Drama = Whispering?

Rating: 5/10 (18 December 2005)

Peter Jackson handles spectacle well but doesn't know when to stop. The homoerotic subtext of the Frodo-Sam plot line is kind of amusing if not so very repetitive. I keep waiting for them to kiss (or at least rub each other's grubby little feet) and get it over with. Viggo Mortenson seems to play a character in desperate need of a bath, especially when standing next to his comrade-in-arms Orlando Bloom, who looks like an Ivory Soap model. But aside from all that, since when has delivering dialog in a whisper become a shorthand for drama and intensity? Granted, Hitchcock and Welles had their actors whispering in moments of high drama as well, but they were usually justified by context. Maybe the likes of Viggo and Liv Tyler (and that barely comprehensible Gollum dude) just lack the vocal chops for high drama. That's probably why Ian McKellen is the standout actor in this whole mess. I enjoy the flick much more when he shows up. He speaks clearly and looks like he bathes regularly.