The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Tonight, I saw “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,” which came out 11 days ago. As a huge fan of “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy and “The Hobbit” movie trilogy, and who listened to all the audio CDs after seeing the movies, I was excited to go see it. Especially since this is animated, which I don’t think has been done since Ralph Bakshi and the Rankin Bass people have made their films, I was looking forward to seeing how this would be made. However, this movie has been getting slammed and there aren’t that many showings of it now, so is this really as much of a disappointment as others are making it out to be or is this another film that critics are wrong on?

This is an anime prequel to the famous film trilogy, is a visually rich diversion made with undeniable care. It’s also a greatly distrustful example of so much that’s wrong with Hollywood today.

Zaki Hasan said in his review, “While suitably respectful of J.R.R. Tolkien’s text and Peter Jackson’s adaptations, the animated movie can’t outrun the specter of what it is: an attempt by the “Rings” rights holders to keep the assembly line churning and hold onto its most precious of properties.”

More than 20 years after they were released, the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy still is one of the biggest chances in movie history. Home studio New Line Cinema took a huge chance on Jackson’s determined plan to film all three books of Tolkien’s famous fantasy books at once. The result was three successive hits between 2001 and 2003, and so many Academy Awards that had competing studios desperate to recapture the same magic.

Then fans got a trilogy adaptation of “The Hobbit” (2012-14) and Amazon Prime Video’s current prequel series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (which I have heard have no connection to the films). Hasan noted, “There’s money to be minted in Middle-earth, and the quest to keep those “Rings” riches coming also accounts for the existence of “The War of the Rohirrim.””

Hasan continued, “Taking inspiration from one of the multitudinous appendices in Tolkien’s texts, the anime is set roughly 200 years before the events of “The Hobbit,” expounding on the backstory of Rohan, a significant location in the “Lord of the Rings” second and third film installments.” “The Two Towers” has its three-act battle scenes set at a mountain fortress called Helm’s Deep. If you watched that part and thought how the place got its name, then you can see it in this 134-minute origin story.

Hasan said, “Jackson is aboard as executive producer here along with co-scenarist Fran Walsh and co-writer Philippa Boyens, who helped draft the story, so the lineage is there to ensure that it dovetails with what came before. That they were able to pull so much plot from a pretty threadbare premise is an impressive feat all by itself, including the creation of lead character Hèra (voiced by Gaia Wise) — heretofore unnamed daughter of Rohan’s king — almost out of whole cloth.”

The pieces are definitely there. Hasan said, “The voice cast includes Miranda Otto (reprising her cinematic role of Éowyn) as narrator of the story and Brian Cox (“Succession”) bringing all his gravelly gravitas as King Helm Hammerhand, who packs a right hook worthy of his moniker.” Stephen Gallagher’s score also nicely extends and musical themes created by Howard Shore in the previous films. Hasan said, “The animation is fluid and captivating, with veteran anime director Kenji Kamiyama (“Blade Runner: Black Lotus”) giving the proceedings an undeniable cinematic polish.” This is hands down a beautiful movie to look at.

Hasan pointed out, “Yet, when the credits roll, one can’t help but come away feeling like we were running on a treadmill for a little over two hours. Sure, you got your steps in, but you haven’t gotten anywhere. Where the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy drew at least some of its appeal from how it wound inexorably toward a very definitive conclusion, “The War of the Rohirrim” instead signals the studio’s intent — like the song sung by wizard Gandalf in “The Fellowship of the Ring” — that the road goes ever on.”

Tolkien’s fantasy world is always worth rewatching, and that makes “The War of the Rohirrim” worth seeing even if it doesn’t amount to much in the end once you look past the obvious visual style. Hasan ended his review by saying, “After a lot of sturm and drang about wounded honor, burned villages and oh, so many charging armies, there’s nothing beyond the familiarity to justify its existence. It just seems to serve as a placeholder for other “Lord of the Rings” branded offerings ready to clog up the production pipeline.”

I’m sorry guys, but this film is a huge disappointment to filmgoers and “The Lord of the Rings” fans. This has nothing to do with anything else related to this franchise. With so many grudges, battles, war fights, and bloodbath, this does not classify as “The Lord of the Rings.” I can see why there aren’t that many showtimes left in the theaters, despite the fact that this just got released. Save your money and don’t see this in the theaters. If you want to wait until this comes out on streaming, go ahead.

Thank you for joining in on this review. Stay tuned tomorrow for the continuation of “Disney Month 2024.”

