Return of the King review (spoiler free)
12-17-03, 01:38 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: South Shore Massachusetts
Posts: 792
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Return of the King review (spoiler free)
I thought the first half-hour was terrible. It was all material that should have been in The Two Towers. And I don't just mean because it was in the Two Towers book (which it was), but also because its all mostly wrapping up plot points from The Two Towers movie. Theres a scene with Arwen that actually makes the Arwen material they added to that movie make sense and have weight.
Everything after that is pretty good. The 3 people I went with thought it was the best one of the three. Many people have said that the film has too many endings, but I'm not sure what to think about that yet. All the battle scenes are great, and worth the price of admission alone.
So thats basically it: Good movie, but be prepared for a boring/confusing first 30 minutes or so.
*For those of you that have read the book: Like I said the first half-hour or so is all stuff from the TTT book, and its been changed about as much as everything else was changed for TTT, which was pretty annoying. Once they start adapting ROTK with Pippin and Gandalf arriving at Minas Tirith, though, the movie gets A LOT better. The rest of the movie is essentially a cliff-notes version of the ROTK plot, in other words be prepared for a lot of material getting covered very breifly or missing entirely (Hopefully the Extended Edition will fix this). Examples: There is no Mouth of Sauron, Houses of Healing, Dunedain, Scene at the Cross-Roads, Dawnless Day, or explanation for what Denethor does.
Everything after that is pretty good. The 3 people I went with thought it was the best one of the three. Many people have said that the film has too many endings, but I'm not sure what to think about that yet. All the battle scenes are great, and worth the price of admission alone.
So thats basically it: Good movie, but be prepared for a boring/confusing first 30 minutes or so.
*For those of you that have read the book: Like I said the first half-hour or so is all stuff from the TTT book, and its been changed about as much as everything else was changed for TTT, which was pretty annoying. Once they start adapting ROTK with Pippin and Gandalf arriving at Minas Tirith, though, the movie gets A LOT better. The rest of the movie is essentially a cliff-notes version of the ROTK plot, in other words be prepared for a lot of material getting covered very breifly or missing entirely (Hopefully the Extended Edition will fix this). Examples: There is no Mouth of Sauron, Houses of Healing, Dunedain, Scene at the Cross-Roads, Dawnless Day, or explanation for what Denethor does.
Last edited by Ted The Bug; 12-17-03 at 10:29 AM.
12-17-03, 03:01 PM
#2
DVD Talk Hero
I will side with those who felt the first half was more of the "same old, same old" and I never found myself caring about what developed before we get into the second half of the film, which, I think, you could have just used that for a film all by itself.
The first half just seems to be marking time, getting us to the point where the film needed to be to wrap things up, but it's not too compelling to watch (for me, anyhow). I actually think more could have been cut out of the first half without hurting the resolution of the film in the second half.
I give the first half 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.
The second half has a few stumbles towards the end, but overall, the second half features amazing film-making and acting performances out of all of the actors, and the special effects crew outdid themselves. Kudoes to Peter Jackson for having the tenacity to see this unwieldy project through to the very end.
I give the second half 3.75 stars, or a grade of A- (taking off a little for the ending).
Overall, I give it 3.25 stars, or a grade of B+.
The first half just seems to be marking time, getting us to the point where the film needed to be to wrap things up, but it's not too compelling to watch (for me, anyhow). I actually think more could have been cut out of the first half without hurting the resolution of the film in the second half.
I give the first half 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.
The second half has a few stumbles towards the end, but overall, the second half features amazing film-making and acting performances out of all of the actors, and the special effects crew outdid themselves. Kudoes to Peter Jackson for having the tenacity to see this unwieldy project through to the very end.
I give the second half 3.75 stars, or a grade of A- (taking off a little for the ending).
Overall, I give it 3.25 stars, or a grade of B+.
