Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

[butterfly]

I'm going on Saturday to see the movie with family and friends. I was planning on waiting until then to see it.

But I just couldn't wait. I'll still be watching it with everyone (Oh, jic - my cousin Alex is arriving that night and is going to try to make it. He's cool.), but I needed to see it by myself first, I think - to get the 'wow' out of the way.

Kick-ass.

I was expecting to cry and didn't (this is a common theme with things I love that much). I'll probably cry on the second viewing, but this time, it was so huge. And there's so much happiness to be found among the sadness.

When I was watching, I actually thought of Joss's work quite a bit. Similiar themes.

"When you can't walk, crawl. And when you can't do that... find someone to carry you." (Firefly - The Message)

The idea that we do all have a burden that we only can carry and that no one can take away, but that doesn't mean that we're alone.

It's stunning. I would definitely call it well worth the wait and very worthy of the legacy it had to uphold.

In the end, it is a celebration of life and of the idea that good things are worth fighting for.

I love the relationships - the Fellowship and all the individual pairings. I love Arwen, have since the first film and I liked her even more in this one. And I definitely saw heat between her and Aragorn with that first kiss. Rosie was delightful, too.

And Pippin. Wow. Pippin is every kind of amazing in this part. That was really Billy Boyd's voice, yes? He has a beautiful singing voice. It was a perfect moment - so many of those in this film.

Gimli and Legolas continued to make me smile every time that they interacted.

Then there's Frodo and Sam. I love that they didn't sugar-coat the pain of the journey (though I had faith that they wouldn't). We had to see all that to understand why Frodo can't stay. That scene with them on the rock - Sam is thinking of what he'll miss, but Frodo is already embracing the end. He wanted to rest (another theme that we see in the Buffyverse). And in the mountain, when he can't give up the ring - that was agony.

Wonderful film. Like I said, it's kick-ass.

For me, it was practically perfect in every way.

Comments

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

I just wish they hadn't put so much reverb on Pippin's voice. It made it so obviously computer-enhanced when it could have been a simple, still lovely, song.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

I'm undecided. It was great as it was, but there are always changes each person would make. It's not my vision of LotR's - it's Peter Jackson and Co.'s.

[antigone921.livejournal.com]

FYI, the soundtrack version of the song is reverb-less.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ooo. I must get the soundtrack - I have the FotR and tTT soundtracks but haven't picked up RotK's yet. I want to hear the original version, because he's so pretty in the finished product.

[mark356.livejournal.com]

I liked the reverb; it helped put a little bit more distance between him and us. After all, we can find guys singing with undistorted voices all the time, so it makes sense that we have to go to a movie theater if we want to hear it with reverb. Also, Tolkien is always going on about how lovely the people's voices are, and honestly, that will not come across in the films if you don't do something to the voices: otherwise, it'll just strike you as normal people singing. And I found the extra reverb quite as satisfactory as gratuitous orchestra music. :D Either way, it's a gorgeous song.