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[HotHamBoy]

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.



Don't read the book then.

: )

Boromir and Faramir are much better in the books.

Fellowship is the best of the three films, I really didn't like the other two or the changes they made. They made absolutely needless changes to characterizations and motives.

 

[A-V-B]

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?

There was a lot of fighting and moving we didn't see. Imagine the end of Predator but it goes on for a whole week.

 

[eXistor]

Ultimately the only one of the trilogy really worth watching. TT and RoTK were...okay I guess. FotR is a goddamn masterpiece.

 

[Bold One]

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.

Is this in the UK by any chance?

 

[Altazor]

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.

s'all cool bro! Different strokes and all that

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?

They climbed up some ancient stairs carved inside the mountain. They don't show that in the movie, of course, but it's implied that the fight raged on and on, from the pit to the bottom and then up the stairs and then finally, at the mountaintop.

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

Agree with all of this. Though Viggo did such a great job that I didn't mind the fact that Aragorn became the center of it all in spite of everybody else, heh.

 

[MissDeviling]

Fellowship was my favourite of the three. Too many lengthy war sequences in RotK, and I didn't like how Frodo distrusted Sam when Gollum came by.

 

[Firemind]

Their fight was so epic and long it took them from the lowest depths of the earth to the very peaks.

So what you're saying is he could have just escaped being a wizard and rejoined the fellowship, but instead he had to die and be reborn as a Jesus figure just for some cheap drama?

 

[Servbot24]

The end of RotK contains the best moment I've ever spent in a theater. Probably the top few actually.

"For Frodo"
"I can carry you"
"The ring is mine"
"I would have married her"
"You bow to no one"

Dear god I'm tearing up just thinking about it

 

[Saucycarpdog]

It's no Eragon

Don't you dare compare that Star Wars ripoff to this movie.

 

[onepiecefan]

Masterpiece, one of the, if not the, best experience I've had in cinema (same with the entire trilogy tbh).

 

[Shaanyboi]

The end of RotK contains the best moment I've ever spent in a theater. Probably the top few actually.

"For Frodo"
"I can carry you"
"The ring is mine"
"I would have married her"
"You bow to no one"

Dear god I'm tearing up just thinking about it

Yup... ROTK and FOTR make me tear up like nobody's business.

 

[Back-In-Black]

The end of RotK contains the best moment I've ever spent in a theater. Probably the top few actually.

"For Frodo"
"I can carry you"
"The ring is mine"
"I would have married her"
"You bow to no one"

Dear god I'm tearing up just thinking about it

Will you stop cutting those damn onions next to me?

 

[Ruruja]

It's not just the "you bow to no-one" line it's the fucking sweeping violin piece that starts after he finishes saying it. Impossible not to get emotional.

 

[Altazor]

The end of RotK contains the best moment I've ever spent in a theater. Probably the top few actually.

"For Frodo"
"I can carry you"
"The ring is mine"
"I would have married her"
"You bow to no one"

Dear god I'm tearing up just thinking about it

"I can't carry it for you... but I can carry you!" makes me weep pretty much every time. That and the Grey Havens.

Fucking onions, man... ;_;

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

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.

Those toys were what made me aware of the existence of Lord of the Rings. After I saw them, I watched the trailer and was enjoying it until this fucker...

... made me too scared to go see it...I was young.

 

[-griffy-]

"I can't carry it for you... but I can carry you!" makes me weep pretty much every time. That and the Grey Havens.

For months afterwards just listening to the Grey Havens track on the soundtrack was enough to make me practically sob.

 

[WadiumArcadium]

One of my favourite films of all time. Jackson did an incredible job with LOTR.

 

[PantherLotus]

thanks for this, OP.

Already been said a few times in this thread but what a genuinely moving, dedicated honoring of Tolkien's vision. I'll never forget the first time I heard Gandalf laughing as Concerning Hobbits kicked in and I finally got to see that the Shire was exactly what I imagined in my head. What a perfect god damn cinematic moment.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

I saw the first film because my family friend wanted to see it but her family didn't want to take her. My dad offered to take her for the movie with my family. Me and my sister who were like 11/9 at the time with no idea of what LOTR was went in and were blown away. After that we saw the next two films with my family each consecutive December. I'm so glad I got to be part of the phenomenon. I feel like it's something that is timeless and will be something that most parents will show their kids in the future just like Lawrence of Arabia/Star Wars OG trilogy etc.

