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Post by CyberShadow on Oct 29, 2001 10:03:18 GMT -5
I have almost finished reading the first Lord of the Rings books now, only 20 pages to go. While I am not a huge fan, I want to read it all before the film comes out. One thing struck me though, the first of the three films covers the first of the three books, but pretty much nothing happens in the first book! Are people expected to wait for another year to see what happens? If the books were self-contained stories alone, things would be OK - but the first book just really sets the scene. A lot of traveling and meeting people and little else. I just dont think that it will make a good film alone.
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Post by Shadow_Hunter on Nov 21, 2001 4:40:58 GMT -5
I know nothing about Lord of the Rings, My brother just bought all the books, but I dont now if I can be arsed to read them. I'll watch the film but I dont know if I'm gonna bother going to the cinema yet, depends on whether its any good first. Man am I gatting lazy!
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Post by CyberShadow on Dec 23, 2001 19:02:13 GMT -5
Well, I just got back from the cinema tonight after watching Lord of the Rings, and I have to admit to being a little wrong. My first thought that the film would not be great as it is only a third of the story was half right, as I left the cinema wondering what happened next, but there have been a couple of additions which help to make the film more self-contained. Basically, it looks like the director realised that the first book didnt really go anywhere and added a few things to tie it together a bit more.
In general, I have a few criticisms of the film:
The effects are very good, but the computer stuff is just not ILM standard. It shows a little, but this is not really a big problem.
The film walks a very fine line and tries to be dramatic. While this works for most of the time, there are a few times when it simply looks a bit over the top, but I guess that this could just be me.
The fight scenes are very quick and move around a lot. This is more of a problem and I had difficulty working out exactly what was going on for most of the battles. It would have been nicer to actually have a better idea of the action.
One thing that I was impressed about was the way that the film was paced. I found that it kept the pressure up for most of the three hours. There was only really one time when it slowed and dragged a little. Unfortunately this was at the Elves forest and about half way through the film, so it was noticed, but a lot of this episode was cut and I guess that it could have been worse. For a three hour film, it kept going well. And, all that you see is relevant. There has been real thought when putting the story together, and this shows. You get to hear what you need to know, and a few things are cut where they refer to previous episodes.
Generally, I did like the film. I found myself a bit disappointed in the first five minutes as it could never live up to the hype that I am tired of hearing from cinemas and GW, but it is definately worth seeing. As a film alone, I am still in two minds as to whether it works well, but if the other two are as good, it will definately be worth getting as a boxed DVD set in three years!
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Post by Shadow_Hunter on Jan 7, 2002 5:33:02 GMT -5
Well I watched the film last night, and I thought it was great. I'm glad I haven't read the book in case it misses anything out. This way I have no idea whether its correct or not and get to enjoy the film for what it is. My only criticism is that I now have to wait for the other films to find out what happens as it doesn't really have an ending.
I dont know much about the world of Fanatasy etc. I have only ever played warhammer things and so have no knowledge of whether they were the originators or not, and I dont really care. But I did notice lots of things similar to its world. That Balroc thing looked like a Bloodthirster to me for instance. And the Orcs being born in the ground, and the mithril armour plus many other things. As I said this may all have originated somewhere and every fantasy author follows the rough guidelines, I dont know. All I know is what I've read in Warhammer rule books and codexs' etc. So to me it seems the same.
I thought the effects looked pretty good, and would recommend everyone watch it. Just make sure you have food and drink ready for the show, and go to the loo befroe hand so you don't need to during it.
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Post by CyberShadow on Jan 28, 2002 8:51:31 GMT -5
You have it a little backwards. Tolkein collected a load of myths and legends, invented a world and numerous languages and gave the whole thing a history, and then wrote The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings x3 and the other two books (Simarilion and Unfinished Tales). This was all done quite a while ago now. It was such a different and original book, but kept a background which was partially familiar to a lot of people, that it became a huge success. From that day on, pretty much every Fantasy book, and a lot of Science Fiction, has been grounded in Tolkien to a variable extent. Games Workshop put together a fantasy background from the 'established normals' and this enevitably drew heavily on Tolkiens work.
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Post by Jackhammer on Jul 23, 2002 16:39:43 GMT -5
Personally I thought the film was great, some of scenes were truly breathtaking, like whenever Frodo puts the ring on and many others. Despite the fact it was nearly three hours in length I thought it suffered slightly from time constraints (yes, I read the book (a few times:)) first). I can't wait for the extended version to come with 30 mins extra footage. I might even have to grab some extra work during my next uni term time to afford a DVD player to watch it on.
Jackhammer
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Post by CyberShadow on Jul 24, 2002 6:12:04 GMT -5
I think that I will wait for the obvious 'three disc boxed set' in a couple of years. I am sure that it will have whatever the individual discs already have, and they will have to add extra to make people who already have the individual movies get it as well. Also, I dont think that LotR-FotR is great on its own, it will really be good with the other movies. I am waiting for 9 hour marathon LotR session!  |
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Post by Jackhammer on Jul 24, 2002 9:46:03 GMT -5
I think that I will wait for the obvious 'three disc boxed set' in a couple of years. I am sure that it will have whatever the individual discs already have, and they will have to add extra to make people who already have the individual movies get it as well. Also, I dont think that LotR-FotR is great on its own, it will really be good with the other movies. I am waiting for 9 hour marathon LotR session! There might not be extra items crammed onto any complete LotR set, especially when you consider the enhanced versions currently being touted are pretty complete, but it will probably be cheaper to buy them as a boxset rather than as individual movies. You also have to have the patience of a saint to last out that long IMHO, I'm impressed with myself for holding out for the copy with the extra footage in November. Some people probably end up buying both editions, which means they've either got more money than sense or they are really desperate. Jackhammer |
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Post by Blacksnotling on Aug 10, 2002 8:58:39 GMT -5
I am planning on waiting for 3 years before I get the boxedset. Well thats the plan, I will proberly end up buying the special editions as they are released and then when i get the box set i will proberly give the other DVDs to my dad!
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Post by stormking on Aug 12, 2002 17:41:30 GMT -5
i have the three lord of the rings books and have just bought the first film and am looking forward to the second film at christmas, i am only disappointed that the trailer for the second film is only available on the dvd, i think the books are great and am hoping to complete my tolkien set
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Post by CyberShadow on Aug 13, 2002 4:30:18 GMT -5
I did the same thing last year. Before the release of the first film, I managed to read The Hobbit (which I really didnt like but it does tell you how the Ring was discovered and got to be where it was), and the first book. After the film I worked through the second two books. I am looking forward to the second film as it seems the best of the three books.
There are also two extra books in the series, the Simarillion (dealing with the myths and history of middle earth) and the Unfinished Tales.
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Post by stormking on Aug 13, 2002 9:13:53 GMT -5
i have the hobbit as well and agree that it's not that great, (i first read it while in school), i'm trying to get the other books, i've seen the cinema trailer for the two towers and think it looks great, i agree that it is one of the trilogy's better books
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