A Fool's Hope

Rating: 3/10 (18 December 2003)

*SPOILER ALERT*
The latest hoopla for the last and weakest film of the trilogy from Jackson came to myself and friends as quite a shock. I have always been a huge fan of the books, but I must say that I was rather disappointed. Why?
1) Weak performances from the cast-- most notably, the characters of Denethor, Aragorn and Frodo. These performances did nothing to make me feel anything for them or what would happen to them in the story. Such a hammy portrayal of Denethor (what's up with him stuffing his face during the entire song of Pippin?)
2) Absolute terrible film scoring by Howard Shore (as usual)
3) Poor compositing for the effects, in most of the crucial scenes--most notably: Mt. Doom. Frodo's feet float above the ground.
4) A Porky Pig orc captain that ruins any sense of danger at the Pelennor Fields Battle.
5) Jackson's intermittent disrespect for the characters. Most notably--Gandalf striking down Denethor . . . twice! The Dead King looking like he came out of Army of Darkness with a swiss cheese face.
6) The biggest abuse of slow-motion in cinematic history (even beyond that of John Woo)
Jackson shamelessly pimps out elements of the story for audience cheers and laughs. Whether it's Gandalf hitting someone, the Palantir turning into a ball of fire, or Smeagol & Frodo battling for the ring after Smeagol has already won it from him.
Even the Lord of the Nazgul scene--which is already set up to be a crowd-pleaser. The Nazgul waits long enough for Eowyn to deliver her line, remove her helmet, tossle her hair and stab him. Why? Only to give time for a bigger cheer from the audience. After all, isn't that what it's all about? Like Legolas surfing on an orc shield or a Mumakil trunk?
And why show Denethor as an evil man trying to burn Pippin and then jump off the cliff of Minas Tirith? Doesn't this trivialize the Father/Son conflict of the story?
Sentiment was often transformed to cheese for "dramatic effect". Utterly disappointing.
However:
The Oliphaunts and Shelob are very impressive. There are also many battle shots that came through spectacularly--particularly the Nazgul fell beasts. Unfortunately, in the more sensitive scenes with hobbits, whenever we see them from afar they are obviously a dwarf double or some poorly composited green screen effect.
Sean Astin did a poignant performance as Samwise. Ian was fantastic once again as Gandalf--even dispite his character continuity problems. Miranda was also wonderful and very touching. I can't wait to see more films with her. Merry and Pippin, even though simplified, added a touch of innocent naive enthusiasm. Pippin's loyalty to his position as guard of Minas Tirith and Merry's puppy love for Eowyn were great.
I realize that this will be a hopelessly negative review to a film that has already made over 30 million before the end of it's first weekend. There are obviously people that LOVE this film.
I've written this review primarily for those who are LOTR book fans like myself that are looking for a more critical take on the film before seeing it or those that actually have seen it and are feeling just as confused as I am as to why everyone else seems to love it as much as we wish we could.
In fact, I would have been much better off in the theatre if a reviewer had warned me ahead of time about a few things--and I'm not talking about the omission of Saruman or The Scouring of the Shire.
This will be the version of Tolkien's masterpiece remembered for generations and years to come. It is a pity that it wasn't treated with the subtlety and care it truly deserved. But then again it was only "a fool's hope" that it could be made in the first place. Hats off to Jackson for trying, even if he didn't fully succeed. We'll always have the books.