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

When The Hobbit started going into becoming a motion picture adaptation, only two films were planned: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.” Afterwards though, Peter Jackson expanded the series into a trilogy starting with “The Desolation of Smaug,” as well as changed the title to the final film to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” released in 2014. There have been some complaints from fans about that decision, but regardless, you can say “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” brings the Middle-Earth series to a favorable conclusion.

Picking up where “The Desolation of Smaug” ended, we actually see the desolation happen – but it quickly makes room for the final film’s main story power. With the kingdoms of Man and Elves trying to come to an agreement that Thorin Oakenshield, made in the previous installments, the newly crowned dwarf king chooses to let the kingdoms manage for themselves. He has his gold, and as soon as he finds the Arkenstone, he’ll be content to just rule over the mountain. Obviously, the Orc armies, lead by Azog the Defiler, played by Manu Bennett, have other plans for the newly cultivated land.

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is, in Mike Reyes’ opinion, “undeniably the best of the trilogy, as it's not only a film in perpetual motion, but it's also a lean and quick experience that packs every moment with purpose.” If The Hobbit trilogy had stayed with the two movie plan, Peter Jackson could have kept his Middle-Earth winning streak, as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” had a great story set up that moved everything into motion. You can tell watching this film that The Hobbit series could have been an incline monster of action and purpose if it hand’s added a large amount of screen time, because if you break up elements of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” between the opening and closing parts, you have had two really good movies that lasted over three hours.

A talk of “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” has to include an evaluation of the 45 minute main final fight that goes into the films third act. Reyes mentions, “Suffice it to say, the Battle Of The Five Armies is reminiscent of the Battle of Minas Tirith that The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King sported.” This is where Peter Jackson and crew fly in this particular film, as the action has the right amount of set up and physical fight. Still it’s no surprise that Orlando Bloom’s Legolas is one of the warrior’s here. Richard Armitage’s Thorin gets in a fantastic climatic battle with Azog the Defiler here.

The only put-down to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is that it seems to shove in too much of the already overcrowded cast into the film. For instance, Cate Blanchett, the late Christopher Lee and Hugo Weaving all have a small amount of screen time in a fight that, while impressive, really should only have been with the rest of the Gandalf/Necromancer material that “The Desolation of Smaug” had. Also, Billy Connolly is amazingly classified as Thorin’s cousin Dain Ironfoot, but again his stunt casting is only worth a miserable amount of screen time.

Small complaining aside, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is a success that brings Tolkien book adaptation with Peter Jackson to a successful close. While The Lord of the Rings is the more successful trilogy of the two, The Hobbit will still make for a perfect all-weekend spree with its storytelling successor.

In the end, it may not be as good as the previous two, but I still think it’s just as good. Actually, I don’t think either one of the films in this trilogy is worse or better than the other, much like with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These two trilogies are very much identical to the Star Wars movies, when you look at it. Only difference is that there wasn’t a huge time gap between the two, like it was with Star Wars. Much like how everyone praises the Original Star Wars Trilogy but thrash the Prequel Trilogy (which I still defend to this day isn’t anywhere as bad as everyone says it is), these six movies have a parallel history as well. However, no one seems to critically thrash on The Hobbit trilogy since it’s still good and has all the elements we love. Sure it’s not as good as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but they are still worth checking out, so definitely do so.

Well that ends my “Middle-Earth-a-thon” and thus we come to the conclusion of “Halloween Month.” I hope all of you have enjoyed my month reviews on all of the films I chose to review as much as I had making them. Happy Halloween everyone! Go out, dress up in your costumes, give out candy and/or get candy, but most importantly, watch as many Halloween related movies that you can.

In the meantime, I’m going into a week of hibernation and will not come out until next Friday when I start back up with my weekly Friday posts again. See you all next month for another exciting month of reviews.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Sheila O’Malley started her review out by saying, “Tolkien's parenthetical "when achieved" is the kicker of that statement, the acknowledgement of how difficult and rare successful fantasy really is.” You know it when you see it. She apparently did not find that quality in the first Hobbit movie of Peter Jackson’s colossal trilogy based on Tolkien’s short book, but it is there in spades in part two, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” released in 2013. This center chapter is about a half-hour longer, and the final third splits the story into three parts, which hurts the narrative force that had been building, but that’s fine: the dragon Smaug, voiced with such a delightful sneering evil by Benedict Cumberbatch, the real work has been done. The thematic elements are in place, the emotional tensions are really high, and the action unravels in a flourish like the fire coming out of the dragon’s mouth, overtaking everything in its way.

