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Old 11-08-2006, 12:07 PM   #1
alatar
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
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alatar is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.alatar is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
LotR3-RotK-Seq11

Under the ruins of a walled city
Crumbling towers and beams of yellow light
No flags of truce, no cries of pity
The siege guns had been pounding all through the night
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the field's I'd known
I recognized the walls that I once made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid.
- Sting, from Fortress Around Your Heart


The siege of Minas Tirith begins. The forces of Sauron approach, and there are many times many. Trolls push massive siege towers, and I wonder what a simple pit or wall or mud would have done to their progress – aren’t the Pelennor Fields just a little too flat? A little too CG? Just what was the fields’ purpose, assuming that they weren’t used on the weekends for games of football or lawn bowling?

The ‘approach of Sauron’s army’ shot is too CG. More video game than movie. That being said, I can’t wait for the battle, extended in this addition, to start. The scene is brighter than would be expected, but the darkness sent by Mount Doom to cover the troops from the sun was swept away by the winds of the lighting crew.

Before the war can actually start, first the Gondor gate guards must let one last soldier in through the door. Why, it’s Faramir being dragged by his trusty steed. Note that a horse of the Rohirrim, such as Brego, would have carried the poor steward’s son upon its back; Gondor’s horses are above such silliness. Faramir has two arrows stuck in him. He seems mostly dead, but I’m not sure. The gate area seems strikingly clean, and one would think that barricades and other impediments would already be in place as surely someone has noticed that a ‘massive’ battle is about to begin.

Back on the fields, the shots to be heard ’round the wold (yes, wold) are loaded into catapults. The ratcheting mechanism of the devices sounds like hammering on an anvil – like Saruman’s smithies? Happy-go-lucky Gothmog rides out on this most splendid day. What a day for a war! He’s dressed in his best threads, and grins like there’s no tomorrow - it’s good to be Gothmog this day. Even his warg seems well-groomed, and I’m surprised that the creature does not have a bow in its mane (black, of course) or some flashy collar. As Gothmog looks over his troops, I do as well, and some are armed with the most interesting weapons. Though very similar in color, the orcs wear different helms and carry various versions of pointy sticks. Not at all like Saruman’s one-size-kills-all Uruks.

We get a quick glimpse of Faramir’s stretcher bearers taking the Steward’s son elsewhere. The arrows have been plucked from or broken from his chest, and the blood – and maybe even the holes – have been wiped from his armor. He seems the better already.

We see the gimpy Gothmog de-warg, and push away another orc that tries to help its leader after a poor dismount (“The Harad judge scores it 1.7…”). Gothmog has a real big chip on his shoulder - this is no ordinary orc-chieftain that leads Sauron’s armies into battle. By the by, where’s that other leader of the forces of darkness? Air traffic control have him in a holding pattern?

Back inside Minas Tirith, Denethor runs to meet the broken body of his second son. The Steward kneels in front of his son, but not for long. A soldier, Captain Obvious, points out that Faramir’s troops were outnumbered. Somehow, though, Faramir made it back. Alone. If the war goes well, there’s going to be questions…

Back on the other side, we get a really good look at Gothmog’s head. Do orcs’ melt? Did he cut himself shaving with a mattock? Anyway, he states that the peoples inside Minas Tirith need deodorant for their fear stench, and, showing his complete ignorance in all matters regarding hygiene, sends over what obviously works with the lady orcs.

Human heads. Ugh.

Guards are pelted by this sickening shot, and it has the desired effect – thankfully the scene is cut short.

Denethor goes off the edge – figuratively, at least for now – when he thinks that Faramir is dead. Pippin, not giving up hope, examines Faramir more closely and sees possibility. Even if Denethor heard the words of young Pippin, any flicker of hope that was kindled was immediately squashed when Denethor looks out at the army of Sauron. What strikes me each time I see the besiegers is the orderliness of the orcs. Enemy catapults begin the assault, and buildings crumble as quickly as Denethor’s mind. Soldiers and civilians in the city run in panic for cover, and to make matters worse, after slandering Théoden and the Rohirrim, Denethor calls for all to ‘abandon ship.’

Exactly where are the lifeboats stowed?

Gandalf will have none of this, and smacks the Steward upside the head. Ian McKellen has a look of disgust on his face that could curdle milk. He, I guess, lets the moment get the best of him and decides, that, well, I do carry this big white stick in my hand, and I’m really not afraid to use it and so…Gandalf beats the Steward to the ground. What happened to the counselor that was not to match power for power in the fight against Sauron? Where is the wizard that pities even Sauron’s slaves? How does Gandalf expect for the defenders to follow him when they’ve just seen him strike (repeatedly) their rightful ruler? And, as we most likely know, this won’t be the last beating that the Steward will get from the White Wizard.

