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I heard that the Scouring Of The Shire wasn't in the film at all Vyse, something about it being extra to the story and that the 'flashback' in the first film being all that will be shown of it. To be honest, to me it seemed tacked on at the end in the book as well. I know what it was saying but it just seemed "extra." If it means I get half an hour extra of the battle scenes at the end then i'm all for it. I know some of the hardcore Tolkien enthusiasts will baulk at the idea of this but they are film adaptations not exact retellings. I do hope that Sam gets to be a ringbearer though as I thought that it was quite important to the story.
The reason that the film ended when it did is that in the last two books Sam and Frodo don't actually have a lot to do. What they do get up to could be told in rather a small amount of screen time. Most of the fifth and sixth book is concentrated on Aragorn side of the story and the differing adventures of Merry and Pippin. As Frodo, and the ring, is the main emphasis of the story they needed to be in it more. Hence Shelob and the encounter with the Orcs has been put back into the third film. The thing is its one story told in three parts so its not as if its not going to be in there at all.
Gollum was fantastic and I believe that PJ (and his team!) should get some recognition from the Academy for this great achievement. Not with a best supporting actor gong as i have heard some people call for but with some sort of Special Recognition award as the combination of CG and actor driven performance was fantastic and streets ahead of anything we've seen previously. Gollum also looked scarily like Andy Serkis too!
I know some people have taken exception the Aragon going missing but the people who I went with, having not read the books, thought that he was dead and his reappearance worked very well for them. PJ has to appeal to people who havent read the book as well.
I havent heard any annoyance at the portrayal of the March Of The Ents, something that isnt really covered in a lot of detail in the books, only in flashback. This was something that PJ put in extra to the book. This was done extremely well and was dealt with a lot better on screen than in the original text. So before people start moaning about this scene and that being in the film or a certain chapter not being in the film be grateful for this scene!
I though TTT was excellent, although it did drag a bit during the first half although having read the books I did understand why. There was a lot of story that needed to be told to get the characters where they needed to be. Didnt stop me going back for more the next day though. Roll on next xmas!
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Last edited by filmfreak; 12-31-02 at 12:56 PM.