Except for a flashback which shows Gandalf and the exiled dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield, played by Richard Armitage, coming together in what O’Malley described, “a dark and beer-soaked pub straight out of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales",” this one picks up where the last one left off, with Bilbo and the fellowship of loud dwarves deep into their journey to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and the dwarves’ lost kingdom.

Bilbo, along unwillingly from his comfortable hole-in-the-ground in the Shire in the first film, is now prepared to accept his fate, and shows imagination and pull in one traumatic situation after another. He’s also got the “One Ring” he found in the goblin cave – the one that makes him invisible, the one that no one else knows about, not yet. It will become quite useful. Gandalf tries to keep the team together, but goes off on his own solo spell-break mission (which Tolkien’s book hints is undertaken by Gandalf to force Bilbo to gain the trust of the dwarves on his own).

Along the way, the protagonists find shelter in the home of a shape-shifting Giant-slash-Bear, and are attacked by a herd of Orcs. O’Malley goes on to say, “To save time, they cut through the Mirkwood Forest and run into a terrifying herd of gigantic attacking spiders, in a scene doomed to give me nightmares for months. (I have barely recovered from reading that scene in the book when I was 10 years old.)” Saved and then captures by the isolationist-minded elves (Robin Kerr, Simon London and Lee Pace), the dwarves and Bilbo find a way to escape in a bunch of barrels down a river, being attacked from the army of orcs and elves alike.

Some old friends show up: the awesome Legolas and Galadriel. There’s a new elf in this one, Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly, who becomes one of the dwarves love interest. O’Malley mentions, “The romantic triangle she sparks has nothing to do with anything, but it is still nice to see Tauriel act as a deus ex machina on a couple of occasions.” Stephen Fry has a great cameo as the Master of Lake-Town, a wicked and gout-ridden person ruling it over his fearful citizens from on high. O’Malley is right when she says, “it's a Dickensian piece of scene-chewing.”

Jackson and his crew have a lot of fun creating these three-dimensional worlds, overwhelming us with different moods, energies, and personalities. Some of the images are jaw-dropping: the Long Lake enfolded in mist with mysterious structures coming out of it. The misty dark wood covered with shadowy creatures waiting. The elegant upright palace of the elves, comforting and yet firm, too, suggesting the elves’ unwillingness to get involved in the larger dark enemies taking over the outside world. The final fight with the dragon, when it arrives, is worth the wait (although it would have been better if the wait hadn’t been as long as it was). The dragon’s palace is beautifully imagined, a surging and ever-changing landscape of coins and gold. There are lots of great moments: an enormous tapestry falling from the wall in a flowing wave, huge collapsing columns, and small walkways over the deep hole and the dwarves’ visible fear at their ancestors’ originality and power. Throughout, you get the feeling that you really are in a lost and beautiful world.

For all its capacity, there’s also a kind of ordinary hilarity in Tolkien’s book – as O’Malley puts it, “a "Tut tut, isn't everything just a bit much?" energy, stereotypically British, which has sometimes been lost in the other films, overwhelmed as they are by portent and meaning.” It’s not lost this time. For instance, the barrel sequence goes on for what seems like forever, and every second is acceptable. It has its own energy, hectic and ecstatic, reaching an almost screwball climax, as events project out of control and nobody is sure what end is up, least of all the dwarves. Smaug is a scary dragon, but you still laugh at the detail of Bilbo cringing at the breath coming out from the dragon’s mouth. (O’Malley says, “Now that's the Bilbo I recognize from the book.)

There’s a moment before the spider attack that perfectly lines us up with the overall target of Tolkien’s fiction. Bilbo is told to climb one of the trees to look out of the top of the forest and see how much further they have to go. When he pushes his head through the top, all he can see is a valley of autumn leaves widening almost as far as the eye can see, with blue butterflies flying about along the leaf-tips. The sun shines brightly, and for a moment Bilbo is mesmerized. We know that what happens next is going to be horrific and terrible. However, beauty is there to be appreciated, and the hobbits, with their love of home-like nature, pretty colors, and comfort, know this just like we do. It was the love of home that kept people going in the dark years where Tolkien wrote these books, when the shadow of war was erupting in Europe. The sunlight-covered green fields of the Shire are long gone by the point when Bilbo’s story begins, a distant memory, but the memory gives Bilbo his strength. It is worth fighting for.

Now if you liked the first movie, then this movie is for you. You will absolutely love it, despite the fact that it may run too long and the dragon part you feel should have started the third movie or at least had finished it off right before leaving us on a cliffhanger. Still, it’s a nice movie, and you will enjoy it. I know I did when I saw it in theaters, but I was feeling tired at the Smaug part because I had a final that I took that morning. However, like I said before, this is still a movie worth watching.

