Over Thanksgiving weekend, I rewatched The Lord of the Rings. It was partly because The Hobbit is almost upon us, and partly because I was in mourning having finished Persona 4 Golden and needed something to take my mind off missing Inaba.
After taking to Twitter (as you do), I learned that I wasnât the only one. In fact, a good number of people have recently rewatched Peter Jacksonâs epic trilogy over the last week or two. So, I thought Iâd dedicate an off-topic post to sharing some thoughts about the trilogy these years later, and open it up to discussion.
My thoughts:
I watched the extended versions, and I gotta say, I think that Fellowship has the best extended cut. The other two films suffer in comparison.
The scene where Boromir says the now-iconic âOne does not simply walk into Mordorâ had me laughing much more than I thought it would. Oh, Boromir. You gave rise to so many Kotaku headlines that day.
Even this many years later, the fight against the Balrog is super impressive. I wonder if itâll ever look dated.
A couple other effects are showing their age, however, including some of the green-screening, and a few times when CGI Legolas pulls stunts.
Speaking of stunts, the moves that wowed me when I first saw the movieâthe reverse horse-mount, the shield-skateboardingâleft me colder this time. They felt more like fan-service than anything. I think Iâve seen âem too many times.
LOVED Brad Dourif this time around in his role as Wormtongue. Since first seeing the film, Iâve developed a newfound appreciation for him through Deadwood (and he was also in Dishonored!) and itâs so fun to see him be so pathetic and vile here.
Something thatâs always bugged me: In Two Towers, Gandalf is like âLook to my coming at first light on the fifth day.â But Aragorn isnât like âWait, fifth from when? Is today the first day?â Thatâd be the first thing Iâd ask. Communication is very important in times like this!
The charge down the hill at the end of the battle of Helmâs Deep remains as jaw-dropping today as it ever was. One of the most truly epic moments in film history.
I had a good time on Twitter pointing out my favorite scenes. They follow:
The part where Saruman calls Gandalf out for being a stoner
The Scene Where Aragorn Eats The Stew And Itâs Gross But Heâs Cool About It
The Part Where The Flaming Ent Dunks His Head In The Water
The Part Where Smeagol Had The Same Creepy Voice Back When He Was Normal Even Though Youâd Assumed The Ring Had Made It Creepy
The Part Where Denethor Eats The Tomato
The Part Where The Orcs In The Tower All Kill Each Other Because Theyâre Just Such Assholes They Canât Help It
The Part Where Frodo Looks Exactly Like Ellen Ripley
The Part Where Aragorn Goes In With The Tongue In Front Of Everyone
And of course, The Part Where Frodo Turns Around And Merry Is Crying, And You Start Crying Too
All in all a wonderful series of films, and if nothing else, you gotta admire the balls on Peter Jackson for the scale of some of the sequences. I canât imagine that The Hobbit will match it or really, even come close, but it will be fun to travel back to Middle-Earth one more time.
Anyone else out there recently rewatch LotR? What did you think? Do the movies hold up for you? Do you wish theyâd left out some of the scenes added to the extended cut? Do you agree that during the final part in Mount Doom, Frodo totally looks like Ellen Ripley from Aliens?
Chat about lords, rings, or anything else, here or over in the Talk Amongst Yourselves forum. Have good chatting, see you tomorrow.
