Bad Review of LotR

[Marine]

I found this posted at CaDz


Saw LotR tonight ...
Went with my girlfriend and my sister ... our ages are 21, 23, 24 ... we all came out thinking the same thing ... and that surprised me ...

I went in with very high expectations as everyone on this board and every review I have read has praised the movie like it were the second coming of Christ ... I regret to say that I was very disappointed leaving that theatre ... before you flame me, let me make my points :)

1. I have not read the books (nor do I plan to), but I can almost certain guarantee that the books are way better then the movie. Something just felt off ... there were a lot of questions that were left unanswered in my mind ... for those that read the books, I would bet that there was a better understanding for what was going on ... I went in knowing nothing of the movie either then the existance of the ring and it's power to control stuff ... There were points in the movie where the scenes made no sense to me ...

2. I was bored ... often ... the three hours felt like three days ... I can attribute this to the fact that a lot of the lines in the movie were very predictable and equally cheesy ... I can't count the amount of times my eyes rolled (the scene where the human dies after getting three arrows in the chest is the best example of this I think) ... There were some parts of the movie where I truly admired the actors and their ability to not laugh while they were spouting off some of the cheesiest dialogue I have ever heard ...

3. It felt like a very long video game to me ... which as the Final Fantasy movie has taught us is a bad thing ... it just seemed to be structured to follow some kind of predetermined path that didn't always make sense ... I can only guess that this was because a lot of the book was omitted from the movie ... but it just seemed like the charcaters were moving through levels like you would in a game of Diablo or Balder's Gate ... you had the standard forest levels, underground dungeon levels, ice level, etc ... I don;t know how to explain this, it just felt off ...

4. This had nothing to do with the movie, but everytime I saw the dude from the Matrix on the screen, I had to snicker ... the standard jokes were made between the three of us (ie. Goodbye Mr. Bilbo ... My ... name ... is ... FRODO!!!) ... I was half expecting them to start dodging arrows in slow motion ... heh

5. I realize that this story is fantasy and as such, a lot of suspension of disbelief had to occur, but there were some portions that I simply couldn't believe ... a) the human has three arrows sticking out of his chest, but he manages to fight off about 10 orcs and then talk for another 10 minutes or so ... give me a break ... b) Gandolf watching that Balrog and explaining what it is while it approaches when the obvious thing to do would be to run immediately ... c) if Gandolf was such a powerful wizard, why was most of his fighting hand to hand combat? I guess I didn't really understand his charactervery well ... d) the Fellowship of the rings is pretty much the only thing keeping Frodo alive and yet for some reason he decides to go off on his own ... that makes NO sense to me ... There are a lot of these starnge things that I just couldn't get through without looking at the screen in complete disbelief ...

5. The combat scenes seemed forced and out of place in a few instances ... I have a feeling a lot more "action" was put in the movie then was ever intended just to keep things interesting for those that ere not really LotR fans before they walked into the theatre ... Some the time I didn't get why they were fighting

6. I didn't get why the ring didn't influence Frodo in a negative way like it did everyone else ... it was never explained ... is he some kind of super halfling?

There are a few other things that didn't sit well with me, but I can't remember them ... I just have that feeling that I wasted a lot of money and time and feel that I have nothing to show for it ... the special effects were excellent and some scenes were an absolute joy to witness on the big screen, but I thought the story was faily lame and the charcaters very predictable ... Now I'm sure just about all of you will disagree with me, but I expected that ... I was surprised to hear about ten other people walking out the of theatre as disappointed as I was ... the majority though were happy ...

I have no desire to see the next step ... to be honest, I couldn't wait until it was over ...

On a scale of 1-5, I would give it a 2 ...

:smirk:

[benperkins]

Ben picks up 1000 plus long book and hits both Marine and the reviwer over the head. :funny:

But seriuolsy to conter his points for the sake of good arugement :)

1. Yes of course the books are better than the film, Peter Jackson the director even said so. I have read the book so I did have a good idea of what was going on, but I do think it was presented in a way that casual autidances could understand the basics of the plot. But I agree there would be some bits that where confusing because of cuts made to the flim to stop it from running to 4 hours long (The DVD will have these sences on hopefully)

2. It really dosn't feel like 3 hours! He is the only person bar Critics who have said that. As for the Dialog: You have to remmber it is based on a 60 year old book, since then the type of dialog has been riped off time and time again, so when you hear it in the movie, it seems chessey. As for his refences to Boramirs death sence, Its one of the few that is better in movie form than book, I think both Sean Bean and Viggo Morastein did a great job. I found the movie predicatble too! Hang on thats because its a well known story, that also has been ripped off alot.

