Thoughts on The Lord of the Rings

On November 4, my daughter and I held our Ultimate Couch Potato Experience, watching the extended editions of all three Lord of the Rings movies back to back. We were joined in this marathon by one of my friends and one of Rachel's friends, Eric and Rachel, respectively. Later in the day were joined by more friends, Dan and Rachel (yes, a third Rachel), and Bill. All in all, a respectably-sized group.

We started a little late, 11:20AM or so and finished at 11:45PM. Aside from the assorted five minute breaks, we took a long break to order dinner and get settled. Even so, the day seemed to go very quickly.

Below are a few thoughts I had about the films (spoilers follow).

The Extended Editions are the definitive editions. The added footage makes three great films even greater. The Gifts of Galadriel, Gondor retaking Osgiliath, the Huorons at Helm's Deep, Frodo and Sam in Mordor, the fates of Saruman and Wormtongue, Gandalf vs. the Witch King, the Houses of Healing, and dozens of minor scenes add much depth to the story and the characters. I wouldn't want to watch the movies again without these elements.

The music is genius throughout. Of course I already knew this as I've been playing the soundtracks at work weekly for the past several years. But I think it bears repeating. Howard Shore deserves his Oscars.

The casting was excellent but for one slight exception; Hugo Weaving is a tad too dour for Elrond. He's not as bad as some have opined, but he does come across as petulant rather than kind and brooding rather than wise. I would love to see him in The Hobbit during happier times as that might provide a nice contrast. Of course, Ian McKellan (Gandalf) and Christopher Lee(Saruman) are perfect. New Line and MGM need to do the Hobbit before these guys are gone. No one else should play Gandalf the Grey! Other standouts for me are Bernard Hill (Theoden), Miranda Otto (Eowyn) and in a creepy, awesome cameo, Bruce Spence as the Mouth of Sauron.


There are a few things I would have done differently.

• My biggest beef is just after Eowyn slays the Witch King. The scene cuts away far too quickly; about half a second after the Witch King hits the ground. A longer cut is required to play out the drama and emphasize the magnitude of the achievement.
• In the Prologue, when Bilbo's hand reaches out of the dark to find the ring, the hand is much too wrinkled and old. Clearly it's Ian Holm's hand and not that of a young Hobbit.
• The opening of Fellowship in the extended edition is Bilbo writing his book, explaining about Hobbits. I actually like the flow of the theatrical edition better in this part.
• The only extended scene that adds nothing is right after Aragorn makes it through the Paths of the Dead. The encounter with the Corsairs is funny, but spoils the reveal of the Army of the Dead later.
• In the Prologue, just after Isildur cuts the ring from Sauron, there is a shot of a group of elves as the wave of power washes over them. One elf looks like he is busting out in laughter. That takes me out of the moment every single time.

My favorite moments are numerous: the prologue, shots of the Shire, Arwen's flight to the ford, the Fellowship on the mountains, the entire Moria segment, the Argonath, Boromir's fall, Pippin, Merry and the Orcs, the Black Gate, almost everything with Saruman, Helm's Deep, the Ents attack, the loss of Osgiliath and the doomed charge to retake it, the lighting of the beacons, the charge of the Rohirrim, Minas Morgul, Mount Doom. Holy crap, there are a lot of great moments.

One of my favorite moments is in ROTK when Sam and Frodo are lying on Mount Doom and a trio of eagles appears. One of the eagles, Gwahir no doubt, carries Gandalf. What's interesting to me is that Gwahir picks up Frodo and one of the other eagles picks up Sam. So why did the third eagle come? I didn't realize the answer until months after I first saw ROTK. The third eagle came for Gollum. They knew Gollum was with Sam and Frodo and sent the third eagle to carry him away. It's touches like this that make me very appreciative of Peter Jackson's attention to detail.

Here's the reason I love these movies. The main theme of the story isn't heroism, or friendship, or industrialization versus a simple life. Those are certainly themes of the story, but the true theme is loss. The destruction of the ring is an unhappy event, in a very real way, because it represents the loss of magic in the world; magic which is symbolic of adventure, innocence and wonder. The Elves are leaving, the wizards are gone, what good magic that exists is fading, and dark magic has been banished. At the end of the story, Middle Earth is a much less interesting place than it was at the beginning.

Peter Jackson gets this. He understands the true spirit of the books and the sense of loss. To demonstrate, you have to go no further than the opening titles. The main theme is not triumphant and heroic, but sad beyond belief. It's a notice, right at the beginning of the first movie, that this is a story of sadness and loss. I can't wait to watch them again. :-)

Bring on The Hobbit!!