Finally Saw Return of the King.

What did I think of it?

And in that very moment, away in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.

And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.

- Return of the King, page 811, "The Siege of Gondor"

I no longer need to imagine how that looked, for now I KNOW.

Comments

[von]

Best. Movie. Battle. Scene. EVER.

[sidereal]

I loved it up and down. There's just one thing that weighs on me. And like a pimple on Aphrodite's nose, small exceptions in the context of pure perfection stand out.

I hated the Deus Ex Machina of the dead army. They rendered every other sacrifice on the field (including, notably, Theoden's) completely meaningless when they swept over the field and Minis Tirith like it was no sweat. As if, if they had come an hour earlier, they still would have won and the Rohirrim would be pristine. Just terrible.

Of course, in the books, nothing of the kind happened.

Other than that, perfection. If it doesn't get the Best Picture Oscar, I'm going to [content deleted by FBI].

[Katherine]

That moment, and the beacon lighting scene, are the best stirring epic scenes I've seen. I didn't think I was particularly susceptible, but man oh man.

Mystic River was better in some ways--or rather, less flawed. But this whole trilogy was definitely the most impressive achievement of the past three years. It deserves the Oscar (and Jackson does even more so.)

[Moe Lane]

My girlfriend and I compared notes afterwards and realized that we had both been floored by the way the actor playing Theoden absolutely ruled his death scene. The thing he did with his eyes when he realized Eowyn was there... hard to describe, but absolutely spot-on.

And the scene with the butterfly towards the end gave me just enough time to start grinning nastily.

[von]

And the scene with the butterfly towards the end gave me just enough time to start grinning nastily.

I actually forgot about the Eagles* arriving at the end until the butterfly (moth?) appeared. Simply brilliant.

von

Another dues ex, btb -- but who's counting.

[Matthew Stinson]

"I hated the Deus Ex Machina of the dead army."

AHH! The way Jackson presented them it made me think I was watching previews of The Frighteners II. Would it have been too much to show the dead doing the actual job Tolkien had them doing rather than laying waste to the armies of Mordor like some kind of protoplastic pirahna swarm?

[mike p]

And even worse to me than the plot device of the army of the dead was the way that Aragorn was only able to command them because Elrond had just showed up to give him the sword, rather than because he's, you know, Isildur's heir and noble and brave and deserving in his own right. He end up wielding supreme executive power just because some pointy eared tree fairy threw a sword at him.

Aragorn isn't shown doing anything in the whole of the movie to demonstrate his fitness for the crown. (Contesting with Sauron via the Palantir, the hands of the king, and a bunch of other little touches in the books that add up over time.) IMO, the king was the most shortshrifted character in RoTK, ironically enough.

Still, all in all a fine film - and I saw that the extended addition DVD is expected to come in at just over 5 hours long, which will hopefully add more depth to Aragorn and Denethor, amoung all the other scenes cut from the theatrical release, even if I can do without more Legolas - Super Elf crap.

[Moe Lane]

"and I saw that the extended addition DVD is expected to come in at just over 5 hours long"

Amazing: four years ago that statement about any movie would have made me shudder with dread, not delight...

[engineer_charley]

I read in Newsweek (I think) that Jackson didn't like the Scouring of the Shire business in the book, so didn't even film it, thus it's not to be expected in the DVD. Too bad. I always liked the way Merry and Pippin really came into their own.

[crionna]

Ah, the eagles. I had to explain to my parents who I saw the movie with, that the eagles ALWAYS show up and help save the day.

[Thorley Winston]

I thought it was a great movie overall (we watched the first two before going to see the third) but would have preferred they had not added the Army of the Dead but had included the Battle of the Shire. I had to explain to my companion what happened to Saurumon the White and Wormtongue, plus it would have given us one more chance to break out into applause during the filme (making it a total of seven).

[engineer_charley]

I understand that the extended DVD will contain extra footage about the fate of Saruman and Wormtongue. I missed that loose end in the theatrical release, too.

[Jordan]

"He end up wielding supreme executive power just because some pointy eared tree fairy threw a sword at him."

Agreed, mike p. Jackson, who could well be a watery tart, falls into the same trap that three generations of fantasy genre folk have tripped into, from The Black Cauldron to Dungeons & Dragons. He literalizes magic which is actually spiritual in nature (the Wizard-fight over Theoden's mind, ugh!), and uses corny magic to explain things which are literal/material in nature (the political power of a king). Magic: it ain't all tophats and fireballs, kids.

[Jordan]

Should say "sometimes" literalizes magic. They got the One Ring's magic down pretty well (except for the part where Frodo & Sam can never wear it - in the books Sam even wears the ring in Mordor). Galadriel's mindreading was also pretty good. On the other hand, Arwen's elvish "immortality" is for some reason contained in a nacreous cruciform pendant which she gives to Aragorn, or does she break it? And where can I get an immortality pendant?

[Catsy]

That moment, and the beacon lighting scene, are the best stirring epic scenes I've seen. I didn't think I was particularly susceptible, but man oh man.

The beacon lighting scene choked me up, yeah. I thought I was going to cry. My fiancee, on the other hand, did--several times.

My eyes were borderline but dry until the very end with Aragorn's coronation and the hobbitts: "You bow to no one." That line was all it took, and the tap turned on and didn't stop until the credits rolled.

[Phil]

And even worse to me than the plot device of the army of the dead was the way that Aragorn was only able to command them because Elrond had just showed up to give him the sword, rather than because he's, you know, Isildur's heir and noble and brave and deserving in his own right.

I kind of disagree here -- maybe because I haven't read ROTK in probably 20 years, but I understand how even the lengthiest, most detailed movie must use some shorthand. (Or maybe I'm just good at "reading" movies.) But I definitely took away from that scene the latter reading -- discussing the movie later, I said to my wife, "What's important is not so much that Aragorn procures this super-powerful army, but that they recognize him as the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor and agree to serve him on that basis. It's the first real act he commits that shows he is ready to claim his birthright." The sword was just the catalyst -- the Dead served him because he said, basically, "Hail to the King, baby!"