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Posted on 12/15/2004 8:31:01 PM PST by goldstategop
New Line Entertainment released the definitive "Extended Edition" of The Return Of The King . Peter Jackson worked over a year to bring this out for the fans. New and extended scenes have brought the total running length to over 200 minutes. Plus extras on the supplemental discs.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but no one will every clear that bar...at least not soon. For Jackson, this was as much a work of love as a work of art, which is one reason it is so outstanding. I don't think I've ever seen a film based upon literature that exceeded my own imagination. This one did.
BTW, we're under strick orders from our son that we canNOT watch the extended version until he is able to watch it with us next week.
Exactly... My only reservation about the theatrical release is a lot of stuff had to be left on the cutting room floor to meet the constraints of running time in a theater. The new version has an extra 50 minutes of footage, either with brand new scenes or extended character development missing from the theatrical release. The last film is like a poem on film and it carries Tolkien's vision forward in a way not even the book does justice. The images are just arresting in their violence and beauty.
I'm majorly disappointed that my favorite tender scene in the whole book is thrown out... sigh, yes, we have to add in stupid Arwen romance scenes but we couldn't possibly spend two minutes for Eowyn, now could we?
Nevertheless I love the EEs even more than the theatricals. But the books are better.
The EE has more Eowyn material. Her dream sequence scene is is one of those moments you'll be drawn to. Its a doomed romance since Aragorn's heart is already pledged to another. But he knows with regret, how she feels but he must be true to the one he's in love with - the incomparable Arwen.
I have seen the EE and there is NOT enough time spent on the sweet romance of Faramir and Eowyn. Five more minutes would have done the trick!
I have not read the book; Faramir and Eowyn end up together?
My favorite added scenes include the march of Frodo and Sam with the Orcs, the Mouth of Sauron and Faramir/Eowyn. My least favorite addition was the lame, hurried-looking Saruman death scene. I'm almost finished with the extras. $25 well spent!
Aragorn delivers one of my favorite lines in the book, concerning Eowyn. In the chapter, The Houses of the Healing, he says to Eomer, "Few other griefs amid the ill chances of this world have more bitterness and shame for a man's heart than to behold the love of a lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned."
You'll have to read the book or watch the EE to find out! : )
In fact, please read the books. They are so rich and beautiful-much more so than the movies.
strict ?
The last 10-15 minutes of that was very powerful. More emotional than the movie itself at times!
I picked up the extended version Tuesday night and stayed up way too late jumping to the new and extended scenes. At first glance, most of the scene extensions are good; flow is better. The killing of Saruman by Grima at Isengard is also ok -- obviously it's a major change from the book, but since the Scouring of the Shire was not filmed, this was probably a pretty good way to handle it. A little more time could have been spent developing Eowyn -- ok, ok: a lot more time could have been spent developing Eowyn. I think I'm in love. But that's minor.
On the negative side, Aragorn killing the Mouth of Sauron rubbed me the wrong way. As nasty as The Mouth is, killing an envoy is an un-kingly, and therefore un-Aragorny, thing to do. I don't have my copy of the book handy to double check, and if Aragon does the deed in the book I'll retract the criticism, but I don't recall it. Most of all, I seriously disliked the scene where the Witch King defeats Gandalf by magical means, with Gandalf being saved only by the timely arrival of Theoden & Co. The scene is a pure PJ invention, and an inappropriate one. Gandalf is a Maia and the Witch King is a man, albeit with a Ring of Power. (Gandalf, of course, also carries such a ring, the one given him by Cirdan.) This does not fit with basic LOTR cosmology. While the human form Gandalf has assumed might presumably be destroyed by violence, the idea that a man could trump a Maia by magical means does not fit.
Oh well. It's done. Great film.
Ring Ping!! |
The Hobbit Hole :: Troop Support Projects
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My house is being painted and all my books have been removed from the shelves but I did manage to dig out my battered ROTK with my trusty flashlight.
Aragorn said naught in answer, but he took the other's eye and held it, and for a moment they strove thus; but soon, though Aragorn did not stir or move hand to weapon, the other quailed and gave back as if menaced with a blow. "I am a herald and an ambassador, and may not be assailed!"
"Where such laws hold," said Gandalf, "it is also the custom for ambassadors to use less insolence. But no one has threatened you. You have naught to fear from us, until your errand is done. But unless your master has come to new wisdom, then with all his servants you will be in great peril!"
Nobody lays hand on the Mouth, they parley and he rides away, then the battle begins but Aragorn doesn't slay him even then. The narrative switches to Pippin's POV, and he wishes that HE could have killed the Mouth.
Obviously you have never read any Greek tragedies.
Seriously though, didnt the Spartan's kill any messenger that did not bring good news?
Tolkien used a lot of German and Celtic mythology to populate Middle Earth but nothing from the Greek mythology that I can identify.
Anyway the Mouth escapes back through the Black Gate.
[Pippin] drew his sword and looked at it, and the intertwining shapes of red and gold; and the flowing characters of Númenor glinted like fire upon the blade. "This was made for just such an hour," he thought. "If only I could smite that foul Messenger with it, then almost I should draw level with old Merry. [Merry had stabbed the Witch King in the back of the knee, enabling Éowyn to deliver the fatal blow] Well, I'll smite some of this beastly brood before the end. I wish I could see cool sunlight and green grass again!"
If the Mouth had to be slain by somebody, it would be closer to the spirit of the book for Pippin to have done it since he had the idea.
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