the Extended Editions.

And again, I say... Lucas who?

[talonmalon333]

This is still my favorite movie trilogy. I rewatched it in early 2020 (immediately before the lockdown began) and it was just as good. I especially love the extended additions, although there's nothing wrong with the theatrical cuts (aside from Saruman's ending).

[Floyd]

During the lockdown, I also rewatched Lord of the Rings in addition to Harry Potter and the Star Wars saga. It was fun, plus I couldn't remember some of the scenes.