Hey folks, Harry here... actually trying to take my first crack at reviewing this sucker right now... However, I may wait till after the press screening on my birthday to really give it a whack. As it is... The film was so fucking good that my mind was desperately trying to remember moments, feelings, emotions... It's like, during the Q&A someone asked Peter what his favorite scene in this film was... and they asked that of Fran and "The Queen of the Geeks" too, and they literally all had this look like... "A scene?" And as I sit here thinking about writing my own review and listening to Howard Shore's score... all I can think is what Avi Arad told me after he saw RETURN OF THE KING at the L.A. Premiere. He felt sad, sad because he knew that this was it, that we'll never see this sort of beautiful madness on screen again. Where a studio will be insane enough to trust it all to a man with the passion to just get it right. I don't think any critic is currently getting this right. I don't think any of them really truly understands how hard it is to get the emotion to resonate and be the paramount thing, despite the CG... despite the spectacle... despite the enormity of the task. These are the greatest films of my time and I know when the current generation is dead... retired... out of the fucking way, my generation will write this. These films will live and grow in time in a way that outlives the luster of the here and now. Here's Nordling...
Nordling here.
I'm not sure what to say here. I know how I feel about it. Exhilarated. A bit sad. Vindicated and justified. And in the end, just really damn happy it came out as good as it did.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING is a triumphant end to what is probably - hell what is definitely - the greatest movie trilogy of all time. And yet I can't help feeling a little ambivalent about the whole thing. Not because of any problems with the film - and I do have one, but I'll get to that in a second - but because I really wish there were some way this could keep going on year after year. I was half-hoping that at the Grey Havens Saruman would pop out from behind a column and Frodo and company would have to set off on another adventure. Or that they would have to destroy the Witchking's Ring and go back to Mordor.
Here's the thing... and oh, am I going to get slammed for this in TB, flame away, flame away... THE LORD OF THE RINGS saved my life.
When my father was dying of cancer, these books kept me sane. I read them over and over. I strove to be like Samwise. And Frodo, in a lot of ways, was my dad. And in the end, my father took the White Ship, and it changed me forever. Cancer changed my father. It was a Burden not unlike the Ring. He bacame different, more caustic, more angry, but in the end he accepted his Burden and moved on. And I couldn't help finding similarities in my own life. So when the book ended, I'd wipe a few tears, and go back to the beginning.
These films are like that for me. I can't tell you how happy I was to see my favorite scenes from the books translated to film. Samwise's speech about the Shire, and his brave acts on the slopes of Mount Doom - "If I cannot carry the Ring, then I will carry you!" The Battle of the Pelennor Fields which has to be the greatest battle ever put on film. Eowyn's great stand against the Witchking. The taking up of the mantle by Aragorn. Shelob. (Shelob's fucking scary, folks.) And by far, the pinnacle scene of the trilogy for me - Sam taking on Shelob with just a sword and his heart.
What's my problem with the movie? Aragorn is given too short shrift, in my opinion. I know that the film is long enough, and all the editing, sound, and intermission issues that come with that... but I felt that there was missing scenes about him. I'm sure that will be addressed in the EE, and the EEs really are the definitive versions for me. But I guess I wanted more of everything.
That happens when you don't want a movie to end. Because it's just that good.
You're going to hear a lot of Oscar talk in the next few weeks. Lots of speculation as pundits and glorified Vegas bookies make all sorts of predictions about what will win what and who gets who. But I've decided you won't hear it from me from now on. THE RETURN OF THE KING is beyond this. If it doesn't win one single naked olden boy it won't make the slightest bit of difference to me. We've all been given an extraordinary gift, something that I really didn't expect to see in my lifetime as I read thiese books those years ago. This is a gift that I will never be able to repay. I'm in debt. Peter Jackson, with this film, has entered that great director pantheon for me. It's just that simple... I don't know how these films are going to be topped. The cool thing is, I can't wait to see everyone try. If THE LORD OF THE RINGS films are the watermark to shoot for, some kid out there will try to beat it. And the winners are all of us, who have devoted our lives to loving this so transient of mediums, this emotional rollercoaster document of our existence as human beings, this testimony to the power of the human sprit, even if that spirit has furry feet and is only 3 foot 6 inches tall.
Moriarty wrote an article a few years back about how lucky we all are being geeks in this time of great cinema. I couldn't agree more. And now, it's time for me. I have to contribute to this. I have to make a movie, even if it's crap. I can't die knowing that I didn't try. I don't want my tombstone to say that I lived a life that was comfortable. I can't go out like that. I have so many stories I want to tell, and I can't cheat anymore. It's time.
Yeah, RETURN OF THE KING can do that to you.
By the way, if you're going to the Houston screening on Trilogy Tuesday, I'll be there in my BNAT 5 shirt, and I'm giving - yes, giving - my Peter Jackson signed poster away, as well as an Arwen bust and some other posters. I'm not doing this because I don't want them, because I do. I'm doing this because I want this thing to be like another BNAT for me. I want to share what it was like for me. I want to get those feelings again. I'm probably asking for trouble with this, and I'll likely get mobbed or something. I don't care. I can't wait to see this film with friends again. I can't wait to feel like that again. I can't wait.
We're all BNATers, now. Harry, Moriarty... thank you.
Nordling, out.