Alright everyone tomorrow is the finale to my third annual “Halloween Month.” I will wrap it all up with the final film in “The Hobbit Trilogy.” Also, since I saw “Suffragette” today, I will try to post my review of the movie later tonight, but if I don’t, I will do that tomorrow as well. Stay tuned.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Before I start today’s review, I would like to give a little history on The Hobbit novel. Years after J.R.R. Tolkien finished The Lord of the Rings trilogy, his fans were asking him about what happened before with Bilbo. Since the fans really wanted to know, Tolkien had sat down and wrote The Hobbit, which is surprisingly an easier read. After how much successful Peter Jackson made The Lord of the Rings trilogy on screen, I guess an adaptation on The Hobbit was inevitable. However, unlike a lot of adaptations where the last movie is split up into two parts, The Hobbit was given three movies. Today, we will look at the first of the trilogy, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” released in 2012.

Bob Mondello from NPR started his review out by saying, “The Hobbit's path to the screen may have started out as tortuous as a trek through the deadly Helcaraxe, filled with detours (Guillermo del Toro was initially going to direct), marked by conflict (New Zealand labor disputes) and strewn with seemingly insurmountable obstacles (so many that the filmmakers threatened to move the shoot to Australia).”

Since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy grossing in about $3 billion at the box office, there was never any real doubt that the final Tolkien book on Middle-Earth fantasy would definitely become a film – or, as I stated before, a trilogy.

With that said, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” isn’t “unexpected” in any way, though between its lighter tone and a decade’s wait for improvements in digital film techniques, there should be enough of a originality case to make most fans happy.

After a part that flashbacks the expulsion of the dwarves from their Lonely Mountain kingdom by the treasure-wanting dragon Smaug, Jackson turns to the Shire, 60 years before the events in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Frodo’s Uncle Bilbo, reprised by Ian Holm in a framing part and by an intelligently cast Martin Freeman in the flashbacks, is a qualified youngster, while Gandalf, reprised by Ian McKellen, is described by Mondello as “looks as old as the New Zealand hills.”

Gandalf says to Bilbo, “I’m looking for someone to share in an adventure.”

Bilbo denies, but that night, dwarves appear on his doorstep. The first eats his dinner, another searches his pantry, then there’s more. They are an energetic group – not seven dwarfs, but 13 (Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunger, Mark Hadlow, Graham McTavish, Dean O’Gorman, Peter Hambleton, Aidan Turner, Jed Brophy, John Callen and Adam Brown), all with shocking facial hair and with the mission to take back their home land – right after they:

1. Get familiar
2. Have Dinner
3. Fill out some paperwork, and
4. Sing a couple of songs (Misty Mountains and Blunt the Knives)

You’ll get the feeling that there’s a bit of filling going on here. Although Tolkien’s book The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, is shorter than the other trilogy that make up The Lord of the Rings, it was turned all by itself into a brand new trilogy. Mondello mentions, “So where the challenge in LOTR was to condense and reduce and condense again, the challenge here is to include every syllable, plus an appendix or two to boot.”

Mondello went on to say, “In this first film — which covers just six book chapters in close to three hours — the filmmakers are reduced to detailing troll recipes and staging a hedgehog rescue.” Also, they happily make a real good encounter with the one creature who makes any work to Middle-Earth worth it: Gollum.

Actor Andy Serkis and motion-capture still brings out the most memorable character in the 21^st Century movies. Here, though the main story goes toward energetic high spirits becoming the material’s origins in a child-friendly book, Gollum is sinister – even dangerous. Mondello is right when he says, “The high-stakes game of questions he plays with Bilbo is the one moment when this movie can't be dismissed as Lord of the Rings-lite.”

Still, even if it’s mostly CGI this time rather than story that’s giving the depth, there is a new feel to estimate with. Mondello said, “Director Jackson takes to 3-D like an orc to battle, turning an escape from a cave full of goblins into a plunge inside a Rube Goldberg contraption — the camera soaring one way as our heroes careen another, across spindly wooden bridges that sway and collapse in a choreographed frenzy.” Gangs of goblins flying in on ropes get turned into pinwheels, giant logs become pinball flippers hitting them right and left, all in a new method that increases the number of frames per second, making even the fastest action clear, smooth and hesitate-free.

Does that high frame rate also make slower scenes look too real – not orcs and dwarfs, but actors in makeup? Well, if you’re worried about that, you have to the choice to see the movie in six different ways: the usual standard format and 3D format, plus IMAX and 3D IMAX, the new high-frame-rate 3D, and high-frame-rate 3D IMAX. You have the option for how “realistic” you want your fantasy world.

