Discuss "LOTR: The Return of the King" here (spoilers)

[Paragon]

Jeez, I should've picked up some napkins at the concession stand before I went in. I was gurgling from the death of Eowyn's father to the end credits - by which time, my nose was running like crazy.

To me, the trilogy is all about courage - from the fear of death in battle to just being afraid to talk to fair Rosie Cotton. (Yay, Sam!)

And the fall of Sauron in his tower sure made for a nice parallel to the defeat of a certain monkey-looking evil dictator...:D

[KCDem]

1. that spider scene is giving me nightmares!

Egads, I felt really grossed out.

But I didn't cry at all during the movie. Not once.

Very good movie. Very visually entertaining. Especially my man Viggo. Sigh.

[Paragon]

2. Well, I'm a big baby.

And judging from all the sniffling from the sold-out audience I was with, there was some more of them in there, too.

[Mass_Liberal]

6. I bawled like

a wee girlie. O man, I haven't cried like that since Boromir died. God I'm a geek

[Rainbowreflect]

3. I was crying as well.

My husband on one side and a male friend on the other didn't shed a tear, but I was sniffling from Eowyn's father death on.
I agree it is about courage, but also about love. Real love, not just romantic love. But the deep abiding love of a parent and child and friends who would die for each other.

[roguevalley]

4. Lovely stuff. The long shot visuals were stunning. When the

orcs surrounded our guys, with Viggo saying, 'for Frodo' and then running to his certain death, I felt very proud. Do what is right
even if it kills you. Chimp will never understand that kind of
guts.

The spider would have killed me just looking at me.

Lovely movie. Felt so terrible for Elrond. He's sort of the heart
of it, always doing right and losing something profound everytime.
I admire him the most of all the characters.

[Dudley_DUright]

5. My wife was like a waterworks, but the guy next to her

was just about as bad. :cry: I always cry when I read ROTK, but strangely the movie only got my a little misty eyed. I guess it was because on the first viewing, I was more concerned with the visuals than the story itself.

[DivinBreuvage]

7. Out of three hours plus of stunning scenes

the one that stands out most in my memory is when Eowyn finally saw the orc army assembled before Minas Tirith and was utterly horrified. It was a heartbreakingly real moment of humanity and in fact Miranda Otto's Eowyn is far more human and sympathetic than the book version in any event. Tolkien had many gifts, but writing women was distinctly not one of them.

One curiosity: Did anyone else notice Viggo's voice seemed curiously higher than normal when he was on horeseback speaking to the forlorn hope at the Black Gate? I wonder if that was a result of his trying to project, or if he was nervous or genuinely roused?

[NashVegas]

8. Tolkien & Women

I'll never understand the popular criticism about Tolkien writing women. As a 12 year old girl, reading the book for the first time, I had no trouble identifying with Eowyn, nor has her character dimmed in later readings. In writing of her desire to be seen as the equal to the men around her, in battle, he was conveying the struggle of so many of the women of his time, getting stymied at every turn.

In having her be the one to kill off the Witch King, Eowyn got the highest ranked "kill" of any of the men - and one that no man was capable of committing. If that's not an allusion & paean to the unrecognized strength of the female gender, I don't know what is.

Arwen was just a background character, not so much to say there. Galadriel was someone any little girl would have easily fantasized about being. If she wasn't a major part of the story, she was a highly memorable one.


Some famous women in literature:

Scarlett O'Hara - written by a woman. Complex character capable of doing horrible things, and doing great things for the wrong reasons.
Madame Bovary - written by Flaubert - oh, THERE was a peach of a girl, huh?
Blanche DuBois - Tennessee Williams - another winner.
Medea - Eurypides - fascinating woman, in spite of being a witch.
Camille - Dumas - a dying courtesan.
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy - do I need to spell it out?
Lolita - Nabakov - now there was a fun one

I don't expect to see a female in Tolkien written any more realistically than any other male writer, especially in pre-modern literature. The women he did write in, at least he thought more highly of them than many of his gender did of their own female characters.

[Paragon]

9. Eowyn killing the Witch King...

...was that much of a greater moment because of those lowered expectations, I think. Miranda Otto was fantastic. And beautiful. :loveya:

[Enraged_Ape]

14. "I am no man" got a HUGE cheer out of the audience I was with

My wife was literally jumping out of her seat.

Incredible movie. I still haven't quite processed it all.

My favorite part: When Sauron is calling to Aragorn, no doubt in a last-ditch attempt to make some sort of deal with him. And the soundtrack goes still, and in slow motion, Aragorn turns to his friends and calmly says, "For Frodo."

[DivinBreuvage]

10. Try Euripides, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Hawthorne

for just four who do a damn sight better than Tolkien.

[Enraged_Ape]

15. Women were not Tolkien's strong point

Maybe this was a product of his culture and time.

Still Eowyn's scene with the Lord of the Nazgul was my favorite in all the books. I think it's even better in the books because you don't know it's her until the moment of truth.

[regnaD kciN]

11. My guess would be...

One curiosity: Did anyone else notice Viggo's voice seemed curiously higher than normal when he was on horeseback speaking to the forlorn hope at the Black Gate? I wonder if that was a result of his trying to project, or if he was nervous or genuinely roused?

...that there was a problem with the location sound during that speech, and he had to loop (dub) it in a studio some time later.

[regnaD kciN]

12. Theoden...

I was gurgling from the death of Eowyn's father to the end credits

...was Eowyn's uncle, not her father.

[lazarus]

13. I will say

That having just watched The Two Towers (Extended Edition) again, I get misty eyed or outright cry every time Gollum/Smeagol is on the screen.

This may be Peter Jackson's greatest accomplishment. Actually, I will go ahead and say that, IMO, it is his greatest accomplishment. Gollum never really came alive as a tragic figure for me, despite having read the books over 60 times. But his direction and Andy Serkis' acting have shown Smeagol to be a truly sad character.

When Gollum finally took back over Smeagol towards the end of TTT, my heart broke, even though I knew it was coming.

I fully expect to be bawling like a baby in a few hours, watching him plunge to his death in Orodruin.