Well, I've got an addictive personality, at least. I've seen Lord of the Rings twice so far, and I love it. It's just...it's huge. It's so big it's mindblowing. It's so big that "secondary" characters can be important and essential. It's so big that seeing it once is not enough to wrap your mind around it.
I came out of the first viewing shaking like a leaf. For the first time ever, I like a movie better than the book. Some movies I have liked equally, but never better until now. To me, Tolkien is a slow read. There's so much detail and so much travel that I get mired in the details and can't enjoy it, no matter how magnificant the world nor how incredible the tale. I read the first book and it was torture. The movie was...mind blowing.
Allow me to detail a few of the things that I liked better in the flick. Um, be warned *MAJOR* spoilers follow.
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| I never really understood that Frodo's courage, his heroism, is simply in carrying the Ring. Oh, they tell you, but it never really seems that hard. You never get struck to the heart with the hardship of it, the struggle, the temptation, the corruption, the pure unadultered evil of it. All of that gets diluted by unending detail of description and archaic language. | The music and acting and the camera work all contribute to this understanding of his courage that brought tears to my eyes. I loved Frodo for having that strength that no one else could muster. |
| The "secondary" characters of the first book (Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin) seemed totally useless. I never really saw why they were there. I mean, they fought in the battles, but they never really seemed to be the ones making a difference. Merry and Pippin in particular seemed more like friends along for the ride. Boromir seemed only the doubter, the betrayer, and Legolas was little more than a scout, if that. | Despite having a mere three hours to develop *nine* main characters, the screenwriters and the actors did a beautiful job. I felt Boromir's struggle, his shame, his pain. I stopped breathing when he was shot and I got teary when he called Aragorn his king. Legolas was beautiful, otherworldly, swift, light. He had faith, strength, and a good eye. He was often the first to sound a warning, the last to leave a fight. It was he who delievered the killing blow to the cave troll, and he who brought the nine across the gap in the stairs. Gimli remained little used, but he was more present than in the book. He had no hesitation in attempting to destroy the Ring in council, his pain in Moria was palpable, and he was always a warrior. Merry and Pippin, so dangerously close to being comic relief, were true friends with true courage. They put themselves between Frodo and the Ringwraiths on the old watchtower, they threw themselves at the cave troll without hesitation, and they led off a small army of orcs to save Frodo. |
| The first book ends in a really silly place. Sam and Frodo go off on their own, but what about the others? You have no clue. It's really unsatisfying. It's like they came all that way, and then they didn't matter. They were immaterial. Pointless. | Boromir's death is heart wrenching, and knowing that the others will go after Merry and Pippin really brings purpose and suspense to the ending. You know that the fellowship is not broken and forgotten. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas continue the quest. |
| The book never gives you an idea of the scale of the evil of Mordor. You here "Sauron is massing his forces" a hundred times, but there is never a description of those forces (aside from the Ringwraiths), never any talk of what kind of army he is raising. It just doesn't seem all that threatening. Thus, there is no real urgency to the quest. | You see a lot of Mordor in the movie. It's overwhelming. From the first battle (the one in the past) to the "present" desoluation of the mine and the birth of the army you are struck with the utter necessity of destroying this evil. |
| As far as I can remember (I have a good memory for books and I read it mere weeks ago), there is never any mention of exactly how Sauron survived and why the Ring wanted to return to him in particular. You were expected to take it for granted. | The connection between Sauron and the Ring gave me chills. Literally. Both Gandalf and Aragorn speak of it, and the power of those scenes is astonishing. |
Finally, because there had to be at least one, the only part of the movie I didn't like...
...was the scene when Arwen tells Aragorn that she will give up her immortality for him. This was a good scene, and it was well acted, but it just didn't fit. The scene before, by the sword, fit perfectly. Then you suddenly cut to them in the trees. They have a conversation, and back to the action. It was...abrupt. It didn't work. It was also only two minutes long, so it's not a really big deal.