[Garen LiLorian]

Grant me two things here.<BR>1) I'm just jumping in here (cowabunga!!)<BR>2) I didn't bother to read all the other posts (you lazy son of a...)<P>Anyway, what struck me the most about this movie was that PJ seemed to have been trying to strike a medium, where people who hadn't read the books could still understand the movie, and people who had wouldn't go off the edge. He seems to have failed on both counts, though. I went to see it with my girlfriend, who hasn't read the books, and she came out confused; <BR>1) why are the Elves leaving Middle Earth? <BR>2) Why is Gollum/Smeagol a murderer? <BR>3) Where did Sam and Frodo get Elvish rope from? (hadn't seen the extended version, either.)<BR>4) Why, if Frodo is being tempted by the ring, and tries to hurt Sam when he thinks he's trying to take it, is he about to give it away? To a Nazgul?<BR>5) Why'd the pudgy elf get sent to Helm's Deep by Elrond, when he lives in Lorien?<BR>6) Just how big <I>is</I> fangorn forest?<BR>7) Even with Eomer and Gandalf, that brings the total to 2,300 (and 4) Men and Elves against 10,000 orcs. Still not great odds.<BR>8) Where did Eomer's other 1,985 riders come from?<BR>9) Aragorn; "send for help." Theoden; "none will come." Ok, but you might as well try...<BR>10) I thought Wargs were wolves, not Hyenas?<P>And I came out frustrated; <BR>1)Ok, even if Faramir <I>does</I> get tempted by the ring, even Boromir held out longer than that. <BR>2)Why, in the name of all that is holy, do they add 20 minutes of utterly useless Osgiliath, and then end the movie with more than a hundred pages of the book left? <BR>3)Why isn't Eomer in this movie?<BR>4)Where is the Rohirrim army?<BR>5)Why isn't Gandalf in this movie?<BR>6)Did Pip and Merry break their legs, that they have to be carried around all the time?<BR>7)Just how big <I>is</I> fangorn forest?<BR>8)Why isn't Faramir in this movie, and who the <B>HELL</B> is that imposter?!?!<BR>9)OK. The Dwarf is short. We get it.<BR>10)What's the pudgy elf doing in Helm's Deep?<P>And for some reason, I'd always pictured the Nazgul as riding big bat-like things. Not Dragon-y creatures.<P>There were good things, though;<BR>1)Wormtongue was fantastic. I especially enjoyed the extra scene between him and Eowyn. IMO, the only thing that was added that actually made it <I>better</I> instead of detracting.<BR>2)Eowyn was absolutely gorgeous, both physically and in portrayal. Kudos to Miranda Otto.<BR>3)Smeagol/Gollum was better than I could possibly have imagined him to be. After Jar Jar Binks, and, to a lesser extent, the HP CG creatures, I went into the movie fearing him the most, and it ended up being one of the best parts. For some reason, I'd always thought of him as being green, though... Don't know why. He <B>did</B> remind me of Dobby. It's those big eyes.<BR>4)Gandalf (when he was there) was amazing.<BR>5)Sam was impressive. When Faramir shot that man off of the Mumak, and he crashed down by Sam, I could see in his expression everything that Tolkien writes about (Sam wondered if he was really a bad man, or what lies he had been told...etc) and his ending monologue was something I'd been looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint.<BR>6)Frodo's interaction with Gollum was nice. Not particularly canon, but nice. I liked that Frodo had to believe that Gollum could be saved. Very well put.<BR>7)The battle for Helm's Deep was cool. Not spectacular, not realistic; cool. Legolas shield-surfing; cool. The counting game; cool. The Olympic torch procession; cool.<BR>8)The scenery was, of course, simply awesome. <BR>9)As someone put it in another thread; "Hi Ho, Silverfax!" and the charge of the Light Brigade (the Rohirrim) was visually neat, even if it made absolutely no sense from a tactical point of view.<BR>10)Gandalf's fight with the Balrog, his death and subsequent resurrection, and his reintroduction to the company was all very well done.<P>But anyway, my point is that, IMO, he tried to strike a happy medium, and missed. All in all, an enjoyable view, though not what I'd hoped for.