So I saw “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” last night at a press screening.
I’ll be working on a review for the Milpitas Post soon enough but I know folks want to know about it now.
The short version: it’s good. Has many of the same kinds of mistakes as “The Two Towers” did, but it’s still good. I suspect that fans of the book will be far more upset than other folks.
My more detailed thoughts (SPOILERS INCLUDED) are below. Read at your own risk.
Like the other two, this is a visually stunning movie. The oliphaunts, the army of the dead, the city of Minas Tirith, and the rest are amazing. The battle sequences are in-your-face and very exciting (although I was surprised by how many screaming women were running around Minas Tirith – wouldn’t they have been evacuated to safer levels well before the orcs were inside the city?), and it was a pleasure to watch some real butt-kicking.
OTOH, there are a number of flaws, starting with Eowyn being visibly terrified during her battle with the Witch King and ending with Frodo miraculously getting his stolen clothes back.
Many of the characters have been made more – more frightened, more whiny, more funny, more crazy, more whatever – than they are in the book. Jackson has lost a lot of the subtlety of the text. Yes, I know it’s hard to translate book to text, but I can’t help wishing he’d trusted his audience a bit more. You don’t have to hammer us with people’s emotions all the time, really!
Still, it’s a decent telling of the tale, if a simplistic one. I’m rambling here so I’ll stop and go back to getting my templates working. :)
