So I finally saw Return of the King

[permetaform]

Here I lay down my various musings, criticisms, squee's and snark.

No. Really, I'm pretty sure that's a corset in that shot, though it's a low corset or some such, or at least corset-like lacings up the back...

I'm blaming a lot of the snark on mother dearest who saw the movie with me and had a tendancy to giggle at the *worst* moments ever. Total "lets throw a bucket of ice and totally kill. the. moment" type things and she doesn't even understand what she's doing wrong. urg.

However. GORGEOUS movie. Eye-candy up the wazoo and some lovely performances.

And: Eowyn kicks ASS. and she does so mightily.

Also! Gandalf!! The staff and the sword and just SO many different kinds of ass-kicking! (instead of being just *shiny!*...which, come to think of it, there was an astonishingly large amount of...)

In fact, everyone got to kick a little ass...except, that is, for Frodo; who just went "gurk" most of the time and lost half a finger to Gollum to boot.

Poor guy, no wonder he went over the sea.

Oh, and the hobbit love? DUDE. So canon.

Also, I think I see where the Aragorn/Legolas is coming from, but it feels one-sided, especially with that Aragorn/Arwen kiss.

And the Obligatory Neat Elf-Trick? Satisfactorily impressive.

WHY DID THEY SHAVE ARAGORN FOR THAT ONE SCENE?!?!?! ::weeps:: what WAS that?! And the weird hairdo's. I mean, I understand that he needs to look more kingly but...WHY?!

And beating down the gates of Minas Tirth with an overly large phallic symbol. ::facepalm::

Speaking of which, that scene where Elrond presented the sword to Aragorn? urg. umm... bad pacing and dude but that sword looked HUGE.

supposed that was the point tho.

The music overall was superb and matched well. That one where Pippin was singing? Just *heartbreakingly* used, especially matching the soldier's sacrifice to the Denethor's gluttony. (unfortunately this was one of the times that mother decided to snicker. god DAMMIT.)

My one major quibble was the violins used for the spider scene. It just didn't work for me, in high contrast to the near-perfect silence of the scene right after where the spider lurks over Frodo, which was impressively effective.


Did anyone else think 'Harry Potter!' when they saw the spider?

Also, I got distinct Aragorn-as-Harry during that whole 'hope of the people' scene (they both even do that 'stare with a sword' pose with the movie posters!) and a bit of the 'faith of the people' thing in a Gandalf-as-Harry way in the Gandalf and Pippin scene at Minas Tirth.

Nevermind that I also got Phantom Menance flashbacks in the 'pitch Gollum into the dark pit' scene...

and also: did David Eddings mooch off plot or *what*?? what's the timeline for this stuff??

Then again, isn't LotR the granddaddy of all adventure novels?? huh.

The movie, as a supplement to the books, would be *fantastic*. But as for storytelling itself as a movie? It leaves just that half inch to be desired...just a bit too much facination with signal fires, and I'm still a bit hazy on *why* Denethor was being SUCH an ass (I mean, you know and you *feel* it, but there's also a very abrupt feeling to it all), and it was really weird just seeing the green blur of undead fighters swarming into the city with not enough connection to the characters we know that's fighting inside...

However. Marvelous movie, I probably would have gotten the soaring feeling I was looking for more had I been with a better audience but hey, beggars can't choose. I'll probably need to see this again, or see the whole thing on extended edition...

Oh! Did anyone else post any thoughts about RotK and wouldn't mind sharing a link? I know I skimmed aLOT of cut-tags this past month, but I'm not sure where to start looking...

Comments

[girlpearl]

And the weird hairdo's.
Like this:
"We're about to go fling ourselves at the Black Gate in a last-ditch, desperate attempt to distract the Forces of Evil while Frodo wibbles and wusses about, the bastard completes his quest... so hey, Aragorn, don't you think it's time you finally let me do your hair all pretty? C'mon, braids!"
"Oh, all right, Legolas. But only because we're about to die horribly."
"Wheee!"
For more wibbling and crap: my thoughts.
Also, Eowyn, you know, seeing the movie the second time, I couldn't think of one reason why, as Aragorn, I would've chosen Arwen over Eowyn. I think *I* am in love with Eowyn. Stupid Aragorn.

[permetaform]

::falls out of chair laughing at your convo::

as for Eowyn? I think it's that she's not so classically pretty. And maybe perhaps that cleft in her chin...

[girlpearl]

But... Eowyn has a personality... and kicks ass all OVER the place... and... bah. Stupid Aragorn.

[permetaform]

Well, that, and I'm thinking he might feel weird because of the age difference thing. Isn't he supposed to be like 80 or something?

[girlpearl]

87. But how old's Arwen? Legolas is like 3000 years old. That's more of a difference.
(You have valid points--I am just NOT a fan of MovieArwen. She irritates me and I can't see a reason to choose her over Eowyn.)

[permetaform]

actually I can totally see that too.

As for the Aragorn/Arwen thing versus the Aragorn/Eowyn, I think I'm leaning more towards the Aragorn/Arwen because she knew him and loved him as the Ranger. For Eowyn, it seems that Aragorn is the Hope...and going back to my Aragorn-as-Harry-Potter argument, it makes sense to me that Aragorn doesn't want to be constantly looked up to and depended upon.

Truthfully, Eowyn's able to keep up and hold her own in a battle far more than Arwen probably can. But Aragorn doesn't need that, as King and Ass-Kicker Extraordinaire; everyone's looking up to him and placing all this burden on his shoulders, and I think that it's probably better for him emotionally and mentally (because he's got the 'physically' fully and handsomely covered), in terms of a 'best match', that it's Arwen...

[girlpearl]

I totally thought that second line started with "A is for Aragorn, and did not help that the first three lines of that paragraph start with A ;)
For Eowyn, it seems that Aragorn is the Hope That's true, I'd forgotten all about that, because I was only looking at it from an "If I were Aragorn" perspective. I guess nobody wants to be loved by someone who idolizes them. You're probably right about the emotional/mental support stuff too... curse you ;) I wanted it to be Eowyn. (or Legolas, Legolas would've worked just fine for me.)

[permetaform]

I guess nobody wants to be loved by someone who idolizes them.

::shrugs:: well, nobody who'd you'd want to respect...

as for the Eowyn, I just adore the idea that she'd be romping at will with Eomer and Faramir so ::grins and shrugs::

[girlpearl]

*covers ears* I can't heeeeeeear you!
Ok, Faramir, sure. I can get behind that :)
Re: idolization: when I was a great deal younger, I broke up with a man who idolized me. I told him, "You think I'm perfect, but I'm not." and he said, "You're perfect in my eyes!" And then I beat my head against the wall for a few minutes and told him not to call me for a while.

[permetaform]

he said, "You're perfect in my eyes!"

::facepalm:: oh yes, that's too horribly familiar here too...so's the head beating against the wall thing...

[girlpearl]

it was fantastically surreal, as though he had done it intentionally. Looking back, thinking about how young I was and how much older he was, I'm continually astonished by how much more mature than him I was. Feh. Men.

[permetaform]

yeah, they *do* tend to think with the wrong head... =p