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| I was there, Gandalf. I was there 3,000--err 20--years ago. |
There was huge anticipation for these films. I was hoping against hope that they would be good, but I feared and expected the worst. The odds of them sucking were high. I could count on one hand the number of truly good fantasy films prior (Excalibur, Conan the Barbarian, Rankin Bass Hobbit, the original Star Wars trilogy should you count them as fantasy). And, my expectations were incredibly high. The Lord of the Rings is my favorite novel, across any genre. It is one of the greatest novels ever written, and stands alongside the best classic literature of the last two centuries, full stop. To put a work like this in the hands of a Hollywood studio was an invitation to butchery and disaster. Surely Jackson would not be able to meet the high standard I had set.
Nevertheless I had to see the films. They were getting a lot of hype and some advance praise from critics (which I largely avoided), and so made the trek to the theater on Dec. 19, 2001.
Opening night was pandemonium. There were people in line in elven cloaks and chain mail. Two dudes were swordfighting in front of the screen with boffer weapons. Most nerdy of all, a dude in the row in front of me watched the film with an LED headlamp on, following along with the book on his lap.
I kid you not. That's some hardcore nerdity right there.
When the opening title sequence came on with Howard Shore's atmospheric score the audience broke into cheering and applause.
I will admit, I was rapidly swept away into the film. The Shire looked largely as it had in my imagination. The cast was spectacular. I was moved to tears with Boromir's death. Shockingly, against all my fears, it worked. I left the theater blown away, surprised by joy beyond anything I had hoped. Over the next two years, I repeated the pattern with The Two Towers and the Return of the King. I cried again, when Sam put Frodo on his back on Mount Doom, and Theoden led the ride of Rohirrim on the Pelennor Fields.
I was sad to see it all come to an end.
So, twenty years later, how do they hold up?
Pretty darned great, in my opinion. Great does not mean flawlessly. When I watch them now there are a few parts that I actively dislike (collapsing bridge sequence in Moria, shield-surfing at Helm's Deep, and the green ghost army at Minas Tirith). The Paths of the Dead sequence is not particularly well-done. I don't miss Tom Bombadil and believe that was a smart cut, but I do miss the scouring of the Shire, and believe that its excision makes it a lesser film. The action is over-emphasized and some of the slapstick humor is out of place. Jackson would amplify these flaws a hundred fold in the absolutely abysmal adaption of The Hobbit a decade later.
Are the movies as good as the book? No, they're not, and they could not be, not even with 12 films and an unlimited budget. The world we see on screen is not as deep or wide as the one we encounter in Tolkien's text. Some of the themes and much of the complexity was removed.
All that said, I'm full of gratitude that we have these films. I think 20 years from now they will still be beloved. They hold up, quite well. I'd still love to see a proper Hobbit but I'm happy with the LOTR films. It might be time for a rewatch over the Christmas break.
4 comments:
I remember standing in line for one of the films and there was a boy begging his mother to see it. She loudly announced that it was stupid and they were going to see a Rob Schneider film. There's no accounting for taste.
I really liked them when they first came out, but have not seen them since.
Have watched these films several times over the years and they have never lost their special magic. Having worked on Ralph Bakshi's animated version in 1978 and being up close and personal with the work that went into that, I can't imagine the blood, sweat and tears that Jackson endured.
Whoa, wait... John you worked on the Bakshi LOTR film? There are elements of that I love (even if I recognize it as deeply flawed and disappointingly incomplete). What did you do?
I think these might have been the last movies that I got seriously hyped for (and which actually delivered). I had followed Jackson's early career and I thought he was an inspired choice to direct them, and every new announcement about the movie made me more confident they'd be good. Unfortunately, I think the movies took something out of Jackson, or perhaps he learned all the wrong lessons about their success because he hasn't been the same since.
I wouldn't be opposed to a new version of the films, because I kind of resent how they've come to define Tolkien's works visually (there's always room for various interpretations), but the odds of anyone in the current climate being up to the task are very low.
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