Want to know more about the Tolkien Universe? Even if you haven't read the books, you can navigate yourself around this site pretty well...
http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/
~Crack

Just got back from seeing it. A truly excellent movie - certainly better than the first two. Why ? Oh, I don't know. The enormous scale of the battles, the amazingly cool designs (Minas Tirith ! The Oliphants !), the dramatical interludes (the fire beacons !), Mount Doom, the fall of Sauron, and the ending... My god, this movie rocks.

I agree with Mr. Deflok, the final speech at Minas Tirith did get me very emotional. I think I felt tears well up three or four times during this movie... I paid $5 for a ticket dammit, I have the right to show my emotions :)

And as usual, the whole cinema experience was somewhat ruined by some of the other people in the theatre - especially a bunch of children in front. People, even if you are absolutely sure your children can appreciate a three-hour movie without getting loud, obnoxious and irritating, at least make sure to TAKE THEIR FUCKING MOBILE PHONES AWAY BEFORE ENTERING THE THEATRE.

RotK good. Children bad.

I fucking loved it. everything about it.

Awesome. I too had trouble with kids at the theatre. No cell phones (a miracle), but the 8 year old boys laughed at all the serious stuff (like when: Spoiler: Theoden runs out of the tomb on fire and casts himself off of the cliff at Minas Tirith. Pretty gritty stuff, but loses it's oomph when boys are giggling about it. )

Where were these kid's parents? It's a PG-13 movie...don't they need someone over 13 to accompany them?

Serves me right for going at noon on a Saturday

i don't think that was theoden, isn't he the king of rohan ?

correct, that was Spoiler: the steward of gondor who did that

Deneathor, the fucking bastard.

Yeah, Deneathor. My fault.

I loved it. I thought it was a perfect ending to the trilogy. Everything I wanted to say has already been said by other posters, but I do have one little question.

When Frodo was wrapped up completely in the spider silk, after being stung, didn't his face look a bit too clean? I know there is dozens of minor mistakes in the film, but this one stood out alot and I have been trying to think of a rational explanation.

OH damn.. that was a awsome movie. i'm goign to wait for the spec edition DVD

Absolutely mindblowing. Best part for me was when Pippin was singing. (Being deliberately vague about it; people who've seen the movie will know what I mean.) A very poignant moment.

My only complaint was that the ending was drawn out for too long, and I think it could have either been condensed, cutting the length of the film down 15-20 mins, or the time used for something else, such as the scouring of the Shire.

Oh yes! I totally dug that as well... Very powerful juxtaposition regarding father and son. Awesome stuff.

Yes. Sweet Jesus. The scene with Pippin's song was one of the most moving cinimatic moments I've had the pleasure of seeing in a theatre.

Does anyone know the title of Pippin's song? I would go look in the books to get a general idea, but I can't remember if that's actually in the book and even then.. I doubt they'd have the title.

Awesome movie, I have a few questions/problems with the movie though...


Spoiler: First thing, was the use of the undead army VERY antoclimactic for anyone elce? I mean almost from that point on the movies was ruined for me. I thought the whole thing was MAN vs evil, not undead. Plus how lame is it that they couldent be killed? Wheres the honor in that? I mean theoritically all they really needed was 1 of those undead and it could have killed Sauron's entire army ( I mean if it coudlent be killed right).
Now my question , I suppose I dont understand the realtionship between the ring and Sauron. because why would he be destroyed with the ring?

Loved it. I think it wrapped up the series perfectly. As a standalone movie it is a cinematic masterpiece. Truly memorable parts throughout the film. It did not disappoint me at all. It leaves me with one question: George who? What wars? Now as long as Peter Jackson doesn't go prequel crazy, I think we'll be alright. I'm still iffy about a movie version of The Hobbit. If its done on the caliber as LOTR than I won't complain.

Well done Jackson!

Tru. Dat. I'm not a crier at the movies but i came pretty close there.

I wish I knew the name of that song as well... something tells me it would be in the book, but i don't own a copy.

In answer to your questions 89transam:

This spoiler tag is for those of you who haven't read the book (tsk tsk) and seen the movies yet.

