i cracked a tear when i saw liv tyler near the end when she gets with aragorn.. man what a beauty..... oh yeah i also have the game on XBOX and its so freakin awesome probably the best video game from a movie ever!!!
LOVED IT !!! I thought it started a bit slow...but once it got going...WOW !!! I cried when Aragorn told the Hobbits that they bow to no one..... I can only assume that the hour and 5 minutes that Peter Jackson had to cut out to get down to the release size will be put back into the extended version. Things like Saruman, and Faramir and Eowyn hooking up while he is being healed, and possibly the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate. I did not mind one bit the changes Peter Jackson made to the story to make it flow better in the theatre. In my mind this is BY FAR the best Trilogy of movies ever made. WONDERFUL movie making......simply MAGIC !! DD PS. If you want the barrow downs, you need to buy my next game.
just got back a couple hours ago...... awesome. simply an awesome flick. now i can't wait for the extended version to come out. an extra hour and 5 mins? bring it on. best trilogy ever.
Sounds like everyone feels pretty much the same way I did about this movie. It Rocks!! Are these 3 books (4 counting The Hobbit) the only ones that Tolkien wrote involving these characters/story, or are there others? I'd like to read the books, and I was just wondering if there are others out there, should they be read before or after these?
the Silmarillion deals with the previous history of Middle Earth, alot of the characters that are mentioned as long ago history in the FOTR series are in this book. The only characters that are actually in the FOTR and the Silmarillion are the Elves...(Elrond, Galadriel, etc) and Sauron.. it is a great read tho as it explains all the back history of Middle Earth
Question for everyone. I liked the first two movies, I thought they were cool. But I was not "Ga ga" over them per se. I saw them on DVD. I am very interested in this movie seeing as it has gotten tremendous reviews! I am not a big fan of overly long movies in the theaters...I get antsy. I know this movie is buttass long. 3 hours and 40minutes with previews included. My quesiton is to those that have seen it. Is the pacing fast in this movie? Lots of nonstop action etc? Are there lull points? In other words, would you say that the movie length was a "non-issue" because the action and pacing was so fast? I haven't read the books so I am not a super fan of this series as some are. But I do like it. I am just not sure if I can sit threw the entire movie or if I should wait for DVD.
Lots of lulls, lots of action. Even considering it as just part of a superlong 9 hour movie it seems like there are a lot of flaws to me. If you can stand waiting that may be best for you since you were able to do that for the first two parts. spoiler questions... What happened to the tumor headed general at Minas Tirath? It seemed like he got a lot of screen time for us not to know what happened to him. Also Faramir's movie fate - was he in the last Minas Tirath scene - I may have missed him.
Tumor headed dude was killed by the Paths of the dead guys, as everyone was at Minas Tirath, and Faramir was wounded trying to retake Osgilliath, and was nursed back to health by Eowyn whom he marries. DD
DaDakota and Tolne57, thank you for the by the book reply and the movie reply, yall complete the story for me!
Those aren't one and the same you know. Jackson took the chicken**** route and had the Army of the Dead swoop onto Pelennor and win the battle for the good guys instead of having Aragorn with his small army meet Eomer with the Rohirrim and Imrahil with the Gondorian army in the middle of the field kicking all of the orcs asses back to Mordor. Oh well. I guess he had to cut that out to have 10 minutes of slow motion hobbits jumping on a bed together.
Spoilers .... It's a great movie but still not satisfying. 1) Having the army of the dead win the battle is weak. It would have been better for the human, Rohan and Gondor, to win it, maybe with the help of Elves or Dwarves or maybe Aragon could somehow gather a bigger human army by declaring himself King or something. 2) The battles are great but so lame. All they do is line up and charge. No strategy whatsoever. Wouldn't it a good human trait to outwit the bad guys instead of using just brute strength? Instead ... thru out the trilogy, humans make so many strategic mistakes on the battle field while being outnumbered ... it's a miracle that they win! 3) I would like to have seen more of Sauron and Saruman. 4) No showdown between Aragon or Gandalf against the baddest dude(s), whoever that maybe. 5) The many endings have their pluses and minuses. They let us know what happens to all the characters but they are too long and some are weak, some involve characters that we never seen before or those that play no part in this movie (people who see this movie by itself would not understand anything). ... Sam's marriage and family (why should we care that much about him?) ... The elves have practically no part in the movie but featured in 2 endings ... The hobbits in bed ... At the same time, a little story and closure for Eowyn and Faramir would have been great. I'll still see it again though. It's still a good movie.
