ROTK - Great end to the trilogy (spoilers)

[Ineti]

My wife and I saw the film last night, and it was wonderful.

A lot of stuff in the book wasn't in the film, but I wonder how much if it was shot but cut. Maybe we'll see some of it in the extended edition next fall.

Some of the highlights:

- The battle of the Pelennor fields. Way too much to say about it; suffice to say it's perhaps the most brilliant hour and a half of film I've ever seen.

- The Army of the Dead. Very cool.

- Shelob. Freaky in a great way.

- Sam and Frodo. Extremely well acted.

I could gush on, but will resist. Words don't do this film justice.

[AslanC]

So no Prince Imrahil or Knights of Dol Amroth eh?

What about the Corsairs? Is that well done? Since from the preview it looks like Aragorn is leading the army, when he should be sailing up the Anduin.

Clarify man! Clarify!

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

Originally posted by REG
Either go see it for yourself, or be content with the book and never see the films for the rest of your unnatural life, AslanC.

You have a PM...

[Ineti]

Originally posted by AslanC
So no Prince Imrahil or Knights of Dol Amroth eh?

What about the Corsairs? Is that well done? Since from the preview it looks like Aragorn is leading the army, when he should be sailing up the Anduin.

Clarify man! Clarify!

No Imrahil, no knights of Dol Amroth as such (they may have been on screen and just not mentioned).

The corsairs...well, we see them on screen, but Aragorn and the Dead Co. don't actually attack them. It happens pretty much off-screen like it does in the books. The Dead do play a large role in the battle of the Pelennor, though, and there are some really great moments.

Do go see it, though. This is one of those films absolutely meant for the big screen.

[Scottomir]

Here's my take on the film, a discussion of it as a worthy adaptation of the book:

http://movies.yahoo.com/mvc/dfurv?mi...zsQ6fPDBTRvQ--

Yes, I readily admit that this is shameless self-promotion.

[Capt. Anderson]

For adaptation it really was brilliantly done, and I’ll probably see it a few more times while it’s in the theaters.

Peter has really set the bar to making trilogies.

Now I have to what a year for the extended addition to the movie.

[Setvenharis]

just a shame The Mouth of Sauron was cut from the film.

Bruce Spence (The Train Man from Matrix Revs and the Pilot from Mad Max 2 and 3) played him.

I thought Eowyn was to be badly injured by the Witch King to a point where Aragorn and Elrond heals her?

There's quite a few scenes cut where I saw photos of them. I hope they go into the Extended Edition next year.

And Gollum's death was a bit.....ho hum......He didn't even catch fire or scream when he landed in the lava.

I quite like the image of Sauron (The Eye) looking shocked and panicky when Barad-Dur started to collapse though.

Shelob was a joy to watch too, as was Grond and the battle on the Pellenor Fields.

[ComaBoy]

I may lose my geek union card over this but. . .

I thought the battle outside Minas Tirith was part of the seige of MT, while the battle in front of the Black Gate was the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Can someone enlighten me?

[Ineti]

Originally posted by ComaBoy
I may lose my geek union card over this but. . .

I thought the battle outside Minas Tirith was part of the seige of MT, while the battle in front of the Black Gate was the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Can someone enlighten me?

The battle in front of Minas Tirith was the battle of the Pelennor Fields.

I don't recall if the fight in front of the Black Gates had a specific name.

[Scottomir]

Originally posted by Ineti
I don't recall if the fight in front of the Black Gates had a specific name.

I think it has just been referred to as the battle of Morannon (the Sindarin name for 'Black Gate').

[mactavish]

Who's the creepy, f****d up orc commander?

mactvish out.

[Scottomir]

Originally posted by mactavish
Who's the creepy, f****d up orc commander?

Good question. There are several named Orcs in the book, but they are in the Tower of Cirith Ungol and not at Pelennor. I really didn't like this Orc character, because I think he drew focus away from the Witch-King. The movie made it seem like the Orc was the general of the battle and the Witch-King merely a fly-by support attacker. If they wanted to feature a creepy Orc, they really should have fleshed out Shagrat in the Tower.

BTW, I think that Orc commander was played by Andy Serkis...sounded like one of his character voices.

[Phantom]

Was this orc "commander" an Uruk? Or just one of your run of the mill orc maggot?

[Setvenharis]

Originally posted by mactavish
Who's the creepy, f****d up orc commander?

mactvish out.

That was Gothmog and he was played by the same guy who played The Witch King.

[Scottomir]

Originally posted by Setvenharis
That was Gothmog and he was played by the same guy who played The Witch King.

Oh, I had totally forgotten about Gothmog. Not hard, since he is mentioned only once in the book and in passing. Heck, Tolkien doesn't even say whether he is an Orc. I would have much rather the filmmakers cut out Gothmog and given us more of the scene with Shagrat and company.