Just remember that all that’s really needed for giving suspension of disbelief is an army of wanting. An army that is already, a day before this was released, lined up at your local theaters.

If you liked The Lord of the Rings trilogy and want to know about The Hobbit, not only would you have to read the book, but see this movie as well. It leaves on a nice cliffhanger so that you can eagerly await the next film. Trust me when I say that this movie is actually worth checking out, even though I don’t think it’s as good as the other three, but still good, nonetheless.

How is the next film you ask? Stay tuned tomorrow in my “Hobbit-a-thon” to find out.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

We have now come to the epic conclusion in the “Lord of the Rings Trilogy,” “The Return of the King,” released in 2003. Like “Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi,” this was an amazing conclusion to the trilogy. The stakes were high, everyone came together, all the returning people came back for directing, producing, music, sound, effects, acting, etc., and it was all wrapped up like it was supposed to be.

For those who did not see the extended edition of “The Two Towers,” you did not see John Noble portray Boromir’s and Faramir’s father, Lord Denethor. Now that we see him in this movie, you can see how cold-hearted and cruel of a man he is. He doesn’t care about anything except his legacy and what he must do in order to make sure that he is remembered as one of the best rulers of a kingdom in his own mind. In reality, he is not liked by many and when he thinks Faramir is dead, he now decides to care for the son that he never gave any care for in his whole entire life. However, when you see him descend in flames when he jumps off of the castle tower, you are feeling relieved that you don’t have to see him ever again.

The movie starts off with a flashback to how Sméagol got the ring. He was out fishing with his cousin, Déagol, played by Thomas Robins, and when Déagol was pulled in by the fish, Sméagol went to save him, but Déagol found the ring when in the ocean. Since Déagol found it, he wanted to keep the ring for himself, but Sméagol asked for the ring because it was his birthday. Because both of the Hobbits were possessed by the ring, they both got into a physical confrontation before Sméagol strangled Déagol to death and went into hiding.

Also, the start of the movie when Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli found Merry and Pippin in Isengard outside of Saruman’s tower is actually at the end of The Two Towers. I’m not kidding, when you read the book, you’ll notice. Also, Saruman and Grima are in the extended editions of “The Return of the King,” where they both get killed. That’s all I will say, I will not go into any details. That is for you to go see, for those who have not seen the extended editions. Maybe that deleted scene is in the “Special Features” disc on the theatrical cut, but I don’t know. Speaking of the extended editions, Bruce Spence appears as “The Mouth of Sauron” at the Black Gate. He doesn’t really do much instead of coming out and saying, “My lord, Sauron, beds thee welcome.” I’m not kidding, that’s all that he does before, if I remember correctly, he gets killed.

Marton Csokas is in this movie as Celeborn the Wise, who happens to be Galadrial’s husband and the Elven-King of Lothlórien, but that is only at the end.

Now since this was the last of the trilogy, the stakes in this movie were really high, if you could believe that. Peter Jackson himself said that he was going to put as much as he wanted, regardless of the running time in the movie. End result: some of the best epic fight sequences you will ever see in a movie based on a series that puts a lot of Biblical references in it and is basically the Holy Bible of fellow Tolkien worshippers.

Every single one of the battle sequences is just exciting and adrenaline-rushing. Lelogas has this great scene where he is taking down an Oliphaunt, and just like the last movie, him and Gimli are having a contest on who can take down the most enemies. As funny as it is, it is nice to see both of them having fun while saving the world. When Aragorn goes in to see the spirits of all those who have died, it is pretty creepy, but when you finally see them agree to work together, it is just amazing to see them all come through the boat and help kill all of the Orcs. I thought that part was just the three of them going “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah,” since they had a trick up their sleeves that the enemies didn’t even see coming. Even the parts with the Eagles were great, just to see them come in and help out the Fellowship in their final battle amongst the enemies. I do have to admit, when “How it Should Have Ended” did a joke on this series being over so quickly because the Eagles would have solved everything, it was pretty funny, but that’s not how it would have worked. For those who have read the books and follow them religiously, you know what I am talking about.

Much like how the “Harry Potter” films got, this film was the darkest of the three and had some really scary moments. All of those moments had to do with how the Orcs, Ringwraiths, Spirits and every single beast in the movie looked. The costume, puppetry, animatronics and CGI are all done so well that you really start to feel scared. Especially that scene when Frodo and Sam meet up with Shelob, the giant spider. Gosh, even Gollum had some pretty scary moments, like when he finally gets Frodo under his command and turn on Sam, but they do end up getting back together and taking down Gollum.

