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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 15 Years Later

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BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Still my all time favourite. Pitch perfect in every way, save maybe a bit of the troll CG.
 
My favorite of the series and one of my favorite movies. Didn't like it on first watch though - fell asleep in the theater. The extended edition is the best.
 

Jarnet87

Member
Fellowship is my favorite of the three LoTR films. Only Part I do not like is Lothlorien. Wish Peter had put the time and effort into The Hobbit movies as he did this.
 

Steamlord

Member
Fellowship came out when I was 8, not too long after I had read the books. Seeing it come to life in a theater blew my mind. I love all three, but Fellowship is easily my favorite.
 
if there's one thing I thought the movie did better than the books, it's Boromir. He was kind of a decent character in the books, not really fleshed out - though his fall, death and redemption still feels like a sad moment.

Sean Bean's performance elevates it. You can see and feel how conflicted the man is, how desperate he is for his homeland to be safe, how hard he wishes for Gondor to be restored to its former glory and how much he wishes to please his father. It's such a nuanced performance, going to sympathetic to unreasonable to corrupted to atoner to hero in such a short span that it somehow shouldn't have worked out - but it did. And spectacularly. Sean Bean made me a fan of the character.

Not only is Boromir a good character on his own, but he also deepens Aragorn's character substantially by representing all the best and worst aspects of man--thus externalizing Aragorn's internal struggle. So when Boromir redeems himself, this restores Aragorn's faith in man and causes him to embrace his destiny as king of Gondor.
 
I just completed a rewatch of the LOTR trilogy (extended editions) and they are as amazing today as they were when I first saw them.

As an aside, I was was impressed with the upscaling of my dvd's on my 4k tv. I compared it to a digital HD version I have the Fellowship and it was pretty good. Up close you can see the difference, but sitting on my couch it looked just fine. Instead of getting the blu-rays, I'll hold out until a 4k remaster is done (fingers crossed).

I think while FOTR was only partially done on a 2k DI, the next 2 films were completely processed through a 2k DI, so I think a 4k blu-ray version would at best be an upscale+HDR.
I remember Jackson saying on a Comic-con that a 4k remaster of LOTR would have to involve digging up the original film material from a vault somewhere, and would cost a lot of money. Something about inserting Martin Freeman into the FOTR prologue?
 

Firemind

Member
What?!

I honestly think all three are master pieces/some of the best films ever made. Just a shame they didn't delay the hobbit so that Jackson had time to do it his way :(
TTT and RotK didn't have the motherfucking Balrog. The moment when the drums kicks in up until the Balrog fight. EPIC.
 

mjc

Member
Fellowship is my favorite of the three LoTR films. Only Part I do not like is Lothlorien. Wish Peter had put the time and effort into The Hobbit movies as he did this.

He really didn't want to do the Hobbit films, and it shows. I think if WB gave him more prep time, they would have turned out a bit better. As it is, he had about a month to keep or rework the stuff left behind by del Toro before filming the first movie.
 

Cindres

Vied for a tag related to cocks, so here it is.
Which movie is my favourite changes all the time. After I saw the fully extended versions I can't go back to the theatricals. There's the odd little bit here and there but there's very little I'd leave out.

I'm a die hard star wars fan but in all honesty it may be my favourite trilogy of all time. So glad I was able to see it in cinemas, surprised the independent one near me isn't doing a showing for the anniversary, though they're pretty busy at this time of year.
 

bsp

Member
I have a hard time separating the trilogy into three distinct films--I prefer to view it as one cohesive masterpiece. Favorite films (and fiction books) of all time.
 

