Return of the King
I finally braved the crowds and went to see LOTR: Return of the King yesterday. I must say, after all the hype and hoopla, I walked out of the theater feeling decidedly let down. Everything was fantastic right up to the destruction of the Ring, but the finale, all the details in the book that completed the saga, was in my opinion far too sketchy. I knew that it would have to be pared back, in fact I expected the Scouring of the Shire to be massively reduced, but to have it gone completely? To have all the things that illustrated the changes the Quest had wrought in Merry, Pippin and Sam absent?
I can only hope that the Special Edition will address some of those flaws, as it did for the Two Towers, but as it currently stands, I can't give ROTK the five stars so many reviewers have been granting it. Grand battle scenes and dizzying special effects are all well and good, but not at the cost of the story. I'd much rather have seen five minutes less of the Oliphaunts, and five minutes more of the Shire, five minutes less of Shelob and five minutes more of Elessar, five minutes less of the Paths of the Dead, and five minutes more of the passing of the Third Age.
And that's my opinion on the matter.
I can only hope that the Special Edition will address some of those flaws, as it did for the Two Towers, but as it currently stands, I can't give ROTK the five stars so many reviewers have been granting it. Grand battle scenes and dizzying special effects are all well and good, but not at the cost of the story. I'd much rather have seen five minutes less of the Oliphaunts, and five minutes more of the Shire, five minutes less of Shelob and five minutes more of Elessar, five minutes less of the Paths of the Dead, and five minutes more of the passing of the Third Age.
And that's my opinion on the matter.