Lord of the Things

Not entirely sure what thought-provoking contribution I can make to the cultural zeitgest this week so instead I am going to review the Lord of the Rings movies because I watched them recently and they're pretty damn good.

I watched all the movies as a kid and my strongest memories were crying about Boromir, crying about Smeagol and Deagol, and thinking Treebeard was pretty cool. Re-watching the movies, Boromir dying was still pretty sad, Smeagol and Deagol was less sad and more disturbing in that it's freaky how quickly Smeagol goes off the deep end once the ring crops up, and Treebeard is still one of my favourite things about Lord of the Rings. They should make a spin-off about Treebeard. Actually, scratch that.

Fellowship of the Ring: 8/10

I reckon this one is better as an adult than as a kid. With the fewest "epic moments" of the movies, it relies a lot on the character and world-building which, as a kid, didn't hold my interest. Now I'm older I enjoy how it builds up the Shire and the Hobbits (poor Hobbits in the books, but in the movies, they do alright), as well as the Fellowship and the journey ahead. All things considered, the effects in all three movies are incredible - a benefit of being mostly practical VFX with some clever composition work going on. The few CGI things hold up relatively well, though Gandalf fighting the Balrog looks a bit clunky at points. That being said, it was 2001, and I'm impressed it looks as good as it does as a result. This one gets an 8/10 because whilst I appreciate the slower pace of this film a lot more now I'm older, it's still nothing compared to the Rohirrim stuff in the later two movies.

The Two Towers: 9/10

I reckon Two Towers could be my favourite Lord of the Rings film, if it weren't for one scene in Return of the King. The practical effects are even better, Treebeard and the Ents get introduced, and of course, we get the introduction of Rohan - the best part of these films. Helms Deep is still one of the coolest battle scenes in all of cinema, and the technology behind the huge Orc armies is really impressive. When Eomer and Gandalf come over the hills, it's one of the best moments in the trilogy. I only wish we'd gotten more visual of the Ents helping at Helms Deep instead of the implication, but it's all pretty good even so.

The Return of the King: 9.5/10

The Return of the King is my favourite film for one simple reason - Theoden and the charge of the Rohirrim at Minas Tirith. It's a solid pinnacle of the "wrap-up" of a trilogy, with every character, set-up, and moment paying off all at once. It was climax after climax, satisfaction after satisfaction, as all the pieces set-up over these movies culminated in every scene feeling like it served a purpose. I respect so many moments in this film - Aragorn's display of character telling the Hobbits they bow to no one, Gandalf's triumph over Saruman, and even having a little bit of Treebeard for a little while. All things put together, this film is a cinematic achievement - long, but deservedly so, with a fantastic finisher and an emotional end credits. I only wish they'd left it here - I don't feel Hobbit brought anything to the table, and a fan cut trimming the entire trilogy down to 4 hours is pretty much the only reason I have any fond memories of those films.

Bit out of place, this one, but this is really what has been on my mind recently, so I figured, why not. Oh, and I'm pretty set on a community manager job involving hundreds of thousands of people, so, that's fun.