 

[jett]

I think TT and ROTK do have some pacing issues here and there, but they're still damn good movies, even if they're not as good as Fellowship.

There was a time when I thought FotR was the only good movie, but I changed my mind after I watched them all together a couple of years ago.

I remember the exact feeling I had when I first finished watching The Fellowship of the Ring, back in December of 2001: I absolutely fucking prepared to stay in my seat for another six hours if I could watch the next two movies immediately. Fellowship immediately became one of my favorite movies, and is what I believe one of if not the best action adventure movie ever made. Anyway, 12 months passed, my hype for The Two Towers was immense. Like with the previous movie, I remember the exact feeling I had when the credits roll in the theater: I can't believe I didn't like this. As a singular movie, it just didn't work for me, and I don't think it ever will. The disparate storylines don't really coalesce, and it's missing the masterful pace set by FOTR. By the the time it was The Return of the King's turn, hype had turned into indifference. I still enjoyed it and caught it twice in cinemas, but it somehow didn't seem to live up to FOTR, or to what it had promised.

So, for over a decade, not only have I held the opinion that FOTR was by far the best movie, but it was a better movie than the other two by quite a stretch. An honestly ludicrous notion considering all three movies were filmed simultaneously, but nonetheless that's what it appeared to be for me, that the gulf in quality was massive.

Over the past few days though I did something I had never done with these movies, which is to watch them one after another in a relatively short space of time. I recently got the extended BD set, mostly because it was on sale and I had never seen the extras and I wanted FOTR in HD. So I sat down and watched it and enjoyed it as always, after finish watching FOTR for the umpteenth time, I got the same feeling I had back in 2001. I wanted to continue the journey, and now I could. It was getting pretty late so I only watched a bit of TTT, and finished it the next night. And again, I really wanted to watch the rest, so same deal, watched a bit of ROTK and finished it off the next day.

And you know what, I don't think I've enjoyed watching TTT and ROTK as much as I did this week. They don't suddenly become perfect movies, but taken as a whole everything worked much better. For instance when you watch TTT and ROTK (sort of) together, Faramir as a character is much stronger, there's a complete arc for him across both movies and you can see why he was given such prominence in TTT. Before, I never cared much for theatrical or extended TTT, but now I realize that the extended cut is essential. Even the pacing of everything flows nicer. I know there are some people around here the felt the same for me, I recommend something similar to what I just did.

Not a perfect experience though, visually the three movies are quite different for mastering reasons. Color grading in FotR was changed to a heavy green filter, TTT looks a bit bland and comparatively colorless, and in stark contrast ROTK has a rich, warm and colorful palette. I don't know what the hell is the deal with all of this. The worst really was FotR, I unfortunately could never get used to its new color scheme, it's so strange that it was the only that was changed so. I really have watched the theatrical cut too many times.

So, yeah, I have to say, after years of arguing against it, I now find merit in ROTK wining those 11 Oscars in name of all the trilogy. I have to admit it really is meant to be seen as a whole thing. It also really hit me what a massive undertaking this was and they probably did as best as humanly possible for the time. As singular movies FotR is still the best one, but the best possible experience is watching all three together.

I recommend watching them as a whole if you feel like I did. You don't need to sit down for 9 hours straight either.

FOTR still the best tho.

 

[GIANKRATOS]

One of my favourite movie ever. Time for a rewatch.

I'm interested in that sketchbook, thanks for the link .

 

[Forsaken82]

FotR, especially the EE (though I recommend theatrical for first timers), is the perfect fantasy film.

They had to get it right, and by god did they.

All those movies were perfect IMO

One of the only 12 hour movie marathons i can sit down for an entire day.

 

[ascii42]

FotR probably remains my favorite movie.

I saw it with my dad and a friend freshman year of high school. My friend and I had seen The Hobbit cartoon and were expecting something more akin to that in terms of tone and target age. There were a lot more heads lopped off than we were expecting to see. I think I saw it 4 more times in theaters after that.

 

[Takuan]

I've owned the EEs in multiple formats and, to date, still haven't watched any of 'em. One day.

 

[Darth Pinche]

Funny story, I saw the Fellowship in the theaters with my girlfriend when it came out. We both enjoyed it, but at the end, she turns to me and says, "What? when do they throw the ring in the fire?" I said "Oh, not until the end of 2 more movies, about 2 years from now."

