Gandalf Vs. The Witch King

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

We come to it at last ... my post on this topic.

Haha, that sounded vain.

Alright.

The mechanics of the confrontation weren't that bad. Yes, in the book, Gandalf stood atop Shadowfax while W-K waltzed in on his own black horse ... Gandalf told him to go back to abyss ... the W-K would have just waltzed in anyway, and fought Gandalf right there if the horns hadn't sounded. He may even have won ...

In the movie, Gandalf told him to go back to the abyss ... and he again lit his sword on fire, taunted Gandalf, and got ready to do his worst.

The difference is ... in the movies, the Nazgul had lost their horses in Fellowship, and in Two Towers got new rides. The whole film showed W-K on a fell beast, why suddenly swap in a horse just for riding through the front gate?

So, he landed on the second wall. That's a big change, but not a vastly important, OH NO THE MOVIE IS RUINED one.

Here's my problem.

First of all, it seemed rushed and not dramatic enough. Gandalf rode through the bastion of stone, and W-K just lands there ... then Gandalf just tells him to go back to the abyss.

There should have been a long standoff, silent, for like ... 20 seconds.

I wanted a "You shall not pass!" style yelling match. "GO BACK TO THE ABYSS". Loud, we know Gandalf can do it.

And they should have spent more time on the landing ... Gandalf is riding along, and the Witch-King spots him from the air and flies "On his tail", like he told Pippin he hoped wouldn't happen any time soon. Then Witch-King flies forward, and lands right in front of Gandalf, and Shadowfax rears up, throwing Pippin and Gandalf.

I did like how Shadowfax stood his ground there against a frigging dragon.

Anyway, the staff breaking thing ... seemed pointless, but whatever. The idea is when a wizard comes up against something that outpowers him enough to break his staff, they're screwed. PJ wanted the staffs to be an important part of wizardry.

Oh, and I think that the very first horn note of the Rohirrim was too subdued. They should have made it just a little louder. So everyone knew why Witch-King bailed.

But other than the fact that it was too brief, lacked a powerful intro, and Gandalf's lines were too succint ... I loved it. That sword on fire stuff rocked.