Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy Thread

[El-ahrairah]

So what is everyone's most-liked and most-hated short scenes, say 2 minutes long at most, in the films? Both of mine are found in quick succession in the Battle of Helm's Deep.

The best:

sums up the entire "trilogy" for me. Théoden's recitation of the "Horse and the Rider" (abridged), showing the faith of the Rohirrim to follow their king "to whatever end" - even as their young children are garbed for battle. All this interspersed with the vastly larger oncoming army of Uruk-hai, and "the days have gone down in the West". This being a great theme of the book - the passing away of things, Elves in favor of Men, and, as the Dark Lord wishes, Men in favor of the Orc.

And then the worst:

Right after the ridiculous Gimli-in-mail-skirts skit (directly contradicted by the book as below) -

'…and Gimli needed no coat of rings, even if one had been found to match his stature, for there was no hauberk in the hoards of Edoras of better make than his short corslet forged beneath the Mountain in the North.’

- we have the Elves Coming To Help Just In Time.

79 seconds of pure torture for the purist

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

The use of the elves at Helm's Deep doesn't, in and of itself bother me, but it does raise two important questions:

Given that their not mounted and no word was sent that the Rohirrim were moving to Helm's Deep, 1) how did they know to go to Helms Deep and 2) how did they get their ahead of Saruman's army?

[Arataniello]

The use of the elves at Helm's Deep doesn't, in and of itself bother me, but it does raise two important questions:

Given that their not mounted and no word was sent that the Rohirrim were moving to Helm's Deep, 1) how did they know to go to Helms Deep and 2) how did they get their ahead of Saruman's army?

I guess we have to assume that Galadriel and her mirror saw it and sent them. We do get that little bit of her and Elrond communicating with one another mentally, and then he gets Anduril reforged and rides with it to Dunharrow. So that is how we have to assume (in the movie) that it happened. Let's just be grateful it wasn't Arwen, as was originalyl intended, that showed up at Helm's Deep.

With all the stuff they added to the EEs, I wish they had devoted just a couple of minutes to showing Eowyn and Faramir getting to know each other in the Houses of Healing. To me, its one of the best bits of the entire book. All we get is them sharing a glance, then next thing we see is them as a couple at Aragorn's coronation.

[Silverstar]

I don't know what my least favourite scene is, but my favourite is Theoden's speech at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, followed by the charge of the Rohirrim. It never fails to make me cry, for some reason.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Aratan,

I guess we have to assume that Galadriel and her mirror saw it and sent them. We do get that little bit of her and Elrond communicating with one another mentally, and then he gets Anduril reforged and rides with it to Dunharrow. So that is how we have to assume (in the movie) that it happened. Let's just be grateful it wasn't Arwen, as was originalyl intended, that showed up at Helm's Deep.

Given that they're led by Haldir I assume the Elvish troops came from Lothlorien. They aren't mounted. How did they get there, before Saruman's army, when the Rohirrim barely made it coming from Edoras which is much closer?

[Arataniello]

Aratan,

Given that they're led by Haldir I assume the Elvish troops came from Lothlorien. They aren't mounted. How did they get there, before Saruman's army, when the Rohirrim barely made it coming from Edoras which is much closer?

Yes, they came from Lorien. My point was meant to be that Galadriel saw into the future in her mirror, saw that Aragorn was going to be in Dunharrow, and so communicated with Elrond that that was where he should head with the refored Narsil.

Same for the Elven troops. She could have seen it in the future and sent them off almost as soon as the Fellowship left Lorien.

Plus, they are Elves. They could have run for five days solid and probably not felt the effects of it.

[Myrddin]

With all the stuff they added to the EEs, I wish they had devoted just a couple of minutes to showing Eowyn and Faramir getting to know each other in the Houses of Healing. To me, its one of the best bits of the entire book. All we get is them sharing a glance, then next thing we see is them as a couple at Aragorn's coronation.

And this is much more than was in the theatrical, which skipped the Houses of Healing altogether, so the only scene we had between them was at the coronation.

[Myrddin]

No, it needed burning Denethor to stop take a pee, grab a bight to eat, have a nap, and then jump off the prow of the Citadel (all the while aflame.)

Doesn't the Blu-Ray extended-extended edition show Gandalf teleporting Denethor to the prow of the citadel?

Oh, the hoops directors will jump through to justify a single cool visual that make no other sense in the movie.