Spoiler: The Army of the Dead was in the book and it would be a slight to Tolkien to not put it in there. Tolkien was big on not breaking your oaths with your fellow man, the Men of the Mountain did this (my geek knowledge fails me here I don't remember their name) and Isildur cursed them until they repayed their debt whenever the Heir of Isildur (Aragorn) called upon them in their time of need. Without the Dead, the battle for Middle-earth would have been lost and been cast into a fourth age of Darkness. The Ring is bound completely to Sauron. When He created It, He put everything that was Him into the Ring, thus making It an essential living part to Himself. When the Ring was cut from His Finger, he merely dissipated and lost his human form, becoming an ethereal being essentially. He eventually regained enough of his metaphysical concentration to make Himself into the Eye and control His Armies and search for the Ring. His spirit stayed in the Ring and as long as It existed so would He. So therefore, the Ring had to be destroyed, because It Corrupts whoever bears it, case in point Smeagol, and even Frodo because he did not willingly cast the Ring into the Fires of Mount Doom, Gollum bit his finger off (that's a recurring theme) and he fell into the Fires. The main reason for the Destruction of the Ring was because of Sauron being bound to it, but also, no other being could bear it and not be corrupted.

This was the best of the three by far. i could help but fall asleep in the first to...I TRIED HARD...trust me. but this one kept my attention all the way through. i have 2 questions though. first: were there eagles in the book? i didn't know if this was just a patriotic american image or if it is as tolkien saw it. and secondly WTF was the end about. i was cursing at the movie to end for the last 30 minutes of the damn film. please splain these two items to me.

I loved the movie. It was amazing. I wanna go see it again!!

yes there were egales in the book


matter of fact they were vital


i have seen it three times now and will see it at least one more time

Peter Jackson is a New Zealander, why would he use symbols of American patriotism in his movie? :P

It's on the soundtrack: The Steward of Gondor is the name of the track. Don't know about the actual song though...

edit: Well, holy shit, did a search of the lyrics on google:

http://www.lingalad.com/testi_eng/hobbit.htm

It's called, very pithily, A Hobbit's tune.

I am wondering about that myself

Spoiler: The world had to be left to that of men to rule over, those who had bore the Ring and those whom were elder species of Middle-Earth had to leave for the Grey Havens, a sort of Heaven out in the distant oceans.

However I'm not a devout follower of Tolkien, I've only read the novels once and that was back in 1999 when I was 15 so I could be totally wrong.

Well I did really enjoy the movie, or at least most of it. But personally, I thought the ending sucked. Maybe's its because I didn't read the book or something but I just thought it sucked. For one, it just kept going and going and going. I thought the beginning of the movie was pointless and that it wouldn't have mattered to the movie if it was taken out. I thought the death of that one guy, you'll know who I mean, was so drawn out. It reminded me of watching Trinity die again, just fucking die already. The undead army was a cheap way to win. The way in which that head wraith died was so stupid, semantics should not come into play. But mainly the slow, slow ending was the worst for me. It seemed that instead of ending on a high note, they decided to end on a low one, and one that you just wanted to hurry up and finish. But yes I still thought the majority of the movie was excellent, those battle scenes were just kick ass.

Now just for some questions regarding Frodo's elf armor shirt thing. Why does he not get hurt when that giant ugly monster stabs him with that pole but yet he does get hurt when the wraith stabs him with his sword (both from The Fellowship of the the Ring) and when the spider stabs him (in the Return of the King)? I guess he wasn't really hurt from the spider thing because he wakes up fine but what about the wraith thing?

Frodo was stabbed with the Morgul Blade by the ringwraith before he got the mithril shirt from Bilbo in "Fellowship".

Loved the movie. The battle scenes were amazing.... I think they were head and shoulders above what we saw in TTT (which kicked ass on its own).And the scene with Pippin singing was definately a high point.

I had disliked the ending a bit also. I haven't read the books either, so sue me, but...