Loxley

Member
Anyone else try to collect all the Burger King toys back then? XD They were surprisingly cool. If you collected them all they formed a giant circle with a flaming One Ring in the center. Pushing the "ring button" on the bases for each figure would make them say a quote from the film.

m9SLgSm.jpg


5cGknJ6.jpg
 

Altazor

Member
Not only is Boromir a good character on his own, but he also deepens Aragorn's character substantially by representing all the best and worst aspects of man--thus externalizing Aragorn's internal struggle. So when Boromir redeems himself, this restores Aragorn's faith in man and causes him to embrace his destiny as king of Gondor.

you're absolutely right. IIRC, Aragorn didn't really have an internal conflict in the books, he already knew he was the rightful heir and he just wanted to fulfill his destiny. You can correct me if I'm wrong, though.

TTT and RotK didn't have the motherfucking Balrog. The moment when the drums kicks in up until the Balrog fight. EPIC.

TTT did ;)

Bad CGI im assuming?

overreliance on CGI instead of practical effects, storyline bloat, pacing issues. As much as people hate them, though, I still like them. I'm too much of a fanboy to hate them, though I understand why they are criticized.
Plus, every actor's performance in the Hobbit movies is better than the ones in the SW prequels.
 

Xe4

Banned
I can see where you're coming from top be fair - especially on the man up. The battle of the Hornburg is incredible though. I was pretty young when I watched it and it blew my mind.

Weirdly ROTK extended is probably my favourite. All three are superb though - and I definitely get the argument for Fellowship.

Yup. Almost 15 years later and it's still the standard I hold all castle/fort sieges to. Fucking perfect; everything from the buildup to the battle and the aftermath, the helplessness of it all. Sooo good.

Also contains a top 5 scene from the series for me.

It's way different from the book, but I don't care, it's sooooooo fucking amazing.
 
Bad CGI im assuming?

Over abundance of bad cgi, terrible editing withtons of pointless and poorly written story lines, a weird mix of stupid goofy tone and gloomy callbacks to tie into the later movies, overlong run times...there are a lot of issues. But again, I'd rather watch the Hobbit movies any day over the Star Wars prequels.
 
15 years...fuck me.

Seeing this on the big screen really felt like my generation's Star Wars moment. Pretty much everything about it was perfect. And though I love TTT and ROTK and enjoyed the Hobbit movies....none of them come close to Fellowship. A very special film.
 
The theatrical cut is pretty much a perfect movie. I probably saw it at least five times in the theater. The extended cut and the sequels are fine, but they're just too long.
 
you're absolutely right. IIRC, Aragorn didn't really have an internal conflict in the books, he already knew he was the rightful heir and he just wanted to fulfill his destiny. You can correct me if I'm wrong, though.

I haven't read the books so I wouldn't know haha. Planning on going through them soon though, after I watch the other extended editions.
 

Steamlord

Member
Anyone else try to collect all the Burger King toys back then? XD They were surprisingly cool. If you collected them all they formed a giant circle with a flaming One Ring in the center (pushing the "ring button" on the bases would make them say a quote from the film).

m9SLgSm.jpg


5cGknJ6.jpg

I had the Lurtz figure. I got it on vacation and when I was going through airport security heading home they stopped me and searched my backpack because they thought the stand was a knife or something, lol.
 
I loved that fight.

But Lee got totally boned in the theatrical cut of RotK. That bums me out to this day.

I dunno, I can only take two very old men magically throwing eachother around and literally spinning on the floor so seriously. It's almost so bad its good level. Almost.

As for other things I didn't like, I think the decision to remove the scouring of the shire was poor along with what he did to the Nazgul. I can understand the removal of the Barrow Wight section (Though I would've loved to have it in) and I can understand why he did it, but I feel that its really that section of the book that adds a lot of mystery and tension to their journey and even a horror aspect. Being constantly pursued and watched by supernatural dark forces, having them only a few steps behind you and potentially lurking around every corner. In the movie they're really just, some dudes on horses, they're not scary and they never really do all that much and for such a major aspect of the first book it was incredibly disappointing to me to have them regulated to a minor and much less dangerous role.

I can do without Tom Bombadil and I can do without the Barrow Wight but the removal of the scouring of the shire and the toning down of the Nazgul keeps me from loving this movie and I feel if there was anything he should've or could've shortened or removed to make time for those sections it could've been Lothlorien.

