My dad was really pissed off at Frodo fighting Gollum in the Mount Doom scene. He definitely thinks that it misses the point. In the book, the point of that scene is that Frodo is incapable ultimately of resisting the ring and also that there are other forces involved. But I agree that it kind of works better in a cinematic sense.
The one thing that always annoyed me about these movies was how expanded Arwen's role is and how they make her decision out to be something it isn't. In Tolkien, mortality is seen as superior to immortality and seen as the gift of mortals. Also, because Arwen's father was only half-elf, that allows her to have the choice between mortality and immortality. So her choice isn't the huge deal the movie makes it out to be. I'm pretty sure Jackson had a crush on Arwen (and possibly Liv as well) because she shows up in all the posters as if she is a main character and has more scenes, quite a few of which don't work.
And the Arwen decides to say because of a baby rather than because of Aragorn pissed me off so much. Basically, it made it seem as if she wouldn't have stayed if she hadn't known she would have a son. Which changes the whole storyline and is rather sexist in my opinion.
But I might be biased because I totally ship Aragorn/Eowyn. Tolkein wrote it that way first and then threw Arwen in later because he wanted Aragorn to have someone more feminine.
I agree with you completely about Denethor. They definitely over did it in the movie. He comes across as a villain pretty much rather than as a sad old man who has a lot of bad traits but some good ones too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-08-28 05:42 pm (UTC)The one thing that always annoyed me about these movies was how expanded Arwen's role is and how they make her decision out to be something it isn't. In Tolkien, mortality is seen as superior to immortality and seen as the gift of mortals. Also, because Arwen's father was only half-elf, that allows her to have the choice between mortality and immortality. So her choice isn't the huge deal the movie makes it out to be. I'm pretty sure Jackson had a crush on Arwen (and possibly Liv as well) because she shows up in all the posters as if she is a main character and has more scenes, quite a few of which don't work.
And the Arwen decides to say because of a baby rather than because of Aragorn pissed me off so much. Basically, it made it seem as if she wouldn't have stayed if she hadn't known she would have a son. Which changes the whole storyline and is rather sexist in my opinion.
But I might be biased because I totally ship Aragorn/Eowyn. Tolkein wrote it that way first and then threw Arwen in later because he wanted Aragorn to have someone more feminine.
I agree with you completely about Denethor. They definitely over did it in the movie. He comes across as a villain pretty much rather than as a sad old man who has a lot of bad traits but some good ones too.