She goes, "WHAT?!?!" So many heads turned as the credits rolled.

But for some reason, she stuck around to see the other movies with me and all these years later, she is still with me (wifey now).

 

[Loxley]

One of my favorite bits of trivia regarding Fellowship:

Irish actor Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Aragorn, but after two weeks of filming, he was let go from the production because Jackson & Co. had ultimately decided that they had cast the part too young (I believe Townsend was only 25 at the time). The next day they called up Viggo to ask if he wanted the role. He was not familiar with the Lord of the Rings at all, but his son Henry was a huge fan and told his dad to take the part - so he did and flew out to New Zealand the next day. Many people know that Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf as well as a percentage of the film's box office gross. He ultimately said no because he didn't understand the material.

Years later, Connery starred in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - a film he decided to because he regretted not doing The Lord of the Rings after seeing how successful they were. He jumped on board without really understanding the source material this time either, but he figured it could lead to big franchise (and a big payday). In the end the film was such a critical and commercial flop he straight-up quit acting and never looked back.

Hilariously, the film also starred none other than Stuart Townsend.

I've always felt bad for Townsend, Aragorn really would have been the role of a lifetime. To have it just taken away like that because the filmmakers made a mistake is just really shitty.

 

[kingocfs]

Not much longer now until the reboot. /s

I saw this with a live orchestra. The Fall of Gandolf was incredible.

 

[Gunslinger]

One of the best movie ever made IMO. But I think Return of the King is still the best of the 3.

 

[Blue Ninja]

I recently bought the Blu-ray extended editions for both these and the Hobbit. Can't wait to delve back into the three LotR movies, they're still some of the best things to have ever graced the silver screen.

 

[DrForester]

My favorite of the three films (that's not to say the others aren't very excellent themselves). It is absolutely amazing how well cast this movie is.

Still amazing, and I'm going to do my yearly EE marathon this weekend.

 

[Levito]

It holds up a hell of a lot better than the other CG troll that hit cinemas that year:

Remember when we used to play wow and in dungeons say "they have a cave troll" and "BRING IT DOWN BRING IT DOWN!!"



The LOTR movies were probably my favorite movie event growing up, Fellowship was wonderful.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

One of my favorite bits of trivia regarding Fellowship:

Irish actor Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Aragorn, but after two weeks of filming, he was let go from the production because Jackson & Co. had ultimately decided that they had cast the part too young (I believe Townsend was only 25 at the time). The next day they called up Viggo to ask if he wanted the role. He was not familiar with the Lord of the Rings at all, but his son Henry was a huge fan and told his dad to take the part - so he did and flew out to New Zealand the next day. Many people know that Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf as well as a percentage of the film's box office gross. He ultimately said no because he didn't understand the material.

Years later, Connery starred in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - a film he decided to because he regretted not doing The Lord of the Rings after seeing how successful they were. He jumped on board without really understanding the source material this time either, but he figured it could lead to big franchise (and a big payday). In the end the film was such a critical and commercial flop he straight-up quit acting and never looked back.

Hilariously, the film also starred none other than Stuart Townsend.

I've always felt bad for Townsend, Aragorn really would have been the role of a lifetime. To have it just taken away like that because the filmmakers made a mistake is just really shitty.

Connery not understanding LOTR is bizarre to me. How do you not understand LOTR?

 

[Euron]

The best trilogy in entertainment history

Fellowship's sense of adventure is absolutely unmatched and by that alone you can argue that it is the best of the bunch. I can't praise the soundtrack enough either, it is absolutely incredible with one of the greatest credit songs of all time.

Visually, it looks better than most movies made today because of the genuine effort that went into set, prop, and costume design, rather than the plastering of CGI everywhere (Hello Hobbit).

 

[Back-In-Black]

Connery not understanding LOTR is bizarre to me. How do you not understand LOTR?

By deciding you don't want to read, that includes both scripts and books.

 

[-griffy-]

Remember when we used to play wow and in dungeons say "they have a cave troll" and "BRING IT DOWN BRING IT DOWN!!"

Still got that "BRING IT DOWN" macro on my tool bar

 

[onepiecefan]

I've owned the EEs in multiple formats and, to date, still haven't watched any of 'em. One day.

Fix this ASAP.

