[The Saucepan Man]

Well, it's been a few days since I saw the film, and this is the first chance that I have had to post here. Probably a good thing too, since I was just too awestruck to be objective straight after seeing it.<P>Actually, I probably still am. I don't think that I have ever sat through the closing moments of a film before with my mouth just gaping and tears streaming down my face. I <I>never</I> cry in films. I have to see it again as soon as possible, although sadly probably now not until after Christmas. <P>No doubt in my mind that this is the best of the three films. I have been an avid fan of Tolkien's book for some 25 years. Each of the films has caught, for me, the sense of wonder that I experienced on first reading the book. But this film, much moreso than the other two, encapsulated for me the main themes that I have always taken from the book: Frodo and Sam's bond of friendship, Sam's incredible loyalty and committment to Frodo, the development of Merry and Pippin from naive young Hobbits to heroic warriors in their own right, the sense of hope in a situation of utter hopelessness, incredible bravery against seemingly overwhelming odds, the comradeship and eventual friendship of Legolas and Gimli. And much more that I could mention. A real emotional rollercoaster. I don't think that I have ever felt quite so emotionally drained after watching a film.<P>And all that wrapped up in a fantastic visual treat. As always, the visualisation, for me, was almost exactly spot on.<P>The highlights for me:<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Smeagol and Deagol - I felt that this really enhanced the impact of the Ring's power;<LI>The first shot of Minas Tirith - breathtaking;<LI>The parting of Merry and Pippin - Boyd and Monaghan were magnificent here;<LI>Everything else that Pippin/Boyd did;<LI>Everything that Sam/Astin did - here at least Jackson and Tolkien saw eye to eye - Sam is the real hero of the story;<LI>Gollum - the highlight of TTT and, if anything, better here - I completely forgot that he was a CGI character;<LI>Shelob - terrifying, and much moreso for her looking (and, even more scarily, moving) just like a real (albeit very large) spider - after the so-called Wargs, I was worried about Shelob, but now I am happy;<LI>The Paths of the Dead - the close-ups of the Dead King and his army were awesome (one minute a face, the next a skull), although the long shots (ie the "green virus") were a tad disapointing;<LI>The Beacons - absolutely stunning from a cinematographical point of view (although I didn't envy the guys who had to man some of them);<LI>Faramir's "suicide" mission, accompanied by Pippin's mournful song;<LI>The Seige of Minas Tirith and the Battle of Pelennor Fields - absolutely stunning, and I liked the way that it built up with one visual treat followed up by an even greater one;<LI>The charge of the Rohirrim - Thedoen's speech was utterly rousing and the charge was magnificent;<LI>The Oliphaunts - I have always loved the Oliphaunts;<LI>Eowyn and the Witch-King - never mind losing the original dialogue, it worked for me (although I would have preferred more to have been made of Merry's contribution);<LI>Cirith Ungol - shame that Shagrat and Gorbag's discourse was massively cut, but great that Sam got to play the great warrior, and Sam's moment of hesitation before returning the Ring to Frodo was first class;<LI>THE EAGLES! - I don't know why but they bring tears to my eyes every time they appear;<LI>Sammath Naur - I don't think that it could have been more perfect, save that I would have cut down on the shots of Gollum struggling with an invisible Frodo, which were on the verge of looking silly - but Astin and, especially Wood, were magnificent - Elijah's Frodo came of age for me here.</UL><P>So, just about everything really. <P>Oh, OK. A few gripes:<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Too much of an imbalance between Merry and Pippin - much as Pippin is one of my favourite characters from the book, I would have liked to have seen more of Merry's development and (as I said before) more made of his involvement in the slaying of the Witch-king;<LI>Saruman's absence - I suspected that the lack of any resolution to his involvement would be noticeable, and (to me at least ) it was - hopes for the EE here;<LI>No Gandalf/Witch-King - the way the Witch-King was built up, this would, I think have added to both characters in the film - hopes again for the EE;<LI>Things were waaay too close together - not just in Mordor, but also Minas Tirith and Osgiliath - it seems like all Faramir and his troops had to do was to cover the distance of a few football pitches before they got from one to the other - I can understand the need to show the relationship between the two (and Cirith Ungol/Mount Doom/Barad-Dur/the Black Gate), but I am sure that this could have been done while still keeping more faithfully to the "real" distances;<LI>Arwen supposedly being sick and tied to the fate of the Ring - it was never explained why this was, and it seems totally gratuitous;<LI>Denethor - I have no problem with his character change to an unstable and basically unsympathetic character since things needed to be simplifed for film format and there was never going to be enough time to develop the complex character of the book, but he should at least have been allowed to die with dignity.</UL><P>And it's not really a criticism, and certainly not one that many here would make, but I did feel that the film took too long to end. After the climax of the Black Gate/Sammath Naur, we had numerous "tying up" scenes, and I felt that these went on just a bit too long for this film (although the length is not out of place as a wrap up for the full 10 hours or so taken up by all three films). But, as I said, this is not a criticism for me, since I cannot see what could have been cut out here. It was utterly necessary to have Aragorn's coronation, the Hobbits returning to the Shire, Frodo explaining his sense of alientation and, of course, the Grey Havens. I do wonder what non-book fans will have been making of this, although I think that it is a credit to Jackson that there was minimal seat-shifting going on during these scenes in the cinema where I was. It did, however, really bring home to me the correctness of omitting the <I>Scouring of the Shire</I>. Much as I would have liked to have seen it in, this would have been asking too much of audiences.<P>So, one or two minor gripes. But they really do pale into insignificance, as far as I am concerned, in the context of the utter magnificence of this film. Certainly the most riveting, moving and spell-binding film that I have seen for many a year, perhaps ever. <p>[ 11:49 PM December 21, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]