Peter Jackson's THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001-2003) revisited

 (I decided to share here the reviews I wrote upon revisiting the Extended Editions of the Peter Jackson/Wingnut Films productions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy at Alamo Drafthouse; I saw "Fellowship of thr Ring" in January of last year, 2023, then meant to see the other two "Two Towers" and "Return of the King" then but had to wait until this month. It was worth it).

(January 7th, 2023)

"Go back, Sam! I'm going to Mordor alone."

"Of course you are! And I'm coming with you!"

Time to see if my rating will go up or down (and I'm finally listening to Andy Serkis' masterful reading of the book on Audible)... (3 1/2 years err hours later), yep, this really rocks a whoooole lot of fuck. It's a classic tale of corrupting influences - or how clearly the Ring corrupts so completely, and casts doubt and darkness and if it doesn't crush someone into their worst self, they may rise to meet the evil in the world.

I think perspective, as with many things when looking back now not just a few years (like when King Kong 05 came out) or a decade (the darn flawed but sometimes successful Hobbitses) but a near generation later, is in order and Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring - and by extension I'll assume the other two films though it's been an equally long while away from them as well - is full of artistic personality, quirks, and enough heart to flood five Shires.

We've had years of Marvel movies and other blockbusters that don't carry much in the way of a beating distinction of filmmaking pathos - and ones I've liked or even loved by, say, the Russo's are directed in such a way where it's more on the screenplays and the stars/actors to carry them into anything unique- and, like revisiting the Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, there's joy and thrill and exhilaration and even meditation to be had in the full throated SONG that Jackson and his hundreds of crew have put together here.

Even the art of the Close-up shot is staggering in how Jackson utilizes it, and he and Dp Andrew Leslie do so a great deal, because it's creating an intimacy with the audience that reaches deeper into Tolkien's text (especially on a giant screen, which, 2001 vfx bits that don't hold up and all, it was intended and painstakingly crafted and located for). Some of it is just a hair over from being cheeky close-ups out of a shocker of a horror movie - it made me smile uncontrollably to hear someone gasp at the moment when Gandalf grabs Frodo's arm in the dark and we suddenly see the old dude disheveled and in a panic in full profile do the line "Is it Secret?! Is It Safe?!"

Most of the filmmaking is so sincere that, mayhap, when I was younger and thinking I was already matured in late high school/college I wasn't. Not really. Not after I've lived a little while and seen as an adult hoe greed, ego (oh those Christopher Lee close-ups are worth a thousand ::Chef's kisses::), bewilderment, desire and humility and fear shapes people. And I love the mix of real textures and creatures and make-up and good lord those gigantic Miniatures and I'll just call them Matte paintings even if they were all done by Weta computers (some are designed by people who I assume had their artistic feet in making luminous Mattes for years and years).

But I was taken aback by how emotional I got at the end; Sean Bean has had a Meme or two from this film (the crowd at Alamo mostly chuckled at the not inherently funny "One does not just..." bit and hos hand gesture because clearly we've all seen that out of context), but he's giving it all to Boromir, and while Frodo has this ongoing existential horror that he's been made to become and carry it's Son o' Gondor who is the tragic figure ultimately of the picture. And did I shed a tear or ten in that final scene he has? I cannot tell a lie, as another Tolkien character said... or no that was some other historical figure or other.

Great stuff. I hope to see the others theatrically this *month if not sold out. If only I'd some Fine Pipe-Weed to go along with it. (*EDIT I didn't due to car problems, but a year later in 2024, I am!)

(January 14th. 2024)

"How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something."

"What are we holding on to, Sam?"

"That there is good in the world."

Maybe it's a bit of contrarian in me, which is foolish given the unfathomable popularity of this series of films, but for a long time I called this the best (or favorite whatever you want to dub it) of the Lord of the Rings; sure, for Serkis and the titanic force of wicked fire and (I think intentionally) sad-sack insane humor that came from his turn, but moreover because of how Jackson and his writers and editors managed to condense a whopping metric ton of story into even this long of a package and manage to make you feel and think about so much in every storyline.

 Yes, even with the Ents/Tree-Beard characters (and look, I know they are designed to talk... slow, but maybe you need a moment or two amid all of the high palace drama and melancholic Aragorn romantic passages to sit and think about... Treeeees. Or use the bathroom during those bits).

As it stands now seeing this again for the first time in at least fifteen years start to finish? This still as the Tik Tok runs say "slaps," and every performance in it is peak (special mention to Dourif, Bernard Hill and Miranda Otto, but Mortensen may be underrated strangely, like the scene with the soup). It's close. Or... tied with the first one (?) Maybe it's more because of Fellowship and the forward throttle of that film's beat for beat power and momentum and Jackson and company getting everything so so right with that cast that I love that more after that revisit, especially with a touch more heartbreak to find with Boromir and Bean.

But it's also hard, especially as I get older, for Sam's speech not to kick me in the heart and head and tell me that what we are seeing in this Battle of Helm's Deep, this awakening of the Ents to see, despite/because of their reluctance, how they are a part of this world, and Frodo as he stands face to face with that Ringwraith, is all metaphor for how life will always be hard and always the world is on the brink. 

And yet... people keep going and going and going on. And for Gollum/Smeagol, yes had chances to turn back as well, and the doom that is there for him is in his struggle - Maybe (or no Maybe I'm sure) that's why that character is so harrowing, in his split sense he's the embodiment of Darkness... and what is still there that *could* bring him back. Or not.