3. This person seems to have no knoweldge of the history of the Fantasy genre. Basicly most fanatsy computer games take thier insperation from the Original novel. So those locations in the games are Copys of Moria, Lothroean, Amon Hen the Misty Mountains, not the other way round.

I also think the reviwer forgets this is just part one of a triogy, the whole point of it is to get Frodo off on his jouney to Mordor, and if he had been wacthing properly, he would haave seen that the company was FORCED to enter the mines of Moria by Saruman, they origoanly planed to go thouh the Gap of Rohan. This hadly looks like a preplanned course.

4. Don't get me Started on the Matrix! I would be here all day saying what was wrong with that movie.

5.

a. The Humans in the Movie are heros and will do heroic acts, I find that sence far more beliverble than say The Matrix! (hehehe)

b. Yeah you would think that would'nt you. But remmber its not real it dosn't have to make sence.

c. No you did'nt understand his Charater well at all. Even Wizards have thier limtations.

d. When you look back at all 3 Movies it will make sence why he went off by himself! And you will be gald cause the breaking of the fellowship sets up some really good sences in the next two films. Remmber this is only part one!

6. The only action sence that was added was Aaragorn, Legolas and Gimi Fighying at Amon Hen, otherwise its all in the book.

Its pretty simple why they are fighting, the servants of Sauron are out to kill Frodo! Simple as that! :)

7. Hobbits are resitaint to magic, the only effects on them are that it makes them invisible and they don't age. Okay and if they have it for like a thousand years they muate into a creature who says Gollum alot. The resiant to magic part is mentioned in the film!

Well I think your friend was'nt paying much atenion to the Movie there Marine, he must have been asleep when the most importaint dialog was beening spocken. But in the end it was his option, and quite frankly I only care about my opintion about the movie, and I loved it! I just wanted to point out those points ;)

Ben

[Darren]

OMG the matrix..don't mention that word. Reloaded is gonna suck and so is Revolutions, but whatever. The two above posts were very entertaining to read. Although it was 3 hours long, like Ben said, it didn't feel like it and I thought the movie was AWESOME, PHENOMINAL, COOL, TOTALLY AWESOME, NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE I loved it, everything about it, I wasn't the least bit dispointed. And allthough the book is better than the movie, I think peter did a hell of a better job putting the book into a movie than some others movies have been like..."The Lost World", "The Firm" . I can't wait to see "The Twin Towers" on December 18, 2002!!!

[benperkins]

I think the Matrix is one of the most over rated movies ever! Its DVD is also over rated cause its etras are crappy to say the least, I'm glad I only rented it.

I agree Darren it is the best Book to Screen adupation ever! I can't watie for the Two Towers ether! :)

Ben

[Darren]

IT'd be great if they were just one month apart since they are all done with the filming anyway

[benperkins]

The specail effects work is'nt finnshed yet :(

Ben

[Darren]

yeah, i guess they should keep them secret for a little while longer.

[benperkins]

Well the next two have alot more battles in :D

Ben

[Darren]

well the scenes in the first were awesome

[benperkins]

Well the things to look out for in the next two movies are:

More Gollum :D, Shelob, The Battle Of Helms Deep (I'm really looking forward to this one), The Nazgul on winged creatures, The fianl battle between the combained forces of Gondor and Rodan and the forces of Mordor (I forget its name :o), The Ents and when the Hobbits get back to the Shire (I've heard this may be taken out though in favour of a different ending)

The DVD will have some delted sences on no doubt. Gollum finding the ring was longer when they filmed it and you atuchlly got to see him as a hobbit, There was a sence where Sam and Frodo see some Elves in the Shire, The Last Adliance must have been longer as Gil-Galard only appeers for two seconds (He is killed by Sauron acording to the book), There should have been a sirkmish between Elves and Orcs in Lorthloran also the Fellowship recving gifts form the Elves was cut.

Ben

[Longshot]

I havent seen Lord of the Rings yet and I've never read the books but it`ll still be on my list of things to buy once its released on DVD because it looks pretty good :D As for the matrix, well I liked it and I`ve ordered the Matrix Revisited DVD from Play.com so I`m looking forward to the next two :)

[Darren]

Well it'll be an awesome movie, and I can't wait to buy it on DVD. The Matrix revistited didn't have that much that was cool except some stuff reguarding Reloaded. I wish they would have stuff about Revolutions too!