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ROTK EE: modified rapture
On Thursday I watched the extended Return of the King dvd, and sad to say, I responded with only modified rapture. I mean, it's visually arresting and musically stirring and when the beacons are lit I want to cry, and I feel like I should stand up for the Rohan theme... but the additions were underwhelming. Things I'd been anticipating since this time last year, or indeed since 2000, didn't appear at all or didn't come through. Spoilers for the extended edition are behind the cut.
It's still not explained that Denethor has a palantir and that that's why he's, well, a big defeatist jerk. At the Black Gate, the horses still disappear between the parley and the charge. (Though, the Mouth of Sauron? eeeurghhuhuhuh! in the most approriate way. Even though he/it did sort of talk like an evil Kenneth Branagh as Benedick in the masque scene in Much Ado) And the Houses of Healing scenes, though present, were a huge disappointment. I want my HealerKing!Aragorn, dammit! With singing! And athelas! A music video in which Aragorn tenderly takes Eowyn's hand and washes her face does not cut it. (And he was holding her shield arm, too, which, first of all, broken so don't wiggle it around, doofus, and second, isn't supposed to be as badly hurt as her sword arm, which sufferd Nazgul contact. For her to be able to crawl over to Theoden for his (*whimper* *weep*) death scene, I can see why PJ had to give her one good arm, but I'd have rather had the Nazgul-ization than the fracture if I have to pick an injury.)
Some of the added scenes were terrible, not so much in because of the performances but because of the writing and the simple existence of the idea of the scene. Gimli and Legolas have a drinking contest? PJ, I know you're pretty much a ten-year-old hobbit, but that's where I've learned to count on Fran and Phillipa reigning you in! And as my friend J said of Gimli's beery belching in Two Towers, "we've got hobbits, we don't need Falstaff!"
I think Gimli's IQ has dropped by 20 points with each film... which actually, the drinking could explain.
While I'm greatly in favor of more Eowyn, why was she sleeping by the fire in the great hall at Meduseld? It's crazy for a whole host of reasons.
1) presumably she has a bower someplace in the building, since she, you know, lives there.
2) she's effectively a princess and about to become regent and thus not someone who gets rolled out of bed to make room for company. Not that any conscious Tolkien male would ever consent to taking a woman's bed, chamber, food, drink, or favorite cut of meat. Well, not a lady's, anyway. Rosie Cotton could get pushed aside to make room for the quality. (Now I want to write a Gosford Park clone set in Minas Tirith. Heh.)
3) By the same classist token, if she did give up her room it wouldn't be for anyone below the rank/importance of Gandalf, Aragorn, or Legolas (or possibly Eomer, but see above re: living there), and they're all bunking in the back room. Or hanging out on the porch making pronouncements, but you know those elves.
4) For a woman to sleep partially clothed in a public space frequented by lots of strange men soon facing pretty-well-assured death is, even in Tolkien-land, an activity with, shall we say, some risk of unpleasantness. At the least, it's highly improper.
It's still not explained that Denethor has a palantir and that that's why he's, well, a big defeatist jerk. At the Black Gate, the horses still disappear between the parley and the charge. (Though, the Mouth of Sauron? eeeurghhuhuhuh! in the most approriate way. Even though he/it did sort of talk like an evil Kenneth Branagh as Benedick in the masque scene in Much Ado) And the Houses of Healing scenes, though present, were a huge disappointment. I want my HealerKing!Aragorn, dammit! With singing! And athelas! A music video in which Aragorn tenderly takes Eowyn's hand and washes her face does not cut it. (And he was holding her shield arm, too, which, first of all, broken so don't wiggle it around, doofus, and second, isn't supposed to be as badly hurt as her sword arm, which sufferd Nazgul contact. For her to be able to crawl over to Theoden for his (*whimper* *weep*) death scene, I can see why PJ had to give her one good arm, but I'd have rather had the Nazgul-ization than the fracture if I have to pick an injury.)
Some of the added scenes were terrible, not so much in because of the performances but because of the writing and the simple existence of the idea of the scene. Gimli and Legolas have a drinking contest? PJ, I know you're pretty much a ten-year-old hobbit, but that's where I've learned to count on Fran and Phillipa reigning you in! And as my friend J said of Gimli's beery belching in Two Towers, "we've got hobbits, we don't need Falstaff!"
I think Gimli's IQ has dropped by 20 points with each film... which actually, the drinking could explain.
While I'm greatly in favor of more Eowyn, why was she sleeping by the fire in the great hall at Meduseld? It's crazy for a whole host of reasons.
1) presumably she has a bower someplace in the building, since she, you know, lives there.
2) she's effectively a princess and about to become regent and thus not someone who gets rolled out of bed to make room for company. Not that any conscious Tolkien male would ever consent to taking a woman's bed, chamber, food, drink, or favorite cut of meat. Well, not a lady's, anyway. Rosie Cotton could get pushed aside to make room for the quality. (Now I want to write a Gosford Park clone set in Minas Tirith. Heh.)
3) By the same classist token, if she did give up her room it wouldn't be for anyone below the rank/importance of Gandalf, Aragorn, or Legolas (or possibly Eomer, but see above re: living there), and they're all bunking in the back room. Or hanging out on the porch making pronouncements, but you know those elves.
4) For a woman to sleep partially clothed in a public space frequented by lots of strange men soon facing pretty-well-assured death is, even in Tolkien-land, an activity with, shall we say, some risk of unpleasantness. At the least, it's highly improper.