by Stanley Anderson » July 26th, 2007, 1:26 pm
Lynn, where have you been all these years since the movies came out! It's so nice to have your help disemboweling Jackson's disembowelment of LotR! I (and a few others here) have railed againt PJ for a long time and it's good to hear from you on these forums.
All that you say is true, and I have talked of my frustration of commenting on the movie because there are just so many things to shake one's head at (and no, for me it's nothing to do with whether the correct pluperfect form of an Elvish verb was engraved on the hilt of a sword that we only see slashing into an orc's neck, or whether Galadriel's eyes were the correct colour. Those are mere details).
For me the primary sin of the movies (though there are numerous other types that I could go on for pages about) can be summed up by the scene of Pippin throwing the stone into the hole in Moria. In the book it was ominous and deafening in its subtlety and threatening atmosphere. In the movie, PJ effectively said "you want ominous, I'll give you ominous" and tosses and entire suit of armour clattering down the hole. I can just hear the claims of the need for "cinematic" and "pacing". If I never hear those words used again about movies it will be a blessing -- valuable concepts in movie making when used properly, but these days the terms are used almost exclusively to let the director off the aesthetic hook so that he can depend only on penultigazillion dollar budgets for special effects and explosions and chase scenes. Another prime sample scene that illustrates this point about lack of subtlety and atmosphere and tone (though they occur throughout the films) is when Gandalf does the exorcism thing on King Theoden. In the book it is a powerful scene that could have been done to great effect with almost no special effects besides a light streaming in through an upper window. But in the movie you could almost hear the special effects people saying "look at this cool morphing software -- we've just GOT to use it somewhere!". I half expected Theoden's head to spin around 360 degrees in imitation of the famous Exorcist scene (and don't get me started on the many ripped-off scenes from Star Wars -- oops, I mean "homages" -- Gaah! another useful concept but so waaay overused that I cringe to hear the word coming from every director's mouth these days to explain their lack of creativity and reliance one more explosion).
And then there is the obsession with...oh well, I'd better stop before I get to page 37 of this post. Basically, yes, cinema is different from the written word and can accomplish different things. But once again it is an idea that has been abused and used whenever a director wants to justify his efforts no matter how inadequate.
whew! I'm done, you can relax (for now at least:-)
(what forum was this again -- oh yeah, as you said, Space Trilogy *backs off from diversion*)
--Stanley
…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.