Go see RotK, do not pass Go, !(who:stick():credit(200))

[kingfox]

Fuck yeah. Go see it. Go see it now. Fucking amazing. Get out of your chair and plop yourself in the theater.

So Gimli's no longer quite the overused comic relief he was in the second, Shelob fit much better for the movie version in the third part of the trilogy, and I can't wait to see the extended version with Saruman. Of course, due to the dialog and scenes at the end, I sincerely doubt there's a second version filmed with the original ending from the book. Which, in a way, is a shame. Sure, I understand it, and why it wouldn't fly in Hollywood.

We all remember the original ending to Clerks? Our hero Dante bites it. A powerful ending. One of Kevin Smith's mentors saw that ending and told him to fucking change it. Having watched both, I can understand why. Would have been a very different movie.

Imagine if AI ended when David jumped into the water. That would have been a blow, and an interesting end.

Earlier today, jenniever and I were discussing literature. She found Heart of Darkness too heavy, but appreciated it, despite not wanting to read it again. Some part of me really enjoys Heart of Darkness, Crime and Punishment, Requiem for a Dream, and Leaving Las Vegas. The books and movies that sucker punch you, drag you into an alley, kick the shit out of you, violate you, and leave you a sadder and wiser person when you rise the morrow morn. I love Blake and Candide, the former not just because Bruce Dickinson and The Fugs do, the latter not just because rumigrl and other cool people do. She prefers Wilde and Eliot. Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.

The ending to Ultima V was much more along the lines with the original ending to the trilogy. You become the Avatar in IV, the paragon of the eight virtues. In V you help return King Richard, I mean Lord British, from the crusade, I mean Abyss. King John, I mean Lord Blackthorn, is cast out. It's one of the hardest Ultimas, pitting you against the virtues being taken too far, forcing you to decide between letting one of you own party being destroyed for good or helping the vile Blackthorn in his quest to become an avatar. Shadowlords, Abyss, insane puzzles like having to play ``Stones'' at the end. So after you go through all of that, as in every Ultima game in the second trilogy, you go home. And your apartment's robbed. People were furious. They flamed Richard Garriot with great fury.

I suppose, if the original ending had been left in place, Peter Jackson would also have been flamed. While the book was bastardized, it was a decent adaptation, unlike some others. All in all, faithful enough for most fanboys I know to be pleased, except those fanboys so anal that even something created by Tolkien's undead corpse itself wouldn't be satisfactory.

Amazing battle scenes, as always. Amazing locations and scenery, as always. Great costumes, music, and special effects. The audience cheered more times than I can count, and even during some moments I expected to go over everyone's head.

UPDATE: I realize something this morning. When I was ten, quillter and my first stepfather took me to see Macbeth on Broadway. When they were reading me the play, so I would know what was going on, I got excited during the final battle. After all, no man of women born can defeat him, so surely some woman was going to slay Macbeth, right? quillter had read the books to me well before introducing me to Shakespeare.

And now, even though I had a nap before we left, I seriously need some sleep. Good night teenagers. See you in twenty-three hours, peace, and think number one.

Comments

Clerks!

[josephgrossberg.livejournal.com]

sweet pics ... how'd you get them?

Good Books

[periol.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on all those books. They're all about LIFE, especially Requiem and Crime&Punishment, even if it isn't the life we want to think about. When I get depressed, I want to really be depressed, instead of avoiding it, for the same reasons. To avoid the shit is to live halfway...

saw it, of course

[towelboy.livejournal.com]

scouring of the shire is definitely not in the movie at all, though it gets an homage in the fellowship of the ring, during the mirror of galadriel scene.

that movie was so fucking good. i am still orgasming, so i will say no more here, but save it for my own post.

glad someone else i know went to see it as soon as I did.

[mineral2.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about that whole ending deal. I could have sworn that bilbo died before the elves left and that Frodo didn't go with them.. and that Gandalf was the posessor of the 3rd elf ring. I'll check the book when I get home.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

I haven't read the original books of Tolkiens', except for the Hobbit, which I practically inhaled when I was ten (I read a lot for my age, notably books like Jurassic Park and Carrie before I hit middle school), so I'm not sure what 'original ending' you refer to concerning Frodo and the others. I'm gonna go raid my sisters' library in a bit.

Whenever I write stories, so often they end ... 'weird', as someone once described them to me. Even if they're happy, they're bittersweet. I don't like 'dancing away into the sunset' type endings, because they feel false, like there wasn't a big enough sacrifice going on. RoTK's strength, I felt, was that Frodo still sort've lost. Sure, he destroyed the One Ring, but his scars never healed, and he never felt at home again in the Shire. You can see it in his face, even a few years later, and then off he goes to the distant shores with Gandalf and Bilbo and the elves. It's like all the magic leaving the world. I was pretty sad about the elves' leaving.

Fight Club's original ending by Chuck Palachniuk was different than the movie version's (although I prefer the latter's), but no less dark. Lolita, Wicked, Requiem for a Dream ... Titus is in particular dark and bizarre.