The Lord of the Rings (film): Difference between revisions

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[[File:lord_of_the_rings_the_fellowship_of.jpg|thumb|350px| An epic of glaring proportions.]]

 

 

One of the biggest movie projects ever undertaken, the overall budget was around $285 million and principal filming for all three films took place over 18 months in Jackson's native New Zealand. The entire project took eight years, factoring in the early pre-production and the fact that additional pick-ups were filmed in between each films release. The trilogy was a great financial success, with the films being the 19th, 10th, and 3rd (8th, 4th, and 2nd following the third film's release) highest-grossing films of all time, respectively, unadjusted for inflation. The films were critically acclaimed, winning 17 out of 30 [[Academy Award]]s nominated in total, and received wide praise for the cast and for the innovative practical and digital special effects. ''Return of the King'' is the first (and currently only) fantasy movie to ever be awarded the Best Picture Oscar.

 

The theatrical versions were lengthy epics (the first two clocking in around 3 hours and the third 3 1/2 hours), and the Special Editions (released before the succeeding movies) added at least another half-hour to each films running time. Unusual for such a thing, Peter Jackson has stated that the Special Editions are not an actual [[Directors Cut]] but merely a fan-friendly extension to enlarge the world of Middle-Earth and see what things they left out of the faster paced Theatrical Versions.

 

 

== A through C ==

* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]

* [[Action Bomb]]: In ''The Two Towers'', during the battle at Helm's Deep, the Uruk-hai placed a bomb in the drainage tunnel at Helm's Deep, with an Uruk with a torch blowing himself up to set it off.

** This is actually a [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Sergei Eisenstein]] film ''[[Ivan the Terrible]]'', where Ivan uses a similar device to blow up one of his enemies' walls. If you watch the film, the shot-angles are even similar.

* [[Action Girl]]: Éowyn aside, Arwen also has [[A Day in the Limelight|a moment in the limelight]] in the first film.

** [[Word of God]] reveals that Arwen was initially slated to appear at Helm's Deep to fight alongside the heroes. It was eventually realized that this may be pushing it a little too far (even Liv Tyler hated the idea), and in the end she was replaced by Haldir.

** Although never a villain, Faramir was more hostile to the hobbits in the movie than he was in the books, and is tempted by the Ring, until Samwise tells him what the ring did to Boromir.

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: Many favored aspects of the books were taken up a notch, while much detail was glossed over.

** The final chapters of the books, the Scouring of the Shire, were removed entirely. Even if they were somewhat anti-climactic, they gave the book a darker vibe, arguably one of Tolkien's recurrent themes.

* [[Adaptation Dye Job]]: Boromir in ''Fellowship of the Ring'' is described as having dark hair. For the movies they gave him light brown, bordering on blond. Same thing goes for Faramir.

* [[Blood From the Mouth]]

* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: Okay, some blood, but with all the hacking and slashing, they had to keep the rating from being too high.

** The Orcs of Moria too.

* [[Boxed Set]]

** [[Fridge Horror]]: Where are they at the end of the battle? As well as all the elves that went to help them. We see ''how'' many people ride out at the end?

*** Supposedly, they all had death scenes filmed, although the battle scenes are too dark to tell.

* [[Collapsing Lair]]: Barad-dûr, when Sauron is finally defeated. See [[Keystone Army]].

* [[Color Wash]]: Especially noticeable in day-for-night scenes. There's even a scene in ''Return of the King'' where Pippin is searching for Merry, that appears as a daylight scene in the theatrical version but was regraded to night for the extended version.

* [[Come with Me If You Want to Live]]: Aragorn gets introduced this way in Bree, as a wilderness expert who can outrun the Nazgûl. More so in the film, since they set out that very morning after they outwit the Nazgûl ambush. Film-Aragorn fits the trope to a T:

{{quote|'''Frodo:''' Where are you taking us?

'''Frodo:''' We have no choice but to trust him. }}

* [[Convection, Schmonvection]] The lava pours out of Mount Doom within feet of Sam and Frodo at the end of the movie. Then {{spoiler|the eagles swoop down and pick them up}}.

