Centerpiece of Pete Jackson's LOTR Trilogy

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2011)

Someone said in another review: If you are not entertained by this movie then it is not possible for you to be entertained. A Vision appears in my mind of Russell Crowe shoving two huge swords into a guys gut and then lopping off his head while screaming "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?" As this film is the centerpiece of the most complex Trilogy ever made (even more so than "Avatar" Which Weta also did the majority of Computer Graphics for)... Then the problem lies with the viewer, not with the Filmmakers.
And for myself after watching this film a multitude of times in both Theatrical and Extended versions plus the hours of extra material, I feel that Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Barry Osbourne, Rick Porras, Howard Shore, Jamie Selkirk and all of the cast and crew of LOTR are all personal Friends of mine who have visited me in my living room whenever I've watched the extras. My favourite person is Gino Acevedo, the Prosthetic makeup artist who did Limbs and Gollum's digital "makeup" - And he was one of the "Pirates" in Return Of the King.. Don't know why, I like the way the guy describes his work, I can get along with someone like that. There was also a woman, she was only shown a few times but I was impressed, did all the motion capture for the digital hordes, Carrie Thiel: Also modeled all the moves for the Massive Agents, quite deft and professional, and she looked like she means business. Christian Rivers... The Miniatures Unit, they can come to a party at my house ANY day, I owe all of these people. Each person who worked on LOTR was a consummate Professional, chosen for specific jobs... Even Alan Lee, hired as conceptual artist along with John Howe stepped out of his slot to assist Dan Hennah with the set decoration, so these people did a lot of multi-departmental work. The atmosphere must have been something to see! Insane artists designing the Witch King's Spiky Helmet! These people made a permanent dent in me and I'll never forget them, I'll remember them forever.
The most amazing sight is our first view of Edoras as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas ride up... Which was a real place that existed for just Six Months, the most convincing set ever built for a movie. "You'd find more cheer in a graveyard", Gimli grimly offers as they ride up... These films were made in the midst of a time of great upheaval and change, just as the characters face in the film: Pippin tells Meriadoc... "Maybe we don't belong here, it's too big for us, besides, We still have the Shire" - Whereas Meriadoc rebukes him, telling him, "The fires of Isengard will spread, The woods of Tuckbourough and Buckland will burn, and all that was once green and good in this world will be gone... There won't BE a Shire". Our choice is to make our world good or bad: So I challenge anyone watching this film to let this be a cautionary tale - How would you like your world? And Ironically, Weta Digital also worked on another film which makes the same statement... "Avatar". Do we want to live in a world with NO Brazilian Rain Forests or African Jungles or Polar Ice Caps? We cannot live without these things, they are necessary for our survival and also the survival of our precious animals, our most valuable resource. And so we stand at a crossroads and we must go up the Morgul Vale to the Dead City and up the secret stair through Shelob's Lair and right into Mordor. And we can't stop there, then we have to wade through troops of Orcs and then up a volcano that keeps threatening to erupt! And then it DOES erupt, so then we get to surf on huge Rocks and then if we are lucky we can catch a ride on the next Eagle that flies by... Perhaps Lord of the Rings is a Prophetic Story, Prophetic and representational of us today, although Tolkien never wanted it that way.
Considering this is a landmark film using brand new MoCap tech, the computer graphics meld into the practical and miniature sets perfectly. I KNOW there is no "Warg Attack" in the book, and in the book we do not get a troop of ELVES showing up just in time to help defend Helm's Deep and Legolas never takes a Skateboard Run down the outer steps of the deeping wall, but Jackson made the best Lord of the Rings he was able to make and thank The Lord Bob Shaye shelled out the money to make this, and in Three films... And the story is basically intact, so please no complaining about no Gandalf fighting the Balrog Under the Mountain! Peter Jackson interpreted Lord of the Rings for us, and handed it to us on a platter. But if all you have seen is the Theatrical version of all of these movies, then I can say with authority, you really have not SEEN Jackson's Lord of the Rings - So go out and rent you that Extended Cut- Soon to be released in Blu-Ray HD!