ROTK:EE musings.
Jan. 3rd, 2005 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ldhensonLet's see if I can re-create this post.
I'll say it straight off: I'm much fonder of the first two films in this trilogy than I am of the third. Don't get me wrong; it's still an incredible movie, but it doesn't have the same grip on me that FOTR and--even more--TTT do. ROTK contains some fantastic sequences--the introduction to Minas Tirith, Faramir's ride from and back to Osgiliath, the Mûmakil, to name a few--and yet as a whole it doesn't seem to hang together as well as it might; its good scenes feel often undercut by an unfortunately high number of weaker ones.
If I had to point to one major culprit, it would be the pacing; more specificially, the profusion of slo-mo shots. Used properly, no other visual device gets me teary-eyed faster; over-used, it makes me fidget and glance at my watch. Slo-mo during the battle at the Black Gate and the destruction of the Ring went straight into my chest--but the remainder of the film is practically nothing but slo-mo from there on out. I can see why; every event in the wrap-up is a momentous one, but when one has so many momentous scenes clumped together they can't all be shown using the same device. So it builds to a rather absurd cumulative level of slo-mo, and rather than enhancing what's happening on-screen it quickly proves instead a distraction that increases with every passing minute. The upshot? The deep emotion in most of the wrap-up feels very forced. Had they let the action play more naturally, with judicious--and sparing--use of slo-mo employed throughout, no doubt I would have been able to buy right into the drama.
It would also have left more room for some of the deleted scenes. That's the second half of my gripe.
Aside from Boromir, Christopher Lee's Saruman is my favorite character in the films. The role is a complex and crucial one, disastrous if not infused with ample levels of authority and power, and Lee (whose work I wasn't familiar with before seeing FOTR) takes that role and does magnificent things with it. His Saruman is every bit as compelling as he needs to be, and he brings every line of dialogue to life with that incomparably rich deep bass. (I realized after casually calling up my favorite lines from the trilogy that 90% of them were his, not in small part due to his delivery.) So I was aghast when I learned that he would be cut from the theatrical version. Not only is a wonderful performance lost, but Saruman's abrupt disappearance and the awkwardness of the in-theater "resolution" significantly weaken the storyline as well. His absence is, in my eyes, the biggest misstep of the third film.
But after seeing the restored scene, I'm almost not sure I would rather have seen it in the theater. Of course, another chance to see Lee is great, and his performance doesn't disappoint. But "The Voice of Saruman" is one of my favorite passages in the book, and the script guts that here, robbing the wizard's voice of much of its power. Lee delivers the voice all right, but the script doesn't allow its listeners to fall into its persuasion, reducing Saruman's speech to a bluff and a display of temper instead of a formidable weapon. In a way, I wish I hadn't read that part before seeing the film (I deliberately waited to read the books only after seeing each of the three films first, so I wouldn't walk in with a bias); it's possible I might not have minded so much. Still, I think it's a bit of a lackluster end for Saruman. Kill him off early if you must--and I agree that the Scouring would be difficult to fit into the narrative flow of the film--but at least give him a last rallying effort before he goes.
Hmm, this is getting rather long. More later.
I'll say it straight off: I'm much fonder of the first two films in this trilogy than I am of the third. Don't get me wrong; it's still an incredible movie, but it doesn't have the same grip on me that FOTR and--even more--TTT do. ROTK contains some fantastic sequences--the introduction to Minas Tirith, Faramir's ride from and back to Osgiliath, the Mûmakil, to name a few--and yet as a whole it doesn't seem to hang together as well as it might; its good scenes feel often undercut by an unfortunately high number of weaker ones.
If I had to point to one major culprit, it would be the pacing; more specificially, the profusion of slo-mo shots. Used properly, no other visual device gets me teary-eyed faster; over-used, it makes me fidget and glance at my watch. Slo-mo during the battle at the Black Gate and the destruction of the Ring went straight into my chest--but the remainder of the film is practically nothing but slo-mo from there on out. I can see why; every event in the wrap-up is a momentous one, but when one has so many momentous scenes clumped together they can't all be shown using the same device. So it builds to a rather absurd cumulative level of slo-mo, and rather than enhancing what's happening on-screen it quickly proves instead a distraction that increases with every passing minute. The upshot? The deep emotion in most of the wrap-up feels very forced. Had they let the action play more naturally, with judicious--and sparing--use of slo-mo employed throughout, no doubt I would have been able to buy right into the drama.
It would also have left more room for some of the deleted scenes. That's the second half of my gripe.
Aside from Boromir, Christopher Lee's Saruman is my favorite character in the films. The role is a complex and crucial one, disastrous if not infused with ample levels of authority and power, and Lee (whose work I wasn't familiar with before seeing FOTR) takes that role and does magnificent things with it. His Saruman is every bit as compelling as he needs to be, and he brings every line of dialogue to life with that incomparably rich deep bass. (I realized after casually calling up my favorite lines from the trilogy that 90% of them were his, not in small part due to his delivery.) So I was aghast when I learned that he would be cut from the theatrical version. Not only is a wonderful performance lost, but Saruman's abrupt disappearance and the awkwardness of the in-theater "resolution" significantly weaken the storyline as well. His absence is, in my eyes, the biggest misstep of the third film.
But after seeing the restored scene, I'm almost not sure I would rather have seen it in the theater. Of course, another chance to see Lee is great, and his performance doesn't disappoint. But "The Voice of Saruman" is one of my favorite passages in the book, and the script guts that here, robbing the wizard's voice of much of its power. Lee delivers the voice all right, but the script doesn't allow its listeners to fall into its persuasion, reducing Saruman's speech to a bluff and a display of temper instead of a formidable weapon. In a way, I wish I hadn't read that part before seeing the film (I deliberately waited to read the books only after seeing each of the three films first, so I wouldn't walk in with a bias); it's possible I might not have minded so much. Still, I think it's a bit of a lackluster end for Saruman. Kill him off early if you must--and I agree that the Scouring would be difficult to fit into the narrative flow of the film--but at least give him a last rallying effort before he goes.
Hmm, this is getting rather long. More later.
