Unsure About The King

[gehayi]

::sigh::

My LJ friends and I are not on the same wavelength. Everyone is talking about how much Return of the King made them cry. This is not something that a depressive looks for in a movie, believe me. Strike one against the movie right there

Comments

[gehayi]

For example, there's a scene where Pippin sings for Denethor, and while he sings these beautiful, melancholy words, they show the men of Gondor, Faramir among them, making a suicide charge to try and reclaim Osgiliath when they're hopelessly outnumbered and have no chance.

How unbelievably stupid. If they know they are outnumbered and have no chance, why don't they try something that would actually work, like, maybe, destroying the enemy's siege weapons, assassinating leaders in key geographic positions or utilizing guerrilla warfare? Death and glory charges look dramatic and heroic, but they are a waste of manpower. If THAT'S the best that Faramir could come up with, no wonder his father would rather have Boromir back.

Tolkien fought in World War I. He saw enough suicide charges to know how wasteful they were and how little they accomplished.

I suspect that I would react to the scene, all right--by fuming at this sort of idiocy.

As for Shelob's lair, it's a dark scene (as in not a lot of light) and isn't all that explicit at all, but She is most definitely a giant spider. They didn't make her look like anything else. But you don't see much in the way of gore. And the darkness helps to build the suspense, I think, since Elijah does a great job in that moment conveying his fear as he calls for Smeagol. There's panic in his voice and terror in his eyes.

That sounds like a good scene, anyway.

Pelenor Fields is long, but they cut to action in the city, and between the storyline about Faramir and Denethor's madness, and the other storylines.

That's the best news I have heard so far.

And Sam and Frodo had many moments, especially when they realize that they might not make it home after all, that made me tear up as well. It's just that the actors are that good at bringing out those emotions in that moment that you can't help but react.

::gives a bewildered look::

But you KNOW that they will make it home. You KNOW that. They actors may be good, but the safety of Sam and Frodo is never really in question. I can't see crying over the heroes when you already know that they will succeed and survive.

Maybe I'll go whe the movie has been out for a month or so. I'll think it over, anyway.

[lidane]

That's just it-- Denethor questions Faramir's loyalty to Gondor, and Faramir tries to tell his father that a direct attack would be foolish because Osgiliath is overrun, and with Minas Tirith under siege, it would be insane to go, but the way Denethor patronizes his son in that moment makes Faramir realize that the only way to prove himself to his father is to sacrifice himself, even though he knows it's futile.

It's hard to really explain, and I'm doing a crap job of it. You have to see the scene to get it all, but it's gorgeous and dramatic, and not stupid at all when seen in context of the film.

And yes, you as a viewer know that Sam and Frodo are going to survive, but they don't know that when they're lying on a large rock on Mount Doom as it erupts all around them after they've destroyed the ring. And they don't know it when they're desperately trying to make the final push, with Sam giving Frodo the last of his water before they get to the top.

They get that sense of hopelessness across, and that sense of futility. As I said-- you may know who survives, but the characters themselves have no idea. Why would they? And all of the actors do a good job of bringing their respective character to life.

It's definitely worth it to see.