Dude, the battle scenes are so intense that you owe it to yourself to see it in the theater. The CGI is integrated flawlessly as well. To answer your question, I guess about 2.5 hours of the 3:15 are action, with the rest slow-paced.
Great artical here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/12/19/DDG353NNMT32.DTL While it's good versus evil on the big screen in "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," there's an even more epic struggle between man and nature going on in the audience. The One Ring to Rule Them All is a powerfully tempting force, but it doesn't compare to the strain of sitting through a three-hour, 20-minute movie without taking a whiz. For moviegoers, the struggle to avoid a bathroom break becomes more difficult each year: Feature films are getting longer, concession drinks are getting bigger and intermissions have been extinct since the early 1980s. But the problem has reached epic proportions with the final film in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which is not only one of the longest feature films in recent years but also one of the most anticipated. "I was trying to hold on," said 19-year-old Jetta Martin, who went to the first showing of the film on Wednesday at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, but she bolted when Frodo the hobbit was in peril at the end of the second hour. "I put my faith in Sam and went to the bathroom." Much like Samwise Gamgee, the bravest hobbit in the film, Martin kept her composure in the face of adversity. She race-walked efficiently to the women's room and got back to her seat in less than two minutes. Others attending early screenings of the films haven't been so cool, to the point where the "Lord of the Rings" fans are easily distinguished from patrons of other movies. Most burst out of the theater squinting, with slightly frenzied looks on their faces, breaking into the same half-walking-half-running dash that kids use when chasing each other at a swimming pool with a particularly strict lifeguard. For the lucky few, a bathroom is close. Others face despair, forced to get directions from an usher, travel long hallways and even climb stairs to complete their quest. "There are all these factors in your mind," said Crispin Boyer, a 32-year- old fan who succumbed to his urge during a "Return of the King" preview screening in San Francisco last week -- scurrying to the bathroom near the end of the third hour. "I don't want to miss the movie, but I really had to go. Essentially, biology took over." Boyer and Martin are among many Bay Area "Lord of the Rings" fans who have been waiting their whole lives for a movie version of one of their favorite books. While it may be no big tragedy to take a few minutes off from "The Green Mile," a bathroom break during "Return of the King" becomes a pisser of the highest order -- not unlike having to take out the trash in the middle of losing one's virginity. (LOL ) To make matters worse, the "Rings" trilogy may be the most pee-inducing series of films in the history of cinema. The first two films were nearly three hours long and filled with images of running water. "Return of the King" is more than 20 minutes longer and includes an hourlong centerpiece action sequence that generates excitement like few other films before it -- making the big-finish battle in "Braveheart" look like the knife fight in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video. While the urinary crises that ensue can't be totally eliminated, they can be mitigated. The bladder-challenged should sit near an aisle, know where the bathroom is located before entering the screening and say no to that super- sized Cherry Coke. Finally, when there's no turning back, it's a matter of picking the right point in the movie to leave. "You have to pay real close attention to the narrative," said Chris Gore, editor of the movie Web site www.filmthreat.com. "You have to choose your bathroom breaks wisely." Gore should know. Born with only one kidney, the Los Angeles critic often takes bathroom breaks even in short movies -- and not surprisingly has become a steady advocate for the return of the intermission. That's not an option in Bay Area theaters showing "Return of the King." Grand Lake Theater owner Allen Michaan said exhibitors sign contracts promising not to disrupt the film print by adding anything beyond trailers in the beginning. "As an exhibitor, I'd rather see an intermission," Michaan said. "People would buy more food." The last intermission in a mainstream