Not what I was expecting

Rating: 6/10 (21 December 2002)

This film failed in delivering the goods I was expecting from it.
Each take is excellent, the acting is great, the direction almost flawless, the cinematography is gorgeous, the costumes are fabulous etc... so what?
Well, to me the PACE of this movie is wrong. All wrong. Made my interest drop down all along.
Does it come from the script/storyboard (which I doubt, knowing Jackson & Walsh excellence in this) or the editing (which I suspect is the problem..)?. The 'extended' version on the special DVD is far better in this matter, specially in the first 1/2 hour, but not quite perfect either.
I'm really disappointed, because to me the equation [Peter Jackson + Lord of the rings] sounded quite like [=perfection in entertainment]. Well, I guess the whole thing was too ambitious, maybe... Or maybe Jackson lacked the 'step back' needed to edit such a long and rich movie. The fact that he felt like releasing a longer, much better cut version later on DVD didn't surprise me at all. And indeed it's a BETTER movie I saw on the extended DVD, not simply a longer, 'cooler' one. But yet... not what I expected. Peter, do you remember you once made an almost perfect movie about two disturbed young girls? Why don't I feel as close to Froddo or Aragorn than I was to Pauline or Juliet? What has been lost? You filmed Ian Mc Kellen like no one could, why don't I feel close to Gandalf?
Another thing I dislike is the soundtrack. I'm not referring to the music, this is a matter of taste. I'm referring to the sound effects, and the choices made. The whole thing sounds far too 'video games' like. Verb on the Nazgul voices? doesn't work. Not frightening. Cheap. Hissing sounds for Saruman's acolytes? Cheap. Cliché. The list goes on.
I guess that with such an impressive amount of material, some time should have been allowed, after the filming process, before going through the editing/post production process... But that's not the way it goes in the movie industry. Pox on them. As long as they have a blockbuster, and the kids are happy (and LOTR is a terrific movie for kids), they are happy. They don't even realise that the basic material that Jackson brillantly made could have been turned, with more reflexion and wisdom, into a real classic, not only a commercial success but a universal success, BOTH commercial and artistic. Short view. too bad.
Someone wrote that Jackson did a much better work on the production and editing of "The two Towers", which I hope!
All in all, as I said, a terrific movie for kids and teenagers, but not what could have been really achieved with the fantastic work of the filming crew. The extended version on the special DVD is already much closer to what the film could and should have been.