Lord of the Rings reviews...don't read unless you want secrets revealed...

[thezookeeper]

Saw it last night at 10:30pm (killed me getting out of there at 1:35am). I thought the casting was excellent. Here's my only qualms: Arwen being the one to rescue Frodo and cross the river into Rivendale (I could have spelled that wrong)...she didn't do this in the book but I guess they needed more screen time for Liv Tyler; and Boromir didn't die at the end of the Fellowship book did he?!

All in all, I thought it was done well. I just hate it when they change stories.

[Aragorn]

The movie is getting rave reviews. I couldn't see it myself last night because my wife had a going-away dinner for her manager. We'll see it tonight.
And you are correct, Boromir did not die at the end of FOTR. I knew this in advance that they had changed the ending(along w/ Arwen and Tom Bombadil changes), however I understood why they had to change the end to make the movie "stand on it's own" so to speak.

[Penguin]

I haven't seen the movie yet but I've heard about the whole Arwen thing. You're right, in the book Arwen doesn't meet them at the ford, it's a male elf. (Glorfindel, I think?) They are definitely trying to give Arwen a bigger role in the film than in the book. Personally, I don't like it, but I can forgive it if it's not too overdone. I read a funny quote from Tyler: "It's still Arwen, just slightly enhanced."

Arwen actually doesn't appear at all in the 2nd book, so I wonder if Liv Tyler is in the 2nd film. Probably, though.

You're also right, Boromir doesn't die at the end of Fellowship, rather at the very beginning of Two Towers. The other complaint I've heard is that in the film Boromir actually holds the ring, whereas in the book he never touches it.
An unnecessary change IMO.

[thezookeeper]

I guess I can see why they made Boromir die at the end of this film. It kind of brought a little "closure" to one aspect of the movie at the end. Even though I mentioned these two "blips", if you didn't read the books then you wouldn't notice anything unusual. The movie was excellent without a doubt. And I'm SURE Arwen will be in the other movies. All in all, anyone should go see it.

[Rin]

Firstly, the movie is well done. It's well worth watching.

BUT...Some of the special effects were a little shaky--something that could have been improved, esp. with today's technology. The fight with the cave troll was a little too heavy with the clay-mation. Also, the sound track was a little noisy. If I didn't already know the names of all the characters, I would have missed most of them from the movie. A big production like this has no business doing anything less than THX sound quality.

I could never get comfortable during the movie because I was always anticipating the next scene-I guess I've read the books too many times. That's more of a personal problem rather than any fault with the production. I think it started with the fact that they completely rewrote Frodo's flight from the Shire. I just couldn't settle into it.

Changing Arwen's role was unfortunate, but I understand the reasoning and it didn't really detract too badly. Liv made a big impact with a comparatively small part.

I missed Tom, I think that would have been exciting to have in the movie. (Yes, I know, the movie was long enough as it was.) Fellowship is long enough for two movies.

One surprise I did thoroughly enjoy was the introduction that set up the rest of the movie.

[Trapper]

I thought the intro rocked. I was'nt looking for the movie to follow the the book just tell the story and show us all those fantastic images Tolkien help conjure up in our minds when we read the books. I think they did us a favor when they had Borimir killed at the end of this movie. At least we won't be starting the next one with it. Boy Bilbo shure looked wicked there for minute did'nt he? All and all it was a good movie, I'll probally be seeing it again in couple month's.

[Bojinx]

Great film. I really think it did justice to, IMO, one of Tolkien's strength. The lush and vivid description of surrounding and environments. I knew that some changes had to take place in order for everything to 'fit' in a movie. Boromir's death at the end was appropriate, and though I did not know it would take place prior to watching the film, I anticipated it. Also, Boromir did not hold the ring in the movie. There was a point when he picked it up by it's chain, but he never held the ring.

The biggest 'down's for me was the complete omission of the hobbit's flight from the Shire to Bree. I also did not care for how Meriadoc and Peregrin joined Frodo and Sam 'by chance'. It kindof made light of their characters although they have no choice but gain depth in the next movie.

I also think it will be interesting to see if Arwen will make it in the next movie. I do not see how it will be avoided though since the romantic interests between her and Aragorn was included at one of the major 'subplots' in the movie.

Overall though, I was very pleased with the film. I am going to watch it again tonight. Like I said before, the Landscapes did me in.

[Aragorn]

I too enjoyed the film immensely. I thought the characters were well done and the overall story was outstanding. I even found myself enjoying the chase scene in "The Flight to the Ford" despite the fact that in the book Frodo made it across by himself(and promptly passes out) and Glorfindel was there to engage the Nazgul.