* [[Fade to White]]: Peter Jackson enjoys doing this, ''especially'' at the end of the third film.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: The heroes (and the unfamiliar reader) assume Frodo suffered such a fate. Subverted, somehow, as Aragorn deduced the messenger was lying.

'''Aragorn''': (smirks, strolls up to the Mouth of Sauron, and cuts of his head) I do not believe it. ''I will not.'' }}

** In the book, the Witch-King [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome|specifies what will happen to Eowyn]] if she "comes between a Nazgûl and his prey." Specifically:

'''Gimli:''' He fell. }}

* [[Helmets Are Hardly Heroic]]: Unless you are a Rider of Rohan, or an Elf soldier, or a Dwarf, or a soldier of Gondor.

* [[Hilarious Outtakes]]: While Jackson and company are saving the gag reel for the high definition [[Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition]], a few bloopers have surfaced. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkNWF_75dWM&feature=related Sean Astin just wants a close-up].

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: Sauron's demise becomes a [[Karmic Death]] when you realise it was his corruption and degradation of the innocent hobbits Smeagol and Frodo and their resulting conflict over the ring in Mount Doom that causes it to fall into the fire.

* [[Kneel Before Frodo]]: Aragorn and a courtyard full of people bow to the hobbits during his own coronation.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Performed by Sam in one of the Osgiliath scenes in ''The Two Towers'' when he whines to Frodo that "by all rights, we shouldn't even ''be'' here!" - referencing the fact that the two characters never go to Osgiliath in the book.

* [[Leave No Survivors]]: In the films both Saruman and the Witch-king tell their minions to kill everyone in Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, respectively.

* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: a number of Internet parodies compared this to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F0yUhLJUaY Aragorn's final charge].

* [[Mr. Exposition]]: Legolas when he's not being [[Captain Obvious]]

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Most of the Fellowship as well as some secondary characters were targets of the [[Estrogen Brigade]] even before the books were adapted for screen. Having the characters played by [[Even the Guys Want Him|delectable-looking actors]] merely made this trope more prominent.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Several, ranging from Boromir realizing he was seduced by the Ring to Wormtongue coming to understand that Saruman's gambit isn't overthrow of Rohan (possibly involving him getting Eowyn), it's absolute genocide ''of the human race.''

** Grima seems to believe that Saruman is biting off more than he can chew and that he might be able to play both sides against the middle - right up until Saruman shows him the magically frenzied 30,000 superhumans in plate armor. The look on his face is priceless.

*** In a subversion, the orc army gets a [[Oh Crap]] when Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn get off the boats and charge at them. They [[Oh Crap]] BEFORE seeing that these three dudes brought an army of ghosts with them, at which point they simply panic.

*** Similarly:

'''Aragorn''': ''This'' army. }}

** And then there's Gandalf giving a big speech to the Gondorians about how they can fight whatever comes through the gate. When the first thing through is three huge trolls, Gandalf gets a look on his face like, "Well, I wasn't expecting ''that''."

* [[Phosphor Essence]]: Galadriel glows with a bluish-white light when she explains how powerful and terrible she would become were she to accept the Ring.

* [[Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure]]: Inverted. Just when he needs him most, Frodo ''sends'' ''Sam'' away due to Gollum's ploy. Moments later {{spoiler|he's paralyzed by Shelob}}. Luckily, [[The Power of Friendship]] prevails. (In the book, they're just separated in the maze of caves.)

** [[Peter Jackson]] himself invoked this in his explanation as to his complete rewrite of the meetings of Faramir and Frodo's group: in the books, he lets them go free after learning of their quest and agreeing with it; in the film, he keeps them captive in order to take The Ring. Jackson said specifically this was because after the first book, the Ring's power to corrupt became an [[Informed Ability]] until it surfaced again at the tail-end of Return; in order to remind the viewer that it was basically evil incarnate, and keep with the rules Tolkien himself set, he had to have Faramir be tempted by the ring.

*** The Osgiliath detour even gets a [[Continuity Nod]]:

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Epic Movie]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:Hugo Award]]

[[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]