 

[120v]

i made the mistake of reading through the trilogy months before Fellowship's release. so i'll always be pretty ambivalent about these films.

i had such an amazing time reading the books watching the movies was just like, "i remember that, that was cool" while everybody else was raving how good the movies were. being a film buff i wish i could've had that experience

but Fellowship in particular was great, before Jackson went balls to the wall on flair. never got around to seeing it in HD, i'm long overdue for that

 

[Schwarzbier]

Reading through this thread makes me wanna watch the entire trilogy again...now I may just have to.

My only negative feelings revolving around Fellowship involves seeing it in the theater with my buddy who was a giant fan(atic) of the books. He spent the entire movie scoffing at random scenes that deviated from the books. Needless to say I didn't see any of the other movies with him.

 

[jett]

One of my favorite bits of trivia regarding Fellowship:

Irish actor Stuart Townsend was originally cast as Aragorn, but after two weeks of filming, he was let go from the production because Jackson & Co. had ultimately decided that they had cast the part too young (I believe Townsend was only 25 at the time). The next day they called up Viggo to ask if he wanted the role. He was not familiar with the Lord of the Rings at all, but his son Henry was a huge fan and told his dad to take the part - so he did and flew out to New Zealand the next day. Many people know that Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf as well as a percentage of the film's box office gross. He ultimately said no because he didn't understand the material.

Years later, Connery starred in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - a film he decided to because he regretted not doing The Lord of the Rings after seeing how successful they were. He jumped on board without really understanding the source material this time either, but he figured it could lead to big franchise (and a big payday). In the end the film was such a critical and commercial flop he straight-up quit acting and never looked back.

Hilariously, the film also starred none other than Stuart Townsend.

I've always felt bad for Townsend, Aragorn really would have been the role of a lifetime. To have it just taken away like that because the filmmakers made a mistake is just really shitty.

That must have been brutal. Seems his career never went anywhere.

 

[CrocMother]

Imagining the series without Mortensen and McKellen is impossible

 

[inm8num2]

Seems like yesterday I saw this in theaters. Such a great experience. Emotional, exciting, beautiful, heartfelt. The whole trilogy is just an amazing cinematic achievement on all levels.

Boromir's last stand is one of my favorite scenes in the trilogy - maybe one of my favorite movie scenes period. The choir and music in the background makes it all the more heartbreaking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTznAmA9jFk

I can't find the moment before that on youtube when he shows up to battle, but there isn't a single person on this planet who isn't completely swept away when this happens:

 

[Loxley]

Imagining the series without Mortensen and McKellen is impossible

Gandalf in particular is really hard for me to picture anyone other than McKellen playing the part.

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

One of the reasons it holds up so well is the reliance on quality practical effects, especially miniatures.

There's a great featurette on it.

 

[-griffy-]

Gandalf in particular is really hard for me to picture anyone other than McKellen playing the part.

Ian McKellan isn't in these movies. It's Gandalf.

 

[Killer Queen]

You know, I'm an hour into my rewatch of this film and I have to say I'm enjoying it plenty more than I originally did. I guess my tempered expectations and the fact that I'm not watching it at 3am helps a lot.

 

[Shadow Ranger]

15 years already. Gosh. I didn't watch it in cinema back then but enjoyed the rental copy and then loved the other two in cinema. Fell in love, really.

Then The Hobbit movies happened...

 

[Nipo]

Just finished our annual rewatch of the extended editions. I would pay big bucks for a proper 4k hdr remaster.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Way better than the movies that came after. Fuck man Jackson needs an editor and should be kept the fuck away from Cgi.

 

[Kilau]

Love the books, love the movies. Really hard to believe it's been 15 years.

 

[Maledict]

Boromir and Faramir are much better in the books.

Fellowship is the best of the three films, I really didn't like the other two or the changes they made. They made absolutely needless changes to characterizations and motives.

Totally disagree re Faramir. It's one thing the movies absolutely improved on. His character in the books makes absolutely no sense - he is literally perfect and uncorruptable, which isn't something even the strongest of characters can do. He even says that if he found the ring lying in the road, he would walk on and not bother to pick it up. It doesn't fit at all with the ring and the corruption of power. Tolkien (amazing though he was) got a bit too obsessed with the purity of the blood of Numenor when it came to Faramir.

Showing him face the same test of faith Boromir did, but succeed where Boromir failed, made for a much better character arc than someone who started and finish perfect. It also makes a lot more sense for the story.