I don’t like PJ’s choice here. Sure, when Gandalf calls for everyone to “prepare for battle,” I can’t help but be pleased, but did we have to get there over an old deluded man’s body? I liked the Grey more than the White, and as noted previously, Gandalf’s character continues to slip down a dark slope to the abyss. Anyway…

The Gondorian soldiers, having immediately abandoned their posts (are they automatons to not see, to a man, that their boss is nuts?), at the words of Gandalf turn back around. Men form ranks, and weapons are readied. Trebuchets throw large chunks of masonry back at the orcs. Gandalf watches as the orcs take casualties. Not enough, it seems, by his facial expression. Both sides get crunched as the ‘artillery’ continues to fire. Gothmog almost becomes an orc pancake, but, in a show of bravery or stupidity, he waits until the very last moment to move away from the large rock that comes his way. He shows his contempt by spitting on the rock that just missed him.

Note the somewhat comic troll.

Now that the ‘siege guns’ are going, Gothmog, via some unseen radio device, calls in his air force to attack the Gondorian artillery. The winged Nazgûl dive and attack from above (interesting that the creatures can fall so fast then pull out of the dive), throwing the defenders into disarray. The screams of the screechers, like in the books, are amplified, and men cringe and hide at the sound. Note that no one looses an arrow their way, and you’d think that, having seen these creatures before in the fighting in Osgiliath, that the Gondorian soldiery would be accustomed to the Nazgûl’s presence and would have prepared some defense (like shooting them down, as was suggested of a winged Nazgûl in an earlier sequence). Note that I count nine as they swoop down on Minas Tirith - pause the scene when the camera angle goes behind the diving creatures, count those presently on the screen then add each one as it appears.

At least it makes some sense for Sauron, via PJ, to use the creatures such as in this version of Middle Earth, no elf prince shoots one down. Panic, having left briefly, returns to the city. Civilians and soldiers run helter-skelter, and poor Pippin gets pushed to the floor. The siege towers almost reach the walls, and Gandalf tells the soldiers not to shoot at the armored towers but at the trolls that push them. Duh! Thankfully the wizard’s wisdom was available, as the soldiers may have been shooting each other. The walls are reached/breached, and hand-to-hand fighting ensues. More orcs rush the gate. The battering ram that the orcs use is not effective, and we wonders who exactly is running this show?

Gandalf, taking a moment from the slaughter, tells Pippin that he should run back to the Citadel, as, as we know from Théoden’s and Éomer’s words, hobbits aren’t meant to fight. And orc takes advantage of the pause and runs for Pip. Gandalf joins the battle and wields both staff (non-magically) and sword like - as stated by either Ian or PJ - like a “samurai.” After Gandalf dispatches a few orcs, one slips through his defense and, as anyone watching these films would have guessed, Pippin comes to the rescue and slays the orc, saving Gandalf’s life…or whatever.

By the way, if Gimli, Aragorn and Legolas did not have weapons that could harm the wizard…anyway, back to the fighting.

The orcs continue to take losses at the gate, and Gothmog is no longer smiling. Doesn’t anyone think to shoot the orc that stands out from the crowd? “Look - An orc chieftain! Oh, that’s right…they don’t command in such large battles.” At least in this attack on a gate of man the orc bodies pile up during the battle. It would have been nice to see the orcs falling in front of the gate as well, slowing the advance those running with the big log. We’ve already gone too long in this scene without a PJism, but then it happens: An orc states that nothing can breach the gate. Gothmog replies that “Grond will breach it.” He’s smiling again. Note that he IS an orc chieftain, as someone more bright would have brought up the wolfish battering ram much sooner.

Grond is brought forth, dragged by some prehistoric beasts of the oliphaunt size. Some relative of the Arsinoitherium perhaps?

The orcs all chant “Grond” as the machine closes on the gate (except for one orc riding on the right side of Grond’s structure). Gandalf looks out at the flaming battering ram and again seems dismayed. Where, by the way, is the Wizardly flashlight that drove away the Winged Nazgûl?

With that, DVD 1 fades to black. DVD opens with a ‘Pirates of the Belfalas’ trailer. Or not.

It’s those same pirates and marauders that so depressed Aragorn when he, Gimli and Legolas left the Paths of the Dead back door. As the ships approach, we see our three heroes standing alone on the shoreline. Aragorn yells out something like, ‘you cannot pass, sailors of Anduin.’ The captain of the nearest ship takes notice and he and crew laugh as there is no stick behind these words. Aragorn asks the deadly accurate elf to shoot a warning shot - Aragorn warns these men, I guess, to turn back. Seems that he will not give this choice to many - or any - later. With a little help from Gimli, Legolas’s arrow goes amiss and ‘kills’ our dear PJ, who demonstrates that acting is not as easy at it looks. Gimli, obviously, wants a fight, and prepares to board the ships amongst so much laughter.

The captain sets up Aragorn for a truly inspired line, “This army,” and as our new King of the Dead speaks, the army of the dead rush the ships.

The wind of fortune may be a’changing.
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