Return of the King

[vivien]

So, I don't want anyone to faint or gasp in shock, but.... Even by my stringent Tolkien Purist standards. It was the best of the three by far, and it certainly didn't hurt that I finally just said "Whatever, it's an AU fanfic." And that I was spoiled like a spoiled thing so I knew what to expect.

There were a few "What the fuck?" moments that I shrugged off (Vivien's WTF moments: The Condensed Version - "Go home, Sam" !?!, armies of Mordor inside Gondor's walls !?!, "Arwen's dying, and I now run errands." quoted by Susan, army of dead hopping off the boats !!?!!..... oh, what the hell...)

But on the whole, it was an exciting, well performed movie that capped off the series ever so well. And since it was an AU fanfic, I didn't sweat Saruman or the Scouring of the Shire. The Eowyn scene was right, and I was truly moved when Frodo stood with the Ring within Mt. Doom - that whole scene was done absolutely correctly. The look on Gollum's face as he's falling into the fire will stay with me. The pity that you feel for this nasty, treacherous little creature is still one of the most powerful indicators of Tolkien's genius as a writer.

There were two main things I wish had been there: Gandalf standing down the Witch King after Grond smashes in the doors and the Houses of Healing.

My Biggest SRE: Eowyn and Faramir's wounds were too great for the obviously really speedy and thorough healing that Aragorn managed. That plus hobbits are sturdy folk. So that's why Merry was at the Gates of Mordor.

Non-canon things that I actually liked. Again, please don't faint away in shock.
-Merry and Eowyn! Bonding and stuff!
-Pippin and Gandalf! Bonding and stuff! Ok, I know there is canon basis for this, but they seemed to hang out a lot more in Gondor.
-Pippin lighting the signal fire - and that totally gave me shivers.
-Gandalf's "heaven" speech to Pippin


And now parts I just really, really liked:
- Smeagol's descent into Gollum
- Frodo and Sam and theirloveissopure! See, I just can't - can not - do book fanfiction. However, since the movie is not the book, and is in fact fanfic itself, slash on!
-Shelob. Wow. I was giggling with glee at cool the effect was - and how Shelob was so how I imagined her - instead of cringing, but that's just because I'm twisted individual ;)
- Tower of Cirith Ungol - ah, they got it right. Frodo broke my heart laying there with his wounds visible. Sam rocked, which Sam tends to do. I wish there had been the "a mighty Elf warrior on the loose" comment - maybe on the EE.
- Pippin. How I love thee, Pippin. Billy Boyd did an excellent job portraying our youngest member of the Fellowship. Poor wee Pippin, I was scared for him. Now, in the movie, Pippin might be my favorite hobbit, but my book version of Meriadoc is till my favorite all time hobbit. I might need to mention that in my first year or so of reading at age 11, I created a Mary Sue (Pippin's sister, in fact) who managed to go on the journey and married Merry when all was said and done. I wrote stories even. I thank the gods that there was no Internet back in my days of Mary Suedom.
Anyway, Merry's always looked more like Billy Boyd in my head anyway :P
-Aragorn was kingly. Very nice.
-I liked the Paths of the Dead quite a bit but again I so missed the Rangers of the North and Elladan and Elrohir.
-Legolas is soooo still the prettiest. When he walks into the room when Frodo awakes? Oh, man....
- Denethor and Faramir... scenes quoted almost completely canon down to dialogue. Didn't love the Flaming Leap of Denethor, but what are you going to do?
- The eagles are coming! The eagles are coming!
- The Nazgul steeds were creepy and terrible - the fear they and their riders inspire was portrayed well.
-Gondor was so Gondor.
- Arwen and Aragorn at the end. I even liked her vision. I still have no idea how the whole dying thing could have even been imagined, much less carried out, but what the hell. It didn't take up too much screen time.

Sigh... I'll see it again.


I still am not in love with Peter Jackson, but at least he made me happy for one film.

Comments

[debellatrix.livejournal.com]

Yay, you finally saw it.
I agree that this was the best of the three films and I have great hopes for the EE. I'll admit though, it has been so long since I read the books, that I didn't remember a lot. I kept leaning over to Marie and asking "is this cannon?".
We saw it at the IMAX theater at 1-25 & Colorado (Dave & Busters). I recommend that venue. I want to see it again too.

[juleskicks.livejournal.com]

RE Denethor's death -- my little brother, sitting next to me on Trilogy Tuesday, quoted A Bug's Life during that bit. I'm sitting there, completely enthralled, and I hear this little voice go "Flaminnnngggg DEATH!"

I still can't remember it without cracking up. I saw it again yesterday and managed not to bust out laughing.