[Eurytus]

With all the stuff they added to the EEs, I wish they had devoted just a couple of minutes to showing Eowyn and Faramir getting to know each other in the Houses of Healing. To me, its one of the best bits of the entire book. All we get is them sharing a glance, then next thing we see is them as a couple at Aragorn's coronation.

Its short but they have a conversation too. There is a scene that shows Faramir looking at her from a distance and then he joins her at a balcony later on and they have that little conversation about hope. Then they hold hands. Not much but better than nothing.

[Liffguard]

I don't know what my least favourite scene is, but my favourite is Theoden's speech at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, followed by the charge of the Rohirrim. It never fails to make me cry, for some reason.

I agree, that scene is amazingly powerful. I think it's the combination of Theoden's speech, which is masterfully delivered and the music. The ebb and flow of the music matches the rhythmn of the speech perfectly, growing and building on itself. "Forth! And fear no darkness!" "A sword-day, a red-day, ere the sun rises!" Those two quotes stand out to me in particular. Then the same thing happens in the actual charge itself. The wonderfully emotive music builds and grows exactly in proportion with the momentum of the charge. All in all, it's just a brilliantly constructed scene.

Here it is.

[Frank Stark]

I don't think I can pick one favorite scene. I'll certainly echo the sentiment that the Rohirrim preparing to charge the Pelannor is an outstanding scene. Makes up for the botching of the Gandalf/Witch-King confrontation (yes, still botched IMO in the EE version).

I also really like the charge at dawn in Helm's Deep, esp with the blowing of Horn of Helm, and (again) with some good lines from Theoden. I would've appreciated a few more survivors to ride with Theoden and Aragorn though, for reality's sake (6 or 8 people riding against that horde?).

Even though I think FotR is my favorite movie of the three, I had a harder time coming up with fav scenes. I'll go with Aragorn's fight with the Uruk captain (esp the EE version, my fav fight in the whole movie trilogy) and the subsequent Boromir death scene.

I also have a number of least favorite scenes. I'll give the nod to Frodo sending Sam away. I don't understand the purpose even, except maybe to show how far gone Frodo was already. And, for Pete's sake, the movie was already way long (at 3:40 theater version I think), why add this completely made up crappy scene?

edited: Theoden had good lines, not good lies.

[Jacen]

I agree, that scene is amazingly powerful. I think it's the combination of Theoden's speech, which is masterfully delivered and the music. The ebb and flow of the music matches the rhythmn of the speech perfectly, growing and building on itself. "Forth! And fear no darkness!" "A sword-day, a red-day, ere the sun rises!" Those two quotes stand out to me in particular. Then the same thing happens in the actual charge itself. The wonderfully emotive music builds and grows exactly in proportion with the momentum of the charge. All in all, it's just a brilliantly constructed scene.

Here it is.

The other great thing is the orcs start off looking all confident and ready to rock, but as the charge draws near you can see them lose hope and grow terrified, a "OH SHIT!!!!" expression on their ugly faces. That really seals the deal.

[Jerol]

The Charge of the Rohirrim still gets me choked up. In the DVD extras or the commentary (I can't remember which) Bernard Hill talks about the difficulty of doing a speech on horseback and then how hard it was to rattle all those spears while charging on his horse. But then scene really captures the spirit of the book. I have read that part of the book a thousand times and it never lost its power for me.

A friend of mine insist that the EE edition could have been improved if they had a scene where Arwen gives Eowyn an elvish sponge bath at the Houses of Healing. It would have been an important reconciliation between these two rivals for Aragorn's affection and furthered Eowyn's recovery.

[Jacen]

A friend of mine insist that the EE edition could have been improved if they had a scene where Arwen gives Eowyn an elvish sponge bath at the Houses of Healing. It would have been an important reconciliation between these two rivals for Aragorn's affection and furthered Eowyn's recovery.

Seriously? I don't see how that would ease the conflict. Or does your friend just have a thing for girl on girl action?

[Jerol]

Seriously? I don't see how that would ease the conflict. Or does your friend just have a thing for girl on girl action?

No, this was not serious. But being our wives were going out of their minds at watching gay hobbits bouncing on Frodo's bed and cuddling, this was suggested as something for us guys. I mean come on, Liv Tyler and Miranda Otto frolicking in the bath water. That just would not suck.