I think the Mines of Moria was done incredibly well though.

As for The Two Towers and ROTK I haven't finished those books yet (About a quarter through the former) and I'm waiting till I finish them before watching their respective movies so I can't really comment on either.
 

Altazor

Member
I haven't read the books so I wouldn't know haha. Planning on going through them soon though, after I watch the other extended editions.

hahahaha, disregard that, then. The books are great, though they can be really dry for a lot of people (Tolkien really liked to describe landscapes in detail, as much as George R.R. Martin likes to describe food :p) and there's a lot of places/characters/events that didn't survive the adaptation - but still, they're incredibly rich. You're in for a treat :)
 
if there's one thing I thought the movie did better than the books, it's Boromir. He was kind of a decent character in the books, not really fleshed out - though his fall, death and redemption still feels like a sad moment.

Sean Bean's performance elevates it. You can see and feel how conflicted the man is, how desperate he is for his homeland to be safe, how hard he wishes for Gondor to be restored to its former glory and how much he wishes to please his father. It's such a nuanced performance, going to sympathetic to unreasonable to corrupted to atoner to hero in such a short span that it somehow shouldn't have worked out - but it did. And spectacularly. Sean Bean made me a fan of the character.

Eh, I found Boromir even more compelling in the books. He's such a noble, honorable guy you really get the sense he bears the weight of all of Gondor on his back.

I don't have like 12 hours for that unfortunately.

Don't read the book then.

: )
 

Dmax3901

Member
My favourite movies of all time, had a huge impact on 11-13 year old me as did the books before that. As I've matured and expanded my appreciation of cinema, Fellowship holds up not only as a great adventure movie, but amongst the classics as well.

The effort and passion put into these films is unparalleled and is sorely missing from essentially ever fantasy film since.
 

Firemind

Member
They also fought on the mountain. Gandalf smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Fuck yeah.
That's another thing I didn't get. How can there be mountains and shit when they should be near the core of the Earth the way they keep falling down?
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
you're absolutely right. IIRC, Aragorn didn't really have an internal conflict in the books, he already knew he was the rightful heir and he just wanted to fulfill his destiny. You can correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Well he also got Anduril by the time he went to Lothlorien, so he'd pretty much already accepted his path in the books pretty early on. And in Helms Deep when he steps out and taunts all the Uruks by going "LOOK WHAT I GOT MOTHERFUCKERS! YEAHHHH YOU'RE PISSIN YOUR PANTS NOW HUH?!"

For the most part, the movies did a better job of making some of the conflicts more engaging. Faramir being totally cool with the Ring in the books never jived with me, so him overcoming his temptation where his brother failed was far more interesting.

The only issues I had were turning Legolas into a fucking super-elf in Two Towers and Return of the King, Aragorn being the center of everything on that side of the story (he's the one who falls down the chasm and everyone is sad is dead, he's the one who sees the army even if Legolas has super-vision, he's the one who sees the beacons being lit), and Gimli being turned into a total joke in Two Towers and ROTK
 

sasliquid

Member
I remember seeing LOTR and didn't really want to. I had no knowledge of the books but I'd read the hobbit a bit, hearing names like Gandalf and Bilbo was weird cos I knew them from somewhere.

Now LOTR is probably the most defining piece of media for my life. Once bumped into Andy serkis at a forbidden planet and couldn't stop gushing about what the films meant to me.
 

Ruruja

Member
Just finished watching the trilogy a couple of days ago.

I thought maybe this time on my like 12th viewing of ROTK that I wouldn't get a lump in my throat at the end, but NOPE.

I'll never tire of watching these.

Best movie soundtrack of all time too.
 

cyba89

Member
I just watched the whole extended trilogy at a theatre yesterday. It gets shown here every year before christmas and the theatre is still packed 15 years later.

Best movie trilogy of all time.

Although in sheer emotional punch RotK edges out Fellowship by a small margin for me.
 
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