by banned » Sun Oct 09, 2005 11:25 pm
Jill, I agree with you completely about the changes growing more noticeable over time. My frustration is, if he got SOME of it right, he could have gotten ALL of it right! However, I think in all fairness to Jackson, we have to remember several things. One, it's little short of amazing that the director of "Meet the Feebles" and "Brain Dead" pulled off ANYTHING that longtime Tolkienistas wouldn't walk out on screaming and demanding their money back <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> . <br><br>Second, it's also amazing that New Line popped for three films, one per book, but it created a problem for Jackson that not many directors face...holding audience interest for 3 films released a year apart, based on a source that many people already had read and which those who hadn't could pick up before his 2nd and 3rd films came out and get "spoilered." Lucas with "Star Wars" wasn't working from a text that everyone already knew--he was making it up as he went along. I know a lot of people who went to the last 3 "Star Wars" movies simply to find out what happened, they didn't expect to really like them and they didn't. As for Harry Potter, the books on which the films are based are more self contained. LOTR wasn't 3 books, but 1 book in 3 volumes.<br><br>When Jackson made all 3 films at once, for all he knew, the first one might be a turkey and the second two would go straight to video. He and New Line did an amazing thing keeping the audience building from film to film, and sweeping the Oscars with ROTK. Lots of new readers were brought to the books by the films who might otherwise never have read them.<br><br>Still, when you see what a fabulous job Jackson did with, say, the death of Boromir, or Gollum, it's frustrating to see how he blew Faramir (and the Faramir/Eowyn love story) and how much the film really needed the Scouring. I seriously hated Saruman falling on the spiked wheel. I'm deeply embarassed to say that I didn't hate Denny's fiery cannonball off the prow of Minas Tirith, though I know I should have. I also liked the Legolas stunts, the skateboarding down the steps and bringing down the Oliphaunt...In my own defense, perhaps the 13 year old I was when I first read the book came out <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> . That may also be who filled my house with action figures...<br><br>Speaking of Jackson, I just got the October "Wired" magazine with the cover article on "King Kong" and the photos inside of Jackson will blow your socks off. I could have sat on him now and not recognized him, 70 pounds lighter, minus the roto-tilled hair and fingerprint-covered wire rims. Good on ya to Fran for getting him to peel off that weight before he keeled over untimely.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>