Lord of the Rings

I had recently watched the special extended version of the movie trilogy and was suddenly compelled to write something about it. This is one of those rare posts on this blogsite of mine without any pictures. And I predict, this is going to be a loooonngg post, so turn away now while you still can!

I was exposed to Tolkein’s world when I was in Form 6. Prior to that I had not heard nor read anything about Lord of the Rings or any other magical, fantasy books. So, LOTR was my first foray into the magical world and I had not turned back since. I finished all four books within the week. Should had been concentrating on my studies but really, between a LOTR book and a chemistry textbook, do you honestly think I would choose the latter? Though I love the books, I wouldn’t call myself a “true” Tolkein fan because I cannot remember names apart from the main characters, I can’t draw you the map of Middle Earth, no idea how many races there are in middle earth or their history and for the life of me, I cannot speak elvish! I have friends who had tried to read LOTR but gave up halfway to save their sanity and some others who didn’t even bother to try. Unless you have a soft spot for long winding magical and fantasy trilogy, where every page has paragraphs-long description about something, don’t pick up the book.

But now with the release of the movies, you don’t need the books to delve into the world of Middle Earth. When I first read that somebody was going to make movies out of the trilogy, I was like “Is he MAD?” Anyone who has read the books knows how nearly impossible it would be to bring it to life. Plus, I didn’t know who Peter Jackson was! I had heard of his movie, Heavenly Creatures but I didn’t know that it was his film. So when the movies were released, I was very impressed! Well, with the whole CGI technology booming at that time, it really did help Peter Jackson create Middle Earth right down to the smallest detail.

Now, onto the characters! I will start with Frodo, since he is the ring bearer and the whole story is basically about him getting to Mordor and throwing that ring into the fire. I have to say that I thought that the Frodo in the book wasn’t as weak as how Elijah portrayed him on screen but considering that Elijah was only 18 at the time of filming, he did a pretty good job as one of the leads. The most important point of Frodo being the Ring bearer was that as a hobbit, he had more resistance to the ring’s power (lesser beings like men would have succumbed to evil in a heartbeat) right to the end before he decided to be the Lord of the ring and Gollum bit his finger off. Next up is Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin), Frodo’s gardener though we never did actually see him gardening in the movies. Also thought by many to be Frodo’s gay lover due to the very affectionate, touchy feely relationship they had. I think he is bi cause he married Rosie at the end. But, truth to be told, the Ring would have never gotten to Mordor without Sam’s help every time Frodo falls down or grows weaker with the power of the Ring. Someone noted that despite the fact they were on an arduous trail with only bread as their food, Sam kept getting fatter! The two other hobbits are Merry and Pippin, Pippin being the more mischievous and mentally challenged of the two due to his age, he is the youngest after all and should be allowed some liberties as to his actions. Though ironically, Billy Boyd is the oldest of the lot and Elijah is the youngest. Gandalf the Grey who later became Gandalf the White (all he needed to do was to bleach his clothes instead of fighting the Balrog!) was played wonderfully well by Ian McKellen. There is only one gripe that I had about his performance that is in FOTR when he portrayed Gandalf as being a little bit maniacal or desperate when he asked Frodo where the ring was after returning from Minas Tirith.

Casting Christopher Lee as Saruman was spot on as Christopher really did have this beautiful deep voice, the kind of voice that Saruman was described as having in the books. Gimli the dwarf was played by John Rhys Davies, a trilogy veteran, (for those who did not recognize him, he was Indiana Jones’s partner) was also another excellent casting choice. He had the looks of a dwarf though he is over 6 feet tall and had the voice to go with it. Another trilogy veteran was The Matrix’s Hugo Weaving as Elrond, father of Arwen. I liked him in the Matrix and I absolutely adored him in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. He went from drag to cool sunglasses to drag again (well, sort of…what would you call his long flowing robes and effeminate hairstyle?) He wasn’t what I thought Elrond would look like though. When they picked Viggo Mortensen as Aragon, I was like huh? And I am still huh-ing even now. No doubt that Viggo worked hard for that role but I think he lacked the kingly presence he was supposed to have. Aragon was a ranger, traveling from places to places without ever revealing his true heritage but yet people still sensed that there is this presence about him. I didn’t sense anything of that kind coming out from Viggo, even with all that kingly armoury. He just looked like a man desperately in need a bath most of the time. Would someone please hand him a shower gel? There, I had just made myself an enemy of the “I love Viggo / Aragon” club. Another heartthrob of the films is Legolas aka Orlando Bloom. I have to concede that he does look pretty in that long flowing blond locks of his. And all that style while shooting the arrows into bloodthirsty orcs made me laughed. But, is it just I, or did anyone else noticed how Legolas always go around stating the obvious in the films? For example, in one scene, at the entrance of the Paths of the Dead, the men were quiet and the horses were restless, stomping about. And what does Legolas say? The men are quiet and the horses are restless. Hellooo! Oh oh, there I go again, making myself an enemy of the “I love Legolas/Orlando” club.

