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groundzero74
Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Downfall of The Lord Of The Rings And The ROTK
*SPOILERS*AHEAD*
That's what Frodo entitled the "RED BOOK" (see review title) , this is one of the many "not so subtle" changes , Peter Jackson , worked into the final part of the already classic/epic trilogy .
What bothered me the most is that some of the characters where "pushed" on the foreground just to make them a bigger part of the story (Arwens illness will be cured when the One Ring destroyed ?) . The Oathbreakers did more cleaning than written also, almost making the victory of Minas Tirith a minor accomplishment (why not let them do all the work . . .)
On the other hand some of the dialogue is directly out of the Book , and most locations are exactly as described by Tolkien (e.g. Denethor's Hall) .
The movie gets 10/10 for me , Completing the perfect score i gave for the three movies .
To end this review with Sam's final words in the book ( &Film also :) )
- "Well, I'm back" -
The End
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Worthy Follow Up to the Fellowship
*SPOILERS* Ahead ,
The Movie has the same build up in the beginning as The Fellowship , First Blackness , then The Lord Of The Rings Title , a great battle scene between gandalf and the Balrog , and then fading to the hobbits on their way to Mordor , with The Two Towers Title , very promising continuity . . .
Some parts of the movie have been cut down too far (the voyage over the Dead Marshes) , and on the other hand the move of the People from Edoras to Helm's Deep is bit too extensive (Fight with the Giant wolves was not needed. . .) Also the change of Frodo's behavior is not gradually but very jumpy.
Some twists that are not in the book , like Aragorn falling from the Cliff and getting rescued by his Horse ?
Gollum is done very well , at some times when he is alone in the picture he looks VERY real , which is the best compliment I can give , best CGI I have seen until now , also some good facial expressions . Gollum's split personality was "explained" (by conversations with himself) a bit too extensive too I think .
Some other things that where never so apparent in the book where visually very good, like when Frodo & Sam cover themselves with the Elven Robe , and from the outside it looks like a giant Rock , because they are in a rock area (like a camelion).
Some other things that are assumed for the viewer to know , like the Lembas Bread, the Elven Rope , the Elven Brooche that Pippin drops where things you never saw them receive in the fellowship , but they speak of them so you understand that they where given . . .
The Ents . I accepted the Ents from the beginning , they are very well done , the CGI is brilliant like Gollum's .The War between the Ents and IsenGard is good , but a part I would like to have put in the film is not there (the Ents breaking the surrounding walls by growing their roots into the walls would have been great . . .
Finally the battle of Helms Deep , Great , but too short when Eomer Arrives , when they ride down the mountain to clash into the Orc Host , is just too HUGE to describe , it is breath-taking . But then they jump to the Ent war which is not as impressive as Helm's , and when they finally return they are already crying VICTORY at the Horn burg . . . should have been a few minutes longer (5 maybe ,after Eomer & Ganalf arrive) . The final scenes (quite a bit before the ending in the book) between Sam , Frodo & Gollum are sudden , specially because I expected the ending a bit further .
After all this comment I still rate the movie 10/10 , all the minor issues cannot weigh up to the greatness of the Trilogy . Great work all the way , a little less EPIC than FOTR ,but still the best movie since FOTR . . . which on it's own was they best since . . .
The Dig (1995)
mysterious , "Forbidden planet ?" - Spoilers !
I played the game when it came out over here in Europe , when i was still studying electronics. I have always played adventure games (Lucas Arts is the best adventure game creator !) but this one was different ... (based on a Spielberg screenplay , T2's Robert Patrick) ...
The Game's story seemed remotely familiar to me when i played it , until last year i saw Forbidden Planet (again) and it all came back to me ... i must have seen Forbidden planet when i was a little kid and The Dig therefore somewhere in the back of my head reminded me of the film ---
Empty planet , superior technically advanced aliens who 'destroyed' or elevated themselves into the ether in the Dig
Or the superior technically advanced aliens who 'destroyed' themselves with their invisible 'id' (frued) thoughts ... Astronauts landing on the planet surface , the big rooms , the engine that drives it all ...and so on ... and so on (WW) ...
Anyway the Game And the Movie both ARE great , and give you the SF experience you've been waiting for ...