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Rewatching the LOTR EEs


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54 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

I'm trying to think of movies that are genuine "single films" that were split into multiple parts.

 

The Three Musketeers / The Four Musketeers

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15 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

It’s really more common in serialized films than one might think: Michael Bay does it in some of his Transformers films, it happens in Return of the Jedi (and in the special edition of Empire Strikes Back), Rogue One, and we just now learned it’s going to happen for Carrie Fisher in IX.

 

I’m not a fan, but here it’s infrequent enough that I can look past it. This series also uses much more nonlinear editing (try rearranging the farewell to Lorien sequence chronologically, I dare you) so you can defend it on that grounds, too.

 

What about in RotK, where that shot of an orc fighting is used twice: once in Osgiliath, and again in the streets of Minas Tirith - that always bugs me a lot 

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2 hours ago, Chen G. said:

I think extreme close-ups are typical of indie directors: it helps get around all kinds of limitations (who needs a set when all we can see in the frame is the actor’s iris?) and it’s the type of shot that’s most imbued with character: it’s perceived as very artsy and stylized.

 

 

It's certainly been a staple of PJ's pre-LOTR work. It's part of what makes The Frighteners so positively campy. It does at times come across as a bit too much in the LOTRs.

 

The tilted wide angle shots when Theoden throws out Grima also feels like classic PJ. Although Aragorn so actively holding back Theoden (a king, after all) is another of those bothersome exaggerated to out of character proportions bits.

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5 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

The tilted wide angle shots when Theoden throws out Grima also feels like classic PJ. Although Aragorn so actively holding back Theoden (a king, after all) is another of those bothersome exaggerated to out of character proportions bits.

 

The only issue i have with thaf scene is that even though Theoden is trying to kill Wormtongue, they retain dialogue from the book. "Send me not from your side!"

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10 hours ago, Stefancos said:

The only issue i have with thaf scene is that even though Theoden is trying to kill Wormtongue, they retain dialogue from the book. "Send me not from your side!"

 

Well, Theoden is a monarch, while Aragorn at that point is basically a nobody, especially to the king of Rohan. Physically assaulting the king, without warning, is probably punishable by death. He could talk to him. He could try to get in between Theoden and Grima. Or he could wait until the last moment and throw himself at the king and hold his sword arm in a "hey look, we're in a film so everything has to be extra cool" way.

 

No, it doesn't bother me much, but it's really unnecessary.

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I'm not sure what the problem with "send me not from your side" is? Makes sense to me.  It's basically saying..."don't kill me".

 

I do think, however, that Aragorn's trying to protect Wormtongue seems inconsistent and out of character.  Theoden's a King, and it wouldn't be Aragorn's place to tell him that even if he wanted to...which I don't think he would. Aragorn doesn't strike me as the type to care whether Wormtongue lived or died. If anything, he'd understand the need for the latter. It's just an example of needing to service the plot for that moment (i.e. letting Grima get away).  

 

That said, it's not as egregious as say, Gandalf's murder of Denethor.

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52 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

I do think, however, that Aragorn's trying to protect Wormtongue seems inconsistent and out of character.  Theoden's a King, and it wouldn't be Aragorn's place to tell him that even if he wanted to...which I don't think he would. Aragorn doesn't strike me as the type to care whether Wormtongue lived or died. If anything, he'd understand the need for the latter. It's just an example of needing to service the plot for that moment (i.e. letting Grima get away).  

 

 

It's really just the manner of intervention that bothers me. I think it's justifiable for Aragorn, in slowly assuming his kingly responsibilities, to show compassion for Grima. (Or if not, it's more a matter of him not knowing Grima and only having heard of him a few minutes earlier). Of course, it would be more natural to just have Gandalf council Theoden against killing Grima. And if that takes away from Aragorn's overall active influence in the films, just don't take away his own decision to pursue the Paths of the Dead...

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At a minimum, Grima is a security threat...something that came back to haunt them at Helm's Deep.  

 

But that's not even the most immediate reason. In Tolkien's world attempting to kill a King would mean the death penalty.  Aragorn understood that. To say nothing of all the other damage Wormtongue already caused.  It's just inconceivable they'd let him go. There's really no other reason for it than Grima needed to get back to Saruman for plot purposes.

 

 

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