movie bisected "Gandhi" in 1982. The breaks were discontinued so more screenings could be packed into the day. Also, multiplexes were emerging in the early 1980s. Intermissions make it hard to keep track of multiplex patrons -- who could take advantage of the extra traffic to sneak into several movies without paying. For a long time the disappearance of intermissions wasn't much of a problem. But in the past half-decade, the amount of 180 minutes-plus movies seems to be increasing to a level not seen since the early 1970s. The biggest blow for the peanut-bladdered masses came in 1997, when "Titanic" was released. Even at a bloated 194 minutes, the movie still became the top-grossing film of all time, taking in close to $2 billion worldwide -- and dispelling the notion that long films are money risks. "It's getting impossible to see these films without getting up and at least stretching your legs," said Gore, who suggests that multiplexes should offer some showings of movies like "Return of the King" with intermissions and some without. A choice would have been welcomed by Julius and Aeneas Abate, ages 14 and 10, who sealed their fates when they consumed a liter of Coke and a 20-ounce diet Vanilla Coke between them before a recent screening at Metreon in San Francisco. They bolted out of their seats shortly after the biggest battle was over ("We found a spot where nothing good was happening," Aeneas said), and felt no shame about their decision. Back at the Grand Lake, Jetta Martin said she's been dying to see the movie, but had no choice when nature called. Her mother, 52-year-old Catherine Erin Macklin, quickly argued the point. "You could have held on," joked Macklin, who read the books in the 1960s and wasn't about to miss a minute of the film. "It all depends on what you're made of."
I agree with those that would have liked to see Wormtongue and the shire ending. Another reason I think it could have been a nice touch for the movie is that I think Samwise kind of stole the show, and letting him have that bit of screentime glory would seem fitting. This movie probably differed from the books the most, but judging on it's own merrit as a movie it might be the best of the three. For some reason one of my favorite parts in the books was when pippen and Faromir's father. It was first time on his own, and he takes up with the bitter, sick, Steward of Gondor. It was good stuff. I knew that wouldn't be gone into that in depth in the movie, so I wasn't really disappointed.
Dude, this movie is damn good. There is no reason to even doubt on whether you should go and see the movie. It is so perfectly made, the Computer animation during the fight scenes are done so flawlessly. You have to see it on the big screen. You owe yourself to go and see it. I almost lost it through out the movie. There were so many great scenes. I have read all the books. I love the books, and the movies as well. Peter Jackson has really done a tremenous job with the movies. "You bow to no-one."---one scene I almost lost it.
Question to someone who has read the final book. What exactly goes on in this purging of the Shire that everyone has been discussing? I started to read the book, but I didn't quite finish it before the movie came out and now I've moved on to a different book...but I am quite curious about this bit about the Shire that was left out of the movie. I plan on going back and finishing the book, but not for a little while. Thanks in advance.
****SPOILERS********* After the Ring is destroyed, and Aragorn crowned, the remaining Fellowship go back to Isengard. There they meet Treebeard who tells them that Saruman and Wormtongue have been released. Aragorn heads back to Gondor, Gimli and Legolas go their own way together, and Gandalf and the Hobbits head back to Rivendell on the way to The Shire. Gandalf departs with the Hobbits after Bree (remember the village where they met Aragorn) Anyway, Saruman and Wormtongue have 'taken over' the Shire with some wildmen and the whole damn area's in disrepair. (Think what he did to Isengard, except in The Shire). So the Hobbits rally the captive Hobbits and fight off Saruman's army. They capture Saruman and Wormtongue, but let them go. Wormtongue takes out a knife and stabs Saruman, and the Hobbits in turn kill Wormtongue. That's basically the scouring of the shire. The main reason it was left out of the movie was that a) it would take too long and b) it would be an anti-climax of sorts, having 2 major battles and then having the Hobbits in another battle shortly after.
