Initial Impressions upon first viewing the ROTK

(Warning: here there be SPOILERS)

I was one of the few lucky souls to be inside the Embassy theater in Wellington on 1 December. I had just finished walking the red carpet, just finished hobnobbing with celebrities...and I was walking on clouds. To be honest, I really didn't think that ROTK could live up to my expectations...or to all the hype. I'm a huge film fanboy nerd and I've been let down all too often recently (Phantom Menace, Matrix Unloaded..and Regurgitated). So I was trying to lower my expectations with ROTK (a little hard when PJ and cast are sitting a few rows in front of you). 

Well I have to say I was pleasantly relieved. I adore the movie and can't wait to see it again and again just to revel in the tiny moments now that I've been swept away by the grandeur.  The Battle of Pellenor fields was superb!  Shelob was delicious!  Gollum..... 'nuff said.  The little look that crosses Bernard Hill's face just as he sees the Witch King.  And the Haradrim!!! Whahooo...

That's not to say I didn't have problems with it. I would have dearly loved the book's original dialogue between Eowyn and the Witch King  (or at least said "You look upon a woman" instead of the more 'let's play directly to the feminists in the audience', "I am no man."  I would have loved to see the scouring of the Shire and Bill Ferny get his comeuppance. I needed to see the "Houses of the Healing" chapter, since Eowyn is one of my favorite characters (the other, in the films...is Boromir).  The Corsairs were truncated.  The despair of Denethor was gone...he just seemed nuts.  I could have done without the "searchlight" Eye of Sauron which reminded me all too quickly of the Rankin and Bass adaptation. But overall I adore the film. 

My major criticism is that it felt rushed. I think the fact that P.J. was forced to cram this into 3 hours and 20 minutes is going to cost the film Best Picture. I hope I'm wrong. But the choppy pacing and myriad and obvious deleted scenes are just going to give the Academy an excuse to snub the ultimate genre film. 

I'll probably see this more than 10 times in the theaters...but ultimately it feels like a trailer for the Extended Edition...which I suspect has at least an hour and a half of material to be added back in. I only hope that New Line will release that version in the theaters next year.

Kudos to P.J. and his team for pulling off the impossible. Finally a genre trilogy we don't have to rationalize or apologize for. It is simply an amazing achievement and even the most ardent haters of genre stories have to concede that.

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