As great as this movie was, there was one major drawback that I did not like about this movie. That was those seven cut to black or white moments which fooled everyone into thinking that the movie was over. When I was sitting in the theater, you can believe that I was going to get up from my seat when I thought the movie had finished, but then it fades back to another scene and I had to sit back down. I do agree those moments were completely unnecessary, but if they were going to hold on a fade away scene that long, they shouldn’t have fooled the audience into thinking that the movie was over. Especially if you have people who needed to go to the bathroom, like I did.

Seeing Aragorn finally become the King that he was born to be was just great. Even though Nostalgia Critic complained that he didn’t really show any signs of being a King and just accepted it when Elrond told him to embrace and become a King, I think that he did show signs of leadership. Look at how much he lead the Fellowship when they were going from one town to the next, keeping them safe, telling the people in the Kingdom what to do, leading people to safety, assisting in the battle tactics. There were plenty of signs like that, but I guess Nostalgia Critic didn’t really notice it.

In the end, this movie is one of the greatest finales ever to an epic series. I understand that they did not really follow the book completely, since the ending in the book was when the Shire was destroyed, but I believe Peter Jackson did not really find time to shoot that segment. Much like how in the first movie he didn’t get Tom Bombadil in there, but once again, I don’t know if he had time to shoot his scenes or if he found him essential in the movies. I know the books are far superior, and I don’t deny that. I listened to the audio books when I would drive to and from school or anywhere else I would go, so I know exactly what everyone talks about. Movies will never go into as much details as the books do when they are adapted on screen. However, it’s still a good movie and is tied with both “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur” as the movie to win the most Academy Awards, and it does deserve all of them. Definitely see this movie if you haven’t and you have seen the others. You will absolutely fall in love with this movie and I give it a solid 10.

Like I have mentioned before when I started this out, this is one of my all time favorite trilogies that are tied on my favorite films list. I cannot decide which one is better, but I like all of them just the same, even though all of them are good in their own respective ways.

Now friends, even though I finished the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, we are not done with the series just yet. I still must look at the “Hobbit Trilogy,” which I will start looking at tomorrow. Stay tuned until then, because “Halloween Month” will definitely make room for the “Hobbit” movies.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Next up in the “Lord of the Rings trilogy” is “The Two Towers,” released in 2002. This, much like all of the good sequels out there, did a good job telling the next story. All of the cast members returned, Howard Shore came back to do the music, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson came back to do the screenplay, but Stephen Sinclair was added to the screenplay. Not only did Jackson return for director, but Barrie M. Osborn, Jackson and Walsh produced it, but Tim Sanders didn’t return as producer.

A few cast members were added to the list of great characters. The most memorable of them is Andy Serkis playing the villainous Gollum/Smeagol. Like every character that Andy Serkis portrayed in his movies, he really plays Gollum so nasty and driven to madness because of the ring. He was the previous owner of the ring before Bilbo found it, which we don’t find out until “The Hobbit,” which we will get to in a couple of days. Andy Serkis not only did the voice, but would dress up and act with the other actors on screen. Not only did the animators have on-set movement and on-set performances but they also had an on-set model that they could capture the light from that was really there in the scene. The guy that they got was a makeup guy who was designing a puppet/costume for Gollum. They taught the guy how to animate him into the scene because they thought he knew what texture to put into it. This is a case of not only animators working, but everyone pitching in so that they knew what to do in this sort of case.

Moving on, Bernard Hill plays King Théoden of Rohan, who is under Saruman’s spell until Gandalf the White (yes, he’s been upgraded in this movie) heals him so he can rule his kingdom again, and he does a great job in this role. Miranda Otto plays Éowyn, Théoden’s niece who is really strong-willed and knows how to defend herself in battle. Plus, she actually falls in love with Aragorn. Her brother is Éomer, played by Karl Urban (later to star in the “Dredd” remake and to play Dr. McCoy in the Star Trek remakes), who is also a strong-willed person that knows how to lead an army. In fact, he was the previous Chief Marshal of the Riddermark but was exiled by the man who was brainwashing Théoden, Grima Wormtongue. Wouldn’t you know it, Grima is played by Brad Dourif. Man does Dourif know how to play a villainous role really well. Grima is played so nasty and slimy, that you are happy once you see that man get beaten by Gandalf and see him away from the movie, never to be seen for a while.

