What did the movies do for you?

Originally Posted by Elladan and Elrohir

The movies . . . well, it's difficult to say what they did. I think they put Tolkien's world onto the screen. Yes, there were lots of changes, some minor, some major, but in the final analysis, it's just Lord of the Rings. You know?

As far as what they did for me on an emotional level, Sam's "There's some good in this world" line totally inspired me. I'm not a person who cries, at movies or at most anything else, but I wanted to cry in ROTK when Aragorn and the Gondorians bow to the hobbits and Howard Shore has the Shire theme going. It was beautiful. For all the complaints we have about the dumb jokes and inappropriate humor in the movies, in the end I think watching them is an emotional experience. It's majestic, it's glorious, it's wrenching, it's epic. It doesn't touch the book, but it's still an unbelievable accomplishment.

It's also difficult to put into words what these films have been to the film industry. I mean, you've got Hollywood churning out dumb flick after dumb flick, and even most of the serious ones aren't great, and then you've got something like this. Three three-hour films, no language or sex, and they're all telling this incredible epic story. What PJ and Co. did was audacious, really. And as we all know, these are three of the most successful films ever. And even though Hollywood continues to pump up the same trash, there have been a few bright spots since then. People are realizing, hey, you can make a good film, with a good message, without all the immorality.

And, shameless plug. If you want to see the biggest beneficiary of the LOTR phenomenon, show up at the theater on December 9 for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Yeah baby. Movies based on books by Oxford dons are the hottest thing on the market right now.

Spot on; especially the bit about Hollywood churning out dumb flick after dumb flick. Their most 'original' ideas right now are to create re-makes of old movies or of comic classics, and like Poseidon, most of them are pure shyte.

LOTR was as close to movie perfection as can be (and few others touch it - A Beautiful Mind is another movie that was very touching).

Also, for example, comparing Poseidon or Superman to Lord of the Rings - LOTR generally only uses CGI when it needs to, and doesn't over do it.

It gave me some hope in Hollywood again, but that's again diminished after they kept churning out crap after crap yet again.

The movies were touching though - especially Howard Shore's soundtrack, something that obviously isn't in the book - but it's as fitting a music track as I've ever seen for a movie.

[Alchisiel]

I came late in life to LOTR, I think I was 29 or 30. I didn't even know about the books until I first saw FotR. I was talking to some co-workers about the movie and they told me about the books, so I went to Barnes and Noble that same day and bought the Hobbit, a co-worker lent me her LOTR book and I now own my own set of LOTR and Hobbit books, The Silm, and Unfinished Tales. So I guess you could say that the movies brought me into the wonderful world of the books and to you great people!

I remember when I first saw Theoden's death scene-I cried my eyes out!! I've only cried at two other death scenes-Greta Garbo's death scene in Camille, and Bette Davis' death scene in Dark Victory (I'm an old movie buff). They were such good death scenes that I could feel the emotions that the actors were trying to portray. Now when I read the books, I always cry at Theoden's death even though it's different in the movie. It also made me realize that I am a Hobbit!!! I sleep late, like to eat, I enjoy a good pint, and I too have a tendancy to be round in the middle!!

[Ar-Pharazon]

For me the movies introduced me to the books, as it did for many young readers of the late teens early 20's at the time of the FOTR's release. When I read the books, and it was like the movies opened the door for me while the books were the actual stepping through into the world of middle earth and Tolkien.

The movies also gave me a lot of heroic imagery, which I just love (Especially in the men characters), makes me ponder about the lack of nobility that has been lost in this day and age.

+ Boromir's last defense of the hobbits as he continues to fight on while pierced by many arrows.
+ Aragorn stepping out from the Elvish Archers on the Helm's Deep Battlements, for the first time being the leader of the defense against the shadow, in the rain (gotta love the rebirth symbolism).
+ Gandalf's arrival with Eomer and his Rohirrim and their charge against those Uruks(this made me and a lot of people cheer in the movie theatre on opening night)
+Theoden's last charge as the King of Rohan.

Now I gotta watch them again, plus I have this nagging addiction to the Silm.

[MatthewM]

I owe my life long dedication to LotR to the movies. I've always loved fantasy. Wizards, dragons, superheroes...etc. When I was around 8-10 years old I saw Ralph Baksi's animated LotR and loved it (now it's a different story) but since then I always had an interest in LotR. When I heard that the movies were coming out, my anticipation grew. When I saw The Fellowship in theatres, I was forever hooked. I went to theatres numerous times to see the same LotR movie. Since then I have read the books (I am currently re-reading them) and have seen each movie from the trilogy countless times. My interest for The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien is here to stay. Everyday is a journey to Middle-earth in my mind!

Like Boromir88, Boromir wasn't my favorite character right away. It wasn't until after I read the books and saw the movies that Boromir really started to grow on me. Now he's the definite favorite. For many reasons, but that's going off topic. Actually, I'm going to start a new topic about this right now in the Books section.

[Parmawen]

Unfortunately, being a younger fan...I was in fifth grade when the first movie came out, and was absolutely horrified when I found out how the first movie ended. It frustrated me so much that I went home and read all three books within the next few weeks.

Thus the movies were the start of it all...and so I have a much closer affinity to them. Probably because reading the books when I was ten, I didn't fully grasp the magic of the world, while sadly when it was presented on screen it was a bit able to compute. But really, I appreciate the movies so much because at the time I'd never seen anything like it...for one there were actually girls as IMPORTANT figures in the movie, and it was a gigantic introduction to a world I had no clue existed.

Ohhh, now I feel all sappy. I think I'll have to go back and rewatch the movies for the gazillionth time.