View Single Post
Old 10-23-2007, 11:57 AM   #62
davem
Illustrious Ulair
 
davem's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties
Posts: 4,240
davem is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.davem is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annatar View Post
The books contain violence. They contain gore. Do you not remember this? And the movies are action movies. They need excitement to keep the plot going. This means violence. Would you prefer the camera cut away every time Gimli and Legolas killed an Orc? Would you prefer that the words "death" and "kill" were replaced with euphemisms? Gore in moderation is good. And the movies have gore in moderation.
When I was 17 I would have agreed with you. Thirty years on I find the focus on gore & violence for the sake of it to be juvenile, dull & frankly silly.

Quote:
You don't care about the quality of the material or the way it appeals to the audience. All that matters is the degree of change from the book. And that is Bad, in your opinion. But it isn't. Some changes are necessary. In fact, a lot are.
I'm sorry if the fact that I find the movies dull, overwrought &, frankly, a wasted opportunity bothers you so much. I just don't think much of them. I wanted to like them. I've watched the theatrical & extended versions but in the end I don't care for them. Its personal taste. What do you want - are only positive comments to be allowed? Is it heretical to express a personal opinion about the movies unless your opinion happens to be that they are the greatest movies ever made? I don't like the movies & I've stated why.

This whole 'worshipping at the alter of Tolkien' accusation is frankly silly (not to mention meaningless if you think about it). Tolkien's story came first & is the standard by which I judge the quality of the movies. It is true that some changes are inevitable when translating a book to another medium, but the fact that changes are necessary does not make every single change good - some changes are made for the wrong reason, are mistaken, & some are frankly silly, or worse, pointless.

Last edited by davem; 10-23-2007 at 12:01 PM.
davem is offline