Not only is John Rhys-Davis playing Gimli, but he also provides the voice of Treebeard, leader of the Ents, who are tree people. He really does a great voice in this, playing an Ent who gets enraged when he sees that a large part of Fangorn Forest was burnt to the ground, and the fight that they have was great. Picture an army of Groots going up against the villains. You know who will win. Also, we see Boromir’s younger brother in this movie, Faramir, Prince of the Stewards of Gondor and captain of the Ithilien Rangers, played by David Wenham. We get the feeling that once we see how much he loved his brother but also that he must have felt neglected by his father because he favored Boromir over Faramir, thinking that Faramir wouldn’t amount to anything.

In this movie, we have a few fights. Not only do the Ents get together to fight Isengard’s forces and eventually win, but there is the epic Battle of Helm’s Deep, which is the most epic fight ever. This movie gets darker, scarier, and really makes you hoping that nothing jumps out of the screen. The fight choreography, from the swords slashing through people, arrows flying all over, axes stabbing into the villains, rocks being thrown, shields protecting people, etc. Legolas had a great scene where he grabbed onto a horse and flew on its back and went skateboarding on a shield during the epic end fight. Gimli also has some of the funniest lines in this movie, which I will dare not spoil.

Unlike in the book, where the first part talks about Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli reuniting with Gandalf, going to Théoden, fighting a few battles, Merry and Pippin meeting Treebeard, the Isengard fight, before being found by our four men, and the second part is all about Frodo and Sam finding Gollum, meeting Faramir and their journeys, the movie mixes everything in. There will be a scene of Frodo, Sam and Gollum, before going to Merry and Pippin with the Ents, before going to the rest in Helm’s Deep.

Once again, the locations are just riveting. They are so lively and fresh, that no green-screen was used, not many CGI was used, unless the people dressed up in costumes and the animators were able to work it in, the fight choreography was epic, the direction was done right, the casting was again pitch perfect, the acting was top notch, and the lines were just some of the most quotable ever.

If you have seen the first movie, definitely check this one out. I cannot do it justice with my review, but you have to see this in order to know how great of a movie it is. Now, I wouldn’t say this is better than the first, because I think this is just as good as the first one. Even though the first had great character development, this one was also up there with the first movie. I also rate this one with a 10.

Now we will get to the epic conclusion to this trilogy, “The Return of the King,” tomorrow. Stay tuned until then because it will be a great review.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

For the final week of “Halloween Month,” I wanted to close out by reviewing one of my favorite franchises of all time: The Lord of the Rings. That’s right, the famous J.R.R. Tolkien books that were made into feature films directed by the great Peter Jackson. This series has been praised by every Tolkien fan that these movies are just amazing. Although not as good as the books (even though I never read them, but listened to the audio books after I saw the movies), they still brought the pages to life in the movies. Enough talk, let's start with "The Fellowship of the Ring," released in 2001.

When J.R.R. Tolkien wrote these books, there was a war going on, hence the reason why it is so dark. When you see the piles of bodies or all the fights, blood flying everywhere, people planning on what to do, the great speeches before the fights, you can see where Tolkien got his source material from.

First off, let’s talk about the casting in these movies, because Peter Jackson casted the right people who looked the part, and even acted them out pitch perfect. I couldn't imagine any other actors playing these roles any better. First off, Elijah Wood, who started his film career out as a child, is playing the protagonist, Frodo Baggins. He plays Frodo great as a kind, selfless, innocent, very vulnerable and lonely person. In the role of Frodo’s best friend, Samwise Gamgee, we have the great Sean Astin, who plays Sam as a loyal, tough, hardworking yet also vulnerable companion. Even though Frodo may have been looked at as very weak compared to the books, Sam was always by his side to pick his spirits up, which is what I loved. Now we have this film’s version of Rosencratz and Guildenstern from the best play by William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck and Peregrin “Pippin” Took. Boy, are these two just enjoyable to see when they are on screen. They feel like the great Bud Abbot and Lou Costello because of how much they poke fun at one another. Thank goodness for the casting of German actor Dominic Monaghan and Scottish actor Billy Boyd. I couldn’t have imagined any other actor playing these parts. I was reminded of Fred and George Weasley from the “Harry Potter” series, which they were pretty much similar to. They were strong, loyal, obedient, courageous, yet playful, but also appreciative and smart. The gay but amazing British actor, Ian McKellen played Gandalf the Grey Wizard as a warm, tough, spiritual, courageous yet cranky guardian. He loved Hobbits since he was around them for so long, but he was just amazing in this role. Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn aka Strider as a self-doubting but disciplined, courageous, romantic, euphoric and a natural born leader even when he doesn’t see it himself. Sean Bean plays the role of Boromir, a very mercurial character who was also tempted and angry, yet courageous, helpful, and cynical. Now we come to the most exciting of all the characters, Legolas the Elf, played by Orlando Bloom. What an amazing character. He was joyful, fun to watch, strong, dependent, could handle a fight and really was a supportive and friendly companion to the fellowship. Next is probably the funniest of all the characters, Gimli the Dwarf, played by John Rhys-Davies. Talk about a comic relief. This guy really knew how to crack a joke and fit in a funny line or one-liner whenever the time was right. Besides being hilarious, he was kind, noble, strong, courageous, and dependent and really was loyal to his fellow friends.