I'm sure there's things I can nitpick here, especially as time goes on and like the beast dogs with the Orcs look more fake over time. On the other hand, the flooding of Isengard looks all the more powerful and impactful because you can tell how much actual water they used for flooding on a matte-level, like they added real water on top of the CGI, and on a giant screen it's like what they tried to do in all those B movies of old with a bathtub or what have you, but... it looks like the best it will ever be. There's so many great effects and spectacle and all of those glorious high-flying crane and dolly shots and HOLY SHIT TO FIGHT DEM ORCS GIMLI moments, and they outweigh any of the handful of effects that have aged.

I think why I love this film is because, as I mentioned before, it has so much still and yet it's never so overwhelming as you lose the thread or get too tired of one storyline since it's all about *everyone* in this world. That's what was tricky for Jackson and Bowens/Walsh et al to pull off, and that's also what's different than Fellowship; that was about Frodo, Sam, the core group, while this is widening the scope to show that, no, now *all* of Middle Earth is in this shit, whether they like it or not. And they managed to make it an engrossing, tragic yet hopeful saga, the darker middle chapter where all the relationships deepen and the scars show more.

(Wait...who likes it? Uh, Wormtongue, probably - didn't he ever think of a name change, by the way? He's either going to be slimy little weasel, or the one gent with the caustic wit and beleaguered sense of charm that you'd never expect to meet at the castle at Rohan. Oh, well).

(January 19th, 2024)

"Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It'll be spring soon. And the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they'll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields... and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?"

"No, Sam. I can't recall the taste of food... nor the sound of water... nor the touch of grass. I'm... naked in the dark, with nothing, no veil... between me... and the wheel of fire! I can see him... with my waking eyes!"

"Then let us be rid of it... once and for all!"

Let's see if i will like this more in a theater again... (3 hours in), welp, this time I got teary eyed when King Theodin has his final moment on the battlefield with Eowin (like a softer version of Luke and Vader: "Ive got to save you," "you have already" :( , so yeah, this gets to 5 stars this time. Maybe this is one of the more flawed 5 star ratings, but I can't deny when a filmmaker like Peter Jackson can punch a hole in my gut and not let go.

Matter of fact, this time I surprised myself with how much of a mess I became when Sam does the "I can't carry the Ring, BUT I CAN CARRY YOU" to Frodo on Mount Doom. I was pretty much unmoved by that when I saw it in a more cynical and "Im Above These Feelings" 19 mindset. 

I think I needed to live for another 20 years for it to really hit, how in life it becomes invaluable and meaningful to have someone like that in your life. And my goodness, Sean Astin really sells the hell out of every moment as Samwise (like with Spider-Man, which I'll come back to near the end of this review in another context, I like Samwise more as I get older).

I think it helps having finally read the books last year and seeing how close they actually get so much of the source material into this to find this more enjoyable and less of a corny slog. And it really works being longer in EE form for it to have moments to breathe and for characters to get to connect even more, hence the moments with Theodin.

Maybe still my least favorite of the 3 mostly because there's parts of the giant battle at Minis Tirith when it's just the Orc/Uruk-Hai army vs Gondor, it drags in the choreography and that some of the CGI hasn't aged the best (though I could also say that for the undead army, and somehow they work and are badass as all get out). And as fun as it can be seen a CGI war elephant. Getting shot with arrows and fall down. That also is a very long sequence in a very long movie. And next time I'm watching that home. I'll probably keep playing that as a bathroom break.

But what I liked before I love this time, especially everything with Frodo and Gollum, and that storyline is just about perfect, especially all of the betrayals and recriminations and apologies. Nasty schizo acting doesn't get better than Serkis, but he's not as strong without Wood and Astin to play off of. And I especially was John Noble and Denethor the tragically awful Steward of Gondor.

We know that Gollum-cum-Smeagol is a total mess and is not trustworthy, mostly to himself; Denethor Is the villain who has the power over his Kingdom, even as it's a tenuous power and his grief becomes this kind of crutch that he uses to excuse away his responsibility for his people... But it's also not even that simple because he's also a raving egomaniac, and sad because he has suffered loss... then again get in line. 

He's still thinks and acts that he's in charge And is the scary kind of mentally ill person who doesn't see that they need many years of therapy instead of a hearty meal and a song from a Hobbit. He may actually give my favorite performance of the movie, and that saying a lot given the other actors I've mentioned above (not to mention Mortensen and Otto and of course McKellan).

Overall, The Lord of the Rings movies are so beautiful and creative not simply because the filmmakers understand what the author was going for, and to make it palatable for everyone, it's that the filmmakers (Jackson most of all as the Harryhausen nut) don't forget what they love about movie making and specifically all of the popular monsters and gnarly grandeur in fantasy. Like the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, these are bigger than any one creator and yet they are loaded with personality and weird little asides and I just wanna own some of those Orc molds.

That's actually what I come away with loving most; I don't think I would ever necessarily say this is on the artistic level of, oh I don't know, the Bondarchuk Russian War and Peace movies from the 1960s for example. But they are comparable as far as a artist getting to execute their vision on the biggest canvas possible, and whatever compromises they might have had to make are not from nitpicky corporate interests.

On the other hand, like War and Peace, The Lord of the Rings is this mind bogglingly (often extremely violent and gruesome and emotionally manipulative) grand spectacle that manages to communicate so many ideas about how humans use all this military might to conquer others and how consistently ego and pride fuck things up... and in the face of love and kind ness and going above and beyond, so much can be fought back against (though not all). 

This is all to say.... I'd love an oral history how this became so totally embraced by the Hippies. This shit is dark!