So... What Did You Think? (ROTK)

[mysh]

I personally loved it. The first two were quite dissapointing to me the first time I saw it, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this. Boy was I glad I decided to go! The only downside was my leg fell asleep and I thought we'd have to amputate it.

I loved Pip's and Merrys roles in the film. Pip was as usually funny, but now he brought drama to the part. I thought Billy did an amazing job. I also liked Eowyn training Merry, and then helping him get in the fight.

Tears came to my eyes when Sam carried Frodo up the mountain. That was just so sweet. I love Sam...

I laughed so hard twards the end when Frodo just wakes up, it's really bright and the whole fellowship comes in with these grins and hugs everyone. I thought it was a fever dream or something

As for the end, I thought it could have ended with just Frodo sailing away into the sunset. The movie was long enough, without having to meet Sams family. Though I am happy for him.

[timdgreat]

one thing i missed that they didnt have in this movie, i wanted to see the Mouth of Sauron, i would have liked to see him, oh well, really liked how Sauron as the big Eye was portryed in the whole series, but u really get an idea of the menace behind it this Movie:rolly2:

[Jessa]

bloody brilliant. plain and simple

[Superman_16]

i totally agree Jessa...the Return of the King is the best film that i have ever seen!

[sarah2040]

I'll second that!

[timdgreat]

i agree also, even if i do a lot of nit picking:rolly2:

[Leyla]

It was soooooo good!!! Call me a wimp but my eyes were generally glazed with tears for the whole of the second half!!! But the best bit was when Eowen killed that Nazgul guy - woohoo!!! You go girl!!!

[Tabitha]

I can't believe you thought this was a bit dull Ray! Harsh criticism indeed. I was amazed that I managed to get though all 200 minutes without once wanting to look at my watch - I was totally gripped from beginning to end.

Smeagol's backstory was excellent - I didn't realise we were going to be getting those scenes at all, and was very pleasantly surprised at their inclusion. Andy Serkis was great, even if it was a bit weird hearing Gollum's voice coming out of a human-ish being!

My only real complaint about this film is the Eye of Sauron - it just seemed a bit naff to me. The pounding menace of it in the first film was reduced to an almost laughable lighthouse effect. I think a better job could have been made of it, but I await possible extra scenes in the extended edition (TTT extended edition was far superior to the normal edition - by a long, long way).

Other scenes that I am looking forward to in the extended edition are those involving Eomer and Eowyn and Theoden's death - there were scenes of Eomer clutching Theoden's body in the trailer and they weren't even in the film! This part of the film seems to be missing something - as we go from from Eowyn's victory to a council of the remaining leaders at Minas Tirith without much explanation of what has happened inbetween. I would also like to see a bit more about Denethor - he is obviously barmy, but shouldn't they have explained why?
And Faramir and Eowyn - perhaps a few scenes to foreshadow their future relationship? A bit more than a simple glance at the very end, anyway.


And seeing Sam's family - come on! That only lasted a few seconds, and was very important in my opinion - this movie was far more about Sam than it was about Frodo, and Sean Astin carried that burden with a large amount of grace. He really was Sam, just the way I remembered him from the books. The other two movies I had my doubts about Astin, but he totally nailed it here. I think he deserves an Oscar nomination for his performance. The 'I can carry you' line was the best part of the whole film, and I was somehow crying and grinning at the same time at that moment.

[ray gower]

Didn't say it was dull, just a little disappointing.

The disappointment coming largely in the form of Aragorn dreaming about Arwen and Elrond, something that was relegated to the Appendices of the book. It was not a minor couple of seconds thing either, featuring heavily during the first half of the film.
It was out of place in TTT and even more so here. It meant there was no space for the importance of Eowen and Merry slaying the Dark Rider, allowing Aragorn to perform the symbols of the King and the rest of the battle losing one of its major points.

[L. Arkwright]

To be honest I did feel that Sam came out second best at the end. To me all Frodo did was wander about, grimace, do a bit of moaning and then grimace again. All this was done with a look on his face like he was about to burst into tears. Sam saved his life countless times, he faced off against Shelob, killed a load of orcs, carried Frodo up the side of a mountain and then saved his life again. If it hadnt been for the fact that Sam was a good friend to Frodo the ring would have never been destroyed.
The scene with the bowing in it near the end, as the camera closes up on Frodos face I was inwardly shouting, "You glory hogging git!" I was hoping at some point that he would say that Sam was the real hero but he didnt.

Lol, im not knocking the film, it was great. If a movie can make you have a response like this well, then its done its job.

[Leyla]

To be honest I did feel that Sam came out second best at the end. To me all Frodo did was wander about, grimace, do a bit of moaning and then grimace again. All this was done with a look on his face like he was about to burst into tears. Sam saved his life countless times, he faced off against Shelob, killed a load of orcs, carried Frodo up the side of a mountain and then saved his life again. If it hadnt been for the fact that Sam was a good friend to Frodo the ring would have never been destroyed.

I so agree - I love Sam, he's such a good character. Especially when he gives Frodo back the ring as it really shows his strength. And then Frodo doesn't let it go to destroy it - I mean I know it's the whole power of the ring thing, but Sam's so much more of a better character as Frodo just couldn't have got anyway without Sam - I mean he carries him up mount doom!! That's friendship. But it's like how in my opinion Harry Potter gets too much credit when half of the time everyone else helps him, but that's for another forum, lol.

[Tabitha]

Originally posted by ray gower
Didn't say it was dull, just a little disappointing.

The disappointment coming largely in the form of Aragorn dreaming about Arwen and Elrond, something that was relegated to the Appendices of the book. It was not a minor couple of seconds thing either, featuring heavily during the first half of the film.
It was out of place in TTT and even more so here. It meant there was no space for the importance of Eowen and Merry slaying the Dark Rider, allowing Aragorn to perform the symbols of the King and the rest of the battle losing one of its major points.

I suppose you are right that much of those scenes were not as necessary as the showdown between Eowyn and the Dark Rider (particularly the aftermath), however I thought that a good part of the scenes with Elrond were important because of the reforging of the sword and Aragorn assuming his birthright, and also because of the parallels (such as they are) with the previous battle with Sauron, and Elrond's role then.

It would have been odd to have the Elrond scenes without Arwen's presence and influence, but Aragorn and Arwen's relationship problems were given a little too prominent a role, considering how unimportant they really where in the grand scheme of things.

[FeedMeTV]

Aftre re-reading rotk I agree that Aragorn should have been shown having 'healing hands'. I don't think just stepping up and saying hi, I'm the King should have been enough. Hopefully it's in the extended version but if it's not that'll be my only critism.

About Sam being the real hero, we don't know what would have happened if Sam had carried the Ring and he might have turned all evil far quicker than old Frodie. We'll never know...

[timdgreat]

and thank goodness we wont know, as much as i love the sam, i dont think he would have stood up to the rings power for long :rolly2:

[Dave]

Originally posted by Shaun
I felt it was way too short.

Am I the only one that thought it was too long then?

3½ hours!!

I know it still missed things out, but my problem was that I wanted to take my kids and I know that there was no way they would sit still that long.

Having said that I throughly enjoyed it. No film is ever exactly like the book. Even if it follows the plot exactly, your imagination sees things differently. The scenery and battles were epic and it deserves whatever awards it gets.