I don't think the problem with the ending was that it was too long. I think the problem was how the scenes were (inadquately) transistioned between. So... it wasn't the fact that the ending was long, merely the fact that it felt long, if that makes any sense. Going between the different scenes at the end was jarring, often having the screen go black, leaving you wondering if the movie's over, only to have the screen come back alive a second later. I don't have an exact idea of how it could have been done better, but something that would superficially link the scenes together would have helped a bit, I thought.

I liked everything about the movie. Apart from the ending. 3 or 4 times i thought the credits were gonna roll, then there'd b another scene, i didnt think it was ever gonna end! way too drawn out.

I still think the FOTR is by far the best of the 3

Am I the only one that didn't mind the ending? I had to piss, but that was the only incentive I had to want it to end. I didn't want the movie to end. Everytime the screen went black, I hoped that it came back and showed more. Oh well, maybe I'm just more of a dork than I thought. :)

-Lasereth

Lasereth you're not alone, because I too wanted the movie to continue and not end. It's kind of like finishing the books, you know you can go back and do it again, but you want something more.

I loved this movie. It had the best of everything! I've seen it twice already and I'm going again in a couple days. The theaters are still packed, and every show is still being sold out.

I also didn't want it to end. I almost cried when THE END came onto the screen at last...IT CAN'T BE OVER!!!

Next installment...The Hobbit!

Fantastical movie. I loved the whole thing. I was crying from the lighting of the beacons till the end. Only thing the irked me was Frodo's stupid face he made once he got on the elven boat at the end. He was grinning at his compations for twenty seeconds and looked retarded. oh well

I also had a thirteen year old or so kid who went with his mom and sat behind my friends and I. He felt that he had to explain each scene to his mom, who hadn't read the bo0ks. It ws horrible. and she encouraged her son.."Come on Sam, you can do it!"
but when Denathor died, the kid said.."He was a foolish, foolish man>" My friends and I busted up laughing....stupid kid

Merry Christmas TFP

The issue most have the ending is this...

They have NOT read the books.
Shit, by the time
Spoiler: Frodo finally loses his finger and the ring,
the last book isn't even half finished yet.

Stop bitchin',
Peter Jackson, didn't even include the Shire battle (that would have added on another 30)
And he used the
Spoiler: Army of the Dead
to clean up where he could,
they weren't used as much in the original storyline.

Considering he added the Shelob scene to the 3rd movie and not in the 2nd (where it was in the original saga)
and it was already 3 1/2 hours long,
he did an excellent job condensing.

Peter Jackson had a very difficult job balancing desires of the LONG-time fans of the saga
and acknowledging the movie masses that weren't familiar at all with the story.
The movie was excellent, period.

Geez...I'm tired people complaining
1st movie: oooh...The story didn't END (yeah...it's a trilogy)
3rd movie: oooh...The movie didn't END fast enough
(yeah...well they were giving you clean ending and it was shorter that the book)
etc...and so on

You can't satisfy anyone these days :rolleyes:

tru dat :crazy:

two things concerning the eagles:

one: if you'll remember, it's an eagle that rescues gandalf from isengard in Fellowship of the Ring, so they have been there before.

two: this is a mostly british endeavor, so the eagle as a patriotic symbol would make no sense.

oh and thanks for the help before, Sparhawk

No prob.

Re: the eagles, as soon as I saw that moth, my internal monologue shrieked "EAGLES!!!" One frame later, well, let's just say you can't get this sort of bliss on tap.

Oh yeah, and it's a mostly kiwi project, i hear they hate it when you call them brits...

ahhhhh yes, you're right. i totally forgot about that. for some reason i had ian mackellan in my mind and automatically thought "british." Either way, not american.

You're damn right that we god damn hate it!

;)

thank you. I'm glad someone in this thread has actually read the book, done their homework, and can comment intelligently on a part that some might not comprehend and feel jaded because of. It's a little thing called: [spoiler] Impossible odds = use of every resource available{/spoiler]

Rogue49 is right about the ending, a lot of people who haven't read the book think it goes on too long, but people who have read the book realize how much is left out after the defeat of Sauron. If the ending was anything close to the book you'd be sitting there another 45-60 minutes. As a fan of Tolkien, I thought this one was very well done, leaving us nitpickers with a lot fewer nits to pick.