Hey! Ease up on Jackson!

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2003)

I just wanted to address all those who are raging with Balrog-like fury that Peter Jackson did not follow the books to a "T" when he wrote the screenplays for these films (along with Walsh, Boyens, and Sinclair). Who says he must? YOU??? I admit I've not read the books yet, but I just finished The Hobbit and am now beginning FOTR. I'm sure I'll be a bit disappointed also when I find things in the books that are nowhere in the films, but why must we always lash out with anger when a screenplay does not precisely mirror the book it's based on in every way? Books are nearly always better than their movies. Why? Because of the power of your own imagination. No Hollywood director past, present, or future can compete with that. Jackson and the entire team down to those guys putting all that chain-mail together link by link (see the bonus stuff on the extended dvd edition of FOTR) are simply doing a sensational job on these films. Special kudos to Howard Shore for composing the hauntingly beautiful music that transports us to Middle-Earth. I especially like the part in the score where Gandalf and the Balrog plunge into that monstrous cavern just before they hit the water. In my humble opinion (and I've heard it from others, too), nearly every moment in these films is a work of art. This is the first time I can truly call a movie a masterpiece. Please, PLEASE, just enjoy the movies by themselves. Don't criticize them because of their differences from the books. You'll live a longer and happier life if you can practice less-cynical things like that!