Never Toss A Dwarf

Well, I know some of you are going to say I’m not a really real geek because I didn’t go see the whole Lord of the Rings trillogy in the movie theater, but I had my reasons which I’m really not going to explain here because in part they’re kind of childish. So there.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve read the books so I’d forgotten pretty much everything except the fact that I didn’t like Tolkein’s writing as he’s way too wordy and I much prefered The Hobbit, which was written as a children’s story. I suppose that says something about my mentality but I think it says that Tolkein’s a bit of a word snob and I think people who worship his books do so to make themselves feel more intellectual and superior to those of us who just don’t get it.

Anyway, I got the movies from netflix over the weekend and did the marathon thing, which I will never ever do again. That was just way too long to be sitting in one place. However, it was well worth doing at least once and I highly recommend it and I most certainly recommend doing it with surround sound.

Now, I do have some observations I wanted to share.

First of all, I think Gollum stole the movie. Honestly, I loved his portrayal and I truly felt for him, felt for his possession by the ring.

Second, I’m sorry, but I think the real hero of the story is Samwise and not Frodo. Everyone’s always heralding Frodo and how he suffered, but Frodo would never have made it to the end without Samwise. He would have given in to the ring long before he got to the mountain. Sure, he was the official ring bearer and he had a monumental task but he wasn’t strong enough to make it alone. Without Samwise, the story would have had a much darker ending, but it’s Frodo that they’re cheering on at the end of the battle, isn’t it? They’re doing it all from Frodo. Frodo’s just a vessel. Samwise did the really hard work.

And since we’re talking about the real heroes of the story, I think Merry and Pippin need a few more posters and press time. I mean, it wasn’t their fight really, but they sure got in the middle of it all. They did a lot of saving. I think that scene where Aragorn bows to them is very symbolic. They indeed are the true heroes too. They were just doing what was the right thing to do.

I can’t leave off without a comment on my favorite battle scene.

It was the Ents. I laughed so hard. The Ents were just lumbering about, stomping on Orcs, smashing them together, kicking them into space. I wish I had that scene on tape so I could watch it over and over.

Anyway, I guess my opinion doesn’t matter a whole lot since everyone even the non-geeks loved the movies, but I think they did a great job with the movies, even though that girly guy Orlando Bloom is in it. Aragorn is really yummy. The costumes, the special effects, the scripts were all excellent. Probably worth some awards.

tags: Lord of the Rings

One comment

1. on March 27, 2006 at 10:45 am

   Tamara said:

   Aragorn is the bomb!

   We saw all three in the theater, and now own all three extended DVDs. I actually want to do the marathon but the hub is not going for it (he doesn’t even understand why I don’t want to start watching any movie if I don’t think we can finish it that same day).

   But now your post has me definitely wanting to rewatch these soon, in order, if not on the same day. (Dare I hope for the same weekend? Doubtful.)

   Before that, though, will be Oceans 11 and 12. We meant to rewatch 11 before we went to Vegas, but that didn’t happen, so I’d like to watch it asap now that we’re back. And I got hub 12 for Valentine’s Day, so we haven’t seen that one at all yet. I know it’s not as good as 11, but still, the gang is so darn cool.

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