{"id":4845,"date":"2003-12-22T09:22:14","date_gmt":"2003-12-22T16:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=4845"},"modified":"2014-06-13T17:31:59","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T23:31:59","slug":"return_of_the_k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/22\/return_of_the_k.html","title":{"rendered":"Return of the King<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

In brief: Wow.<\/i><\/p>\n

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In not-so-brief (and with spoilers) …<\/p>\n

Jackson, in adopting LotR to the big screen, and assuming he didn’t want to make it a 20 hour epic (as though that would even be enough) was faced with ongoing decisions as to where to be faithful to the book, where to make a watchable movie. He’s trodden that line pretty damned well, in my opinion. Where RotK (and the trilogy as a whole) falters, it’s equally where Jackson has been overly-faithful to the book, or, less often, where he’s had to trim to make the thing fit in the time and audience available. Similarly, where he succeeds spectacularly, it’s both in being faithful to his vision of the work, to its myriad details, and where he’s worked around some pacing-killers that simply couldn’t be included.<\/p>\n

So, like everyone else, I come out of the movie slavering for the extended edition. I want to see the exit interview of Saruman, for one thing. I want any number of other details that I’m sure are in there.<\/p>\n

And, like most people, the parts I’m least pleased with remain the Arwen plot lines, which still feel tacked on, and which cover nobody with glory.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, I realize that the movie would be weaker without the Arwen bits. And I realize both that ending TTT or beginning RotK with the Saruman scene would be horribly clunky.<\/p>\n

Like most people, I can appreciate that the movie seems to “end” forever — while realizing that (a) that’s how the damned books read, and (b) that’s even cutting out some major bits, the Scouring of the Shire. This latter episode works well in the books, but I suspect would have fallen flat on film — after the grand epic of the Battle of Pellenor, anything would. In many ways the long letting-go of the characters fits in with the Tolkien theme of the passing of an age, of the indelible marks of sacrifice, of how time changes all things, sometimes clearly, other times subtly.<\/p>\n

There are any number of other things I’d have loved to see, which almost certainly aren’t in the extended edition. I lament the watered-down version of the Gimli\/Legolas relationship, for one. I understand why it’s not in there, and might even agree, but it’s still missed, wistfully. Ditto the madness of Denethor being tied to his use of the Palantir of Minas Tirith (and its role in the final conflagration). Indeed, the palantiri <\/i>get short shrift, though Tolkien uses them at various key points, but, again, I can also understand why Jackson did so. <\/p>\n

Just like the forces of Good could not war against Sauron without losing something essential, so, too, you can’t make a LotR movie without a similar sacrifice.<\/p>\n

I missed the relationship between Merry and Theoden. <\/p>\n

In some ways, this installment is both more and less satisfying than the others. The events are so monumental, so epic, that the personalities are lost, replaced by powerful but less personal archetypes. Legolas gets a mere handful of lines (hell, for once, Gimli has more). Merry and Pippin emote and act, but more as swept along by the plot, less as the people we’ve seen before. Sam and Frodo turn into powerful representations of the Faithful, Loving Servant and the Noble, Tormented Savior. <\/p>\n

Gollum remains Gollum. I don’t know if it’s ironic or fabulous that I’ve become jaded to that marvelous CGI creation.<\/p>\n

Some great bits:<\/p>\n