I am a realist - I realize that the books as written are unfilmable, and while I can quibble about choices that PJ made, all in all I think he made a wonderful series of films.
I am glad that the death of Saruman got put in, even if it was in the wrong place. Having made the decision to have the Scouring take place only in the mirror vision, Saruman was left as a loose end. I'm glad they showed a pitiful death for all his hubris.
(Have to quibble on the "ancient magical weapon" bit, but while it helped Merry, it was NOT what allowed Merry to hamstring the Witch-King - it was that he was "not a man" but a Hobbit.)
My issue with Faramir taking F&S to Osgiliath was not that it was "not that way in the books", but that it diminished the nobility of Faramir's choice to let the ring go. Rather than being wise enought to stand up to the Ring's power on his own, PJ had Sam rub the fate of Boromir in his face before he made the choice. I think it lessened a great character.
Filmmaking is a cooperative process, and I think that PJ did a great job of balancing Tolkein's themes against the limitation of a modern audience's attention span. I would have done things a little differently, but you have to look at how the films stand on their own. I think they do quite well.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-12-27 03:18 am (UTC)I am glad that the death of Saruman got put in, even if it was in the wrong place. Having made the decision to have the Scouring take place only in the mirror vision, Saruman was left as a loose end. I'm glad they showed a pitiful death for all his hubris.
(Have to quibble on the "ancient magical weapon" bit, but while it helped Merry, it was NOT what allowed Merry to hamstring the Witch-King - it was that he was "not a man" but a Hobbit.)
My issue with Faramir taking F&S to Osgiliath was not that it was "not that way in the books", but that it diminished the nobility of Faramir's choice to let the ring go. Rather than being wise enought to stand up to the Ring's power on his own, PJ had Sam rub the fate of Boromir in his face before he made the choice. I think it lessened a great character.
Filmmaking is a cooperative process, and I think that PJ did a great job of balancing Tolkein's themes against the limitation of a modern audience's attention span. I would have done things a little differently, but you have to look at how the films stand on their own. I think they do quite well.