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December 23, 2003
The Best Ring Ever
It's no surprise that "The Return of the King," the final installment of "The Lord of the Rings" is racking up $$$ at the box office. According to studio estimates, the movie brought in $73.6 million during its first weekend and $125.1 million since Wednesday when it debuted.
Better yet, the film recorded the global total of $246.1 million during its first five days, breaking the previous record of $202.8 set by the finall installment of "The Matrix."
Now all those numbers are meaningless if the movie doesn't live up to the hype, but it does. I just saw the finall installment over the weekend, and I am thrilled to see that finally someone has done Tolkien justice! Peter Jackson will be remembered forever in posterity as the one who fulfilled the impossible: translating the vision of Tolkien into the big screen. The Ring has been building up momentum ever since the first installment "The Fellowship of the Ring" came out two years ago, and this final installment culminates into a crescendo of finale that is ultimately satisfying. Although the ending has to be compromised in the movie (the original ending by Tolkien is long and winding), it is nevertheless satisfying to see the return of halcyon days, and I, for one, am saddened to see the whole series come to an end. The main theme of "humanity" triumphing over evil through friendship, faith, hope, courage, perserverance, and maturity is both precious and eternal in my book.
The Lord of the Rings has been one of my favorite books, and the movie series is now ranked as one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, go out and see it. What are you waiting for?
Posted by Ken in Movies & Books
Comments
Agreed. I saw it last night and was very impressed. Somehow Jackson managed to anchor all his grand spectacle to several, intimate personal stories. In parts, the melodrama was just a bit too melodramatic for me but I talked to a real Rings nut before I saw it and he said the ending was touching and very fleeting. I translated this to mean, "he cried and wanted to cry longer".
The one scene that I have to see again and again when the extended edition boxed set of all three movies hits the racks is when Legolas takes down that battle mastodon single handedly. If nothing else is cool in Middle Earth, that is.
Posted by: Mitch at December 23, 2003 9:35 AM
And don't forget this oh-so-memorable quote:
After Legolas takes out the war mastodon...
Gimli: Bah! That *still* only counts as one!
LMAO!
Posted by: Craig at December 23, 2003 7:25 PM
And then there was the line they should have left out when Legolas after listening to the big plan to storm the black gate so Sauron would look the other way says knowingly, "A diversion." Thank you Captain Obvious!
Our theater was pretty funny. As Frodo was standing at the edge of the abyss ready to cast the ring to its doom, people were going, "Oh just throw the damn thing already!!!!"
And, Sam was starting to like pounding on old Gollum! If the journey had dragged on, we would have heard, "Hey Gollum, I was sitting there! I just had to go pee!" Bam! Slug! Pow! Oof!
Posted by: Mitch at December 23, 2003 11:50 PM
Ditto.
Very good movie. Very good book. Very good director. Very good author.
As for your reviews...somoeone should have let you know that the monsters that Legolas faces off against are called Oliphaunts. Mastodons are an extinct species of mammal extinct for over 57 million years. Furthermore, Mastadons were covered in much more hair, where as these creatures were simply pachyderms without a rug. Lots of horns but other than that, elephant would have been a better description.
Cheers
Posted by: Dustin at January 23, 2004 6:14 PM
Ditto.
Very good movie. Very good book. Very good director. Very good author.
As for your reviews...somoeone should have let you know that the monsters that Legolas faces off against are called Oliphaunts. Mastodons are an extinct species of mammal extinct for over 57 million years. Furthermore, Mastadons were covered in much more hair, where as these creatures were simply pachyderms without a rug. Lots of horns but other than that, elephant would have been a better description.
Cheers
Posted by: Dustin at January 23, 2004 6:14 PM
You never know what you will get from a movie. LOTR was so good, I think I could watch it three times!!!
Posted by: Orc at February 17, 2004 6:47 PM