Have you or have you not read the book?

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2002)

Hello, all!
I am in the FORTUNATE position to not only have READ all three LOTR books several times, and seen The Fellowship of the Ring (FOTR) NUMEROUS times AND The Two Towers (TTT) a few already, but ALSO loving both the books and the films. Listed below are a few ideas I think a few of you critics need to think about.
1) Cliche as it is to say, if LOTR was turned into a film COMPLETELY after the books, it would have been about 36 hours long, if not more. Impossible. Some things need to be cut.
2) LOTR are the best books I've ever read. THEY ARE STILL BORING AT TIMES. You cannot tell me that you want to see Sam and Frodo walking through Emyn Muil and the Dead Marshes for as long as they do in TTT? In that case you should consider seeing a shrink! I haven't seen anyone complaining about all the songs and poems being cut out in the films.
3) The films need to be presented in a way that not only introduces LOTR to people who haven't had the pleasure of reading the books, but to create a justifiable storyline and a visualization of LOTR to its readers and fans. That's a difficult job. LOTR: the films are NOT for its fans and readers only, NOR is it for the people who haven't heard of LOTR/read the books. It's for EVERYONE! And in terms of that, it could properly not have done better.
OK, now I would like to say that yeah, as a fan of the books I have my pointers to the films, Why wasn't Tom Bombadil in the films? Why does Aragorn almost die in TTT? Why doesn't Sam look into the mirror of Galadriel? Why does Boromir die in the first film and not the second? Where is Shelob? But the point is, NOBODY CARES!!! We know all this, cause we've read the books. It's what we call INTERESTING/ADDITIONAL information. The people who haven't, DON'T CARE, they'll never know! So in this way, everybody is happy. But it does create a loophole for another question I think is more interesting: Why all the made-up stuff? Well, it is simply necessary to gain as large an audience as possible, and as stated above, THAT'S THE PURPOSE OF THE FILM, to be for EVERYBODY!
I am sick of people saying that Peter Jackson is a bad director. The shots are fantastic, the actors (which have been directed) are doing a REALLY good job, the tenseness, which of course is different from person to person, is higher than in many other films, and the film has a feeling of art about it.
I am sick of people who have read the books and complain about the film being crap and not doing the books justice, when they themselves can't be bothered to spell characters' names correctly. Go be miserable on your own while we others have fun. It's your loss.
I am sick of people complaining about holes in the story when they simply haven't understood something. Gandalf becomes the white because he earned that title by killing the Balrog of Morgoth. DO SOME SIMPLE, FUN, EASY RESEARCH, read the books, or even easier: Listen to what the characters in the film are saying. Please don't put your stupidity on display like that.
Guys and Gals, in the end, if you read the books, and then see the films, you'll know everything, you should be able to appreciate everything, and if you only want to see the films, that's fine, you're in for a long movie which should entertain you till the end. If you only want to read the books, that's fine as well, but more than anything, Peter Jackson's films are SUPPORTING Tolkien's work, not destroying it, not building on it, not overshadowing it. Supporting it. Giving it a new glance. And that, they do magnificently well.
If you like the films, I feel sorry for you, for not being able to be done to, but I also respect your opinion, just make sense. And make sure that it makes sense to you, and that you're not just trying to be different, or trying to be critical. The LOTR films are too good to be spoiled in that way.
The books are always going to be the ultimate work of Tolkien, and they will always be the best, if you need them to be. The films still complement the books, in the same way that the books complement the film.
Remember that your vision may not be the same as Peter Jackson's. That does not mean that either of you are wrong. It just means he had the money and power to show everyone his ideas, but that shouldn't matter to you. Keep yours, and make them what they are to you, but accept Jackson's as another vision, as fit to exist as yours.
I, for one, cannot wait until The Return Of The King (ROTK), when the trilogy will be completed, and in the meantime, I'll have fun reading Tolkien's masterpieces (while skipping over the boring bits, like we all do ;o).
Enjoy the art.
Monroe