However there are two guys in the film that I did like and both ended up dying, one shot to death and the other hacked to death! Sean Bean with that deep sexy British voice of his played Boromir, the fallen son of Gondor. Now, to me, he had the kingly presence and would have been a good choice to play Aragon but then I am biased. The other is a lesser known role, Haldir, the captain of Lady Galadriel’s elven archers, sent to Helm’s Deep to help fight off the Uruk Hais. (No such thing was in the book I think). I don’t know why I like him except that I do like him. Does it make any sense? Also, Faramir was kind of cute too in way. Almost did not recognize him in Van Helsing as the monk. And the actor who played Eormer was in Chronicles of Riddick and The Bourne Supremacy.

Arwen, Galadriel and Eowyn represented the women in the films. All beautiful, all had long flowing gorgeous locks and all deadly. They greatly exaggerated the role of Arwen who only had a small part to play in the books. And I guess that is for the benefit of the male audiences who hope to gaze upon her fair face and pouty lips rather than Aragon’s badly-in-need-of-a-facial-wash face. I do have to say that both Liv and Cate made Elvish sound sexy. Hmm…I wonder what they used for shampoo?

And dear Smeagol/Gollum. Much credit had to be given to Andy Serkis who was the actor behind the CG version of Gollum and voice.

I told you this was going to be a long post and I am still not done yet! Onto the highlights of the film! In FOTR, I liked the part when Bilbo was consumed by the power of the ring and turned freakish. Scared the bejesus out of me! Also, when Gandalf had to confront the Balrog in the Mines of Moria and shouted, “Thou shall not pass!” Hard to imagine that when he was acting that particular scene, there was only a blue screen in front of him and he had no idea what he was up against. I couldn’t do it, but then, I am not a renowned stage actor. Any scene where the Ring Wraiths were in because they all look so creepy and I love the awful screech of theirs. And, of course, Boromir’s dying scene. The Two Towers’ best scene had to be the battle scene of course. The first real battle scene of the trilogy. The opening battle sequence in FOTR was just a teaser trailer. Despite the number of orcs and Uruk Hais that Saruman’s army had, they still failed to take over Helms Deep, held of by a couple of guys on horses. Logically, that would have been absurd. Don’t tell me that all of them there could not have shoot or hack down the horses and the men? Another cool performance was of Gollum and his split personalities having a conversation with each other. Finally the last installment which is The Return of the King. Again, the battle scene was the best part of the film. I love the part when Theoden said, “Muster the Rohirims!” Somehow, the word Rohirrims sounded cool. And the part when Billy Boyd/Pippin sang that sad song while Faramir went charging off to his doom (well, not doom really, since he didn’t die). Also, when the Riders of Rohan finally appeared at the battlefield of Gondor. I have to agree with Gimli when he told Aragon not to release the dead army. With the dead army, they could have taken down Sauron! If I was Aragon and I know that I had the power to command them, I would have used them to storm Mordor, creating a nice leisurely path for me to the very entrance of Mount Doom. But then, the story would have been so boring. And short. But think of the lives that would have been saved! And the Witch King dying at the hands of the shield maiden of Rohan, Eowyn was kind of cool too when she said “But I am no man” before plunging the sword into his face. Again, logically, the Witch King is neither living nor dead, a powerful creature, and just a plunge from Eowyn’s sword was enough to kill him?

Also, there is another thing that has been bugging me ever since I read the book. If Sauron’s fate were so intertwined with the ring and to destroy it would mean the downfall of Sauron (he didn’t actually die in the book), why on earth didn’t he sense the ring’s presence while it was in Mordor, his home ground? He is really stupid to put all his hope and life on that one ring. He would have won the war anyhow without the ring, the ring only brought about his downfall. Also, he can hardly be the Lord of the rings if he actually needs to see it in order to know it is there. I think that there is only one true Lord of the rings and that is the One Ring itself. See, you have been fooled!

Before I end this though I have to say that the line Sam said “I cannot carry the Ring for you but I can carry you” has got to be one of the most cheesiest line in movie history, right there next to “You jump, I jump”.