A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

No spoilers here. Just here to rave. :)

If you think about it, at 3 hours running time, it’s a pretty long movie. The genius of Peter Jackson is that he made sure those 3 hours would just whizz past you. He succeeded at that AND he made you want for more. (C’mon you people who have the film rights of the Hobbit, I’m sure you and New Line can come up with an agreement which would be profitable to all parties.)

Book adaptations can be tricky. I mean if you follow the book strictly (eg. Chris Columbus in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) it won’t guarantee a great end product. Too many liberal interpretations and the movie would be totally unrecognizable by the fans of the book. Getting it just right involves immersing yourself in the book. Silence of the Lambs I think is a good adaptation of a novel.

Jackson certainly took some liberties with his interpretation of Tolkien’s book. He and the writers however, obviously immersed themselves in Middle Earth. Jackson rightfully excised some parts, compressed others and added visual touches which would make the movie fly. And boy did it!

The pacing was great. No long expositions to drag down the story. We were shown not told, as it were. There was that sense of awe and the sweeping epic feel which we haven’t seen for awhile. Petite and I was saying that it’s this generation’s Star Wars. (Yes George, there is such a thing as effective and judicious use of CG).

And may I just say there was one part which gave me goose bumps - it had to do with beacons across mountaintops. If you’ve seen it, you’ll understand. If you haven’t don’t worry - it’s not a big scene. It’s one of those details which Jackson snuck in which adds to the reality of Middle Earth - like Legolas walking on top of the snow while the Fellowship trudged behind him in FOTR, or that Ent whose branches were on fire and dipped himself in the deluge which wiped out Isengard’s army.

This is how you end a trilogy. I’m sure this’ll be one of movies which a lot of people would look back fondly. They would have it in their dvd collection to be watched like “a million times.”

I’m sure Mr. Tolkien would be proud. If you have 3 hours to spare, go watch it. You won’t regret it.