As great as the main characters were, the side characters were just as great. Ian Holm plays Frodo’s uncle, Bilbo Baggins, a character that you really suspect is up to something, and that can be no good. However, when he is not tempted by the one ring, he is a responsible uncle to Frodo and really knows how to take care of him, plus is very friendly. Lord Elrond of the Elves is played by Hugo Weaving, who plays him as a frustrated, depressed, yet supportive, and protective ruler of the Elves of Rivendell. Arwen is played by the very pretty Liv Tyler, who plays a very strong love interest who makes a really huge decision to choose a mortal life so that she can be with the one she loves. Cate Blanchett plays Lady Galadriel, a very strong support for the protagonists. She is helpful, smart, an advisor and has a really good outline of what she wants them to do in order to achieve their tasks.

Now the villains are just pitch perfect. We have Sala Baker playing the main villain, Sauron, but the voice is done by Alan Howard, who also did the voice of the One Ring. Boy are their voices so cunning, bone-chilling and just downright creepy. The Great Eye always watching is something you don’t want to see whenever you’re traveling. The other villain, Saurman the White, is played by the late Christopher Lee. This is a villain that I couldn’t see anyone else playing, simply because the voice is just so cool. You could compare Sauron and Saurman to Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader from “Star Wars.” These are simply two of the greatest villains I have ever seen on screen. They also have an entire army of Nazgul aka Ringwraiths, Black Riders or as The Nine, Orks, and all sorts of villainous creatures that whenever you see them on screen, they look so scary.

This is a film trilogy that was consistently great and just got better with each film. This, like “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” is a perfect beginning for the series. It has a very complex back-story of how the “one ring” was created, and men and elves fought together to defeat Sauron, and the ring was lost. For those who don’t know, three rings were given to the Elves, seven to the Dwarves and nine to the great kings that turned into the Nazgul, but one was made by Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom. Starting to get scared yet?

The film can be dark, exciting, but also funny. It has really deep themes, friendship, temptation, destiny, men`s morality, sacrifice, idealism, etc.

Harry Sinclair is in the beginning playing Isildur, the man who cut Sauron's hand off, killed him, and took the ring. Only downside is that he didn't live very long after that before the ring came off of his finger when he hid underwater and ended up dying with arrows in his back.

The film has great set design, location shooting, CGI that mostly still holds up, makeup, puppets, miniatures, and it looks great. Howard Shore gives a great score, and the action is awesome. When you look at this film, the locations are just awesome. Since this film was shot in New Zealand, the film makes you want to visit the country and see where they shot the movie. With the CGI, it’s hard to tell what is, since there are people in costumes, the puppetry and animatronics in this film look just great. It was nice to see a film that still decided to use puppets and animatronics and didn’t completely rely on CGI, but only when they seemed it was necessary. The fight choreography was just well done. The sword fight, bows and arrows, axes, magic, everything. Peter Jackson deserves as many awards that he must have won because of giving us such an amazing series, so hats off to him.

I can imagine why Nostalgia Critic would say the part where they could have saved Gandalf on the Cave of Mount Moria. People might have said that they could have gotten shot by the Orcs when going to save them, but they had dodged all of the shots when they were escaping, and they weren't that far off from Gandalf hanging from the ledge. Oh well, what can you do.

Also, the lines in this movie are just some of the most quotable lines of all time. Not only did Peter Jackson write this, but he also had the collaborative effort of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. With these three putting their heads together to give us some of the best lines in movie history is just the most achieving task that any person who makes movies would know.

Overall this is a fantastic film. It gets a 10 and is highly recommended. Go out and watch the movie because I cannot do this film justice just by talking about it. You simply have to go out and see it for yourself to be blown away by it. This is the only film that I got some input from reviewreviewer1 about, so the others I will be playing it solo.

Check in tomorrow when I look at the second in the “Lord of the Rings Trilogy.”