I went to see the movie with an open mind. Seems that more people who have never read the book enjoyed the film more than those who had. Some things I do wish I had seen were:

1) The hobbits meet the Wood Elves before Bree.
2) The party(w/ Strider) see a "storm" on Weathertop and find Gandalf's mark when they get there.
3) Gandalf's speech from "The Council of Elrond"
4) The Fellowship are ALL blindfolded upon entering Lothlorien and the relationship between Gimli and Legolas is bonded by that act. Also the dialog between Gimli and Galadriel is worth noting(IMO).
5) Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli did not know whether Sam and Frodo were alive, or captured in the end.

Rivendell was awesome. Khazad-Dum and the Balrog was "wicked", and the Ringwraiths rocked. I'll be seeing it again soon. In fact, my whole family will be since we all have read LOTR.

[icemark]

I saw the movie last night, and although I liked it, I wasn't amazed as I thought I would be. Yes its good... don't know if its the best picture of the year as many reviewers are suggesting.

A couple of things bothered me.

The blue screen mix, to get the height differences between the hobbits dwarves and men was only TV quality. I expect more with a almost 300 mil concurrent movie budget (which would be like a 450 million normal cost if the films were not filmed at the same time).

The elves were not exotic enough. They just looked like Nordic descent men to me.

The damm blue contacts or blue CGI in every "good" person’s eyes was way over done. What’s wrong with the normal eye color??? I don't remember anything in the books about everyone having blue eyes.

[Aragorn]

It's interesting to note that I, for one, am noticing that folks that have not read LOTR seem to enjoy the movie more than those who have. Everyone in my family have read the trilogy and we all enjoyed the movie. However, the discussion on the way home was filled with "I wish they had included..." or "They didn't do....in the book". For those of you who had read LOTR, what did you think about Orthanc? This is my biggest issue with the movie. You see, Orthanc was built by the Numenorean Kings in the early ages of Middle Earth and was white and smooth. Peter Jackson depicted Orthanc as somewhat sinister, eh? I, for one, will see this movie again. My take on the movie is that it will never replace the "classic" but is certainly most enjoyable.

[ravenmore]

I only kind of liked the books, but I loved the movie. It "flowed" better. I was totally absorbed. I loved the CGI - no, it's not perfect. But they are reinventing reality on a computer, and I thought it was damn good. Maybe a thing or two was a bit overdone but it was forgiveable.

Things I loved:

-the scene in the dwarvish hall after the orcs have fled. The characters are running down one hall which is in view. The balrog is coming down after them on another that is off view, but you can see the red light spilling through the columns coming after them. Just struck me as a wonderfully tense scene.

-Gandalf standing up to the Balrog.

-The fight where Boromir dies - makes that a story unto itself. The fight between Aragorn and the lead Orc drew applause in the theatre I was in.

-The stairs collapsing under the characters as they're fleeing.

Things I didn't like:

-The male elf "king" in the first city (can't remember his name). This is the only part that I fell out of the reality of the movie. It's the same actor that is in the Matrix (He plays the main bad guy - the Smith program), and he's ACTING THE SAME WAY AS IN THE MATRIX! I almost started laughing 'cause I expected him at any moment to call Frodo "Mr. Anderson".

-Bad guys still can't shoot arrows to save their lives (literally). They hit everything in a 20 foot radius of a target but the target.

Anyway, loved it an will probably go see it again this weekend. To sum it up I'd say it's the first movie in a long time that has incredible eye candy and a lot of substance.

-Mike

[schrocat]

Finally got to see it last night!!

Best movie I saw all year. I loved it.
The potential for stoic overacting was great...but entirely avoided.
A multiple must see!

(Some folks at the showing were really peeved at the ending...)

[Aragorn]

Yep,
We're catching the matinee show tomorrow at noon while everyone else is recovering from their hangovers.

[reefhead]

Ravenmore--Orcs have crappy aim

Elrond was his name--old as dirt.(Rivendell)

I loved the movie and am reading the books again--Im with Gandalf the White in the forest of Fangorn ( Treebeard and his buddies are kicking some butt)

I missed Tom Bombadil and the whole deal with the Borrowwights


The Fireworks where awesome

[reefhead]

what they should have done is to play Kashmir by Led Zepplin --just a few of there songs that where inspired by Lord Of The Rings



cheers
Joe

[Aragorn]

"No Quarter" is my favorite Led Zep tuned inspired by LOTR

"They choose the path where no one goes..."

[Rob]

...as if every moment of the film needed to be filled with this distraction. It sounded like Jurassic Park 33 1/3. There's plenty of good music out there, outside copyright. Why subsidize the darned corrupt musician's union any further?

Why prolong a fight with a cave troll, but cut out Farmer Maggot in such a sloppy way as to be obvious that there was a scene cut?

And Bombadil, cutting him is a sure sign that we live in a culture that's uncomfortable with subtlety.

Other than those points, pretty good interpretation. They did a good job with Arwen. I liked it. The character was underdeveloped in the books. They also gave Elrond an interesting face and attitude... not everybody's vision of the character, but the filmmaker took a stand and I respect that.