Sam Gamgee: The first time I saw the film, I was not terribly impressed with Sean Astin's portrail of Sam. Sam's classic role in LOTR really doesn't begin to heat up until the breakup of the Fellowship, so I think some of my initial view of Sam's role in this movie was colored by this outlook. In
other words, for this reason, I wasn't really looking at Sam very carefully in this movie the first time I saw the film.

Having said that, on subsequent viewings of the film, did like how Astin's face seemed very open. Clearly Astin's open face subliminally communicates that Sam hasn't seen much of the world yet. He was also right on the money with his first outburst at Aragorn at Bree. Sam's defensiveness of
Frodo and his proclivity for sizing people (things, issues, and events too) up from his limited knowledge of the World come through here.

I am going to use my critique of Sam to highlight what I think is the greatest weakness of the film. At Moria, we see Aragorn tell Sam that Bill the pony has to go. We know why. The Mines are no place for a pony, ergo Bill has to find his own way all the way back to Bree.

Now, all of us who have read the books know the heartwarming story of Bill the Pony. Anyone who has a little girl for whom they buy a horse knows how people can absolutely fall in love with animals, and so it is with Sam and Bill. We know how our heroes rescued Bill from the maltreatment at the hands of Saruman's agents and we know how Bill responded to the kindness of his new masters.

The problem with the entire story of Sam and Bill is that this minor, frequently overlooked (by the Tolkien punditocracy), but heartwarming story within LOTR is destroyed by the event compression that is needed in order to successfully bring LOTR to the screen. Simply put, since we get only a
glance of Bill in the film, all of the emotional punch that could have been delivered to film viewers when Bill is let go of is lost. We don't get to feel the full force of Sam's emotional breakdown at the Gates of Moria when Aragorn gives Sam the bad news. All we get is a cursory look of sadness and regret from Sam. Tears that could have poured down the faces of children will stay in their eyes.

All I will say about this aspect of trying to film LOTR is that Compressing Events often ends up Compressing Character Emotions. This issue is often the root cause of why some characters seem flat, emotionless, unconvincing, or even end up (in my view) ruining certain scenes. Because of the length of the story, the films are forced into having to rely on single scenes and / or lines of dialogue to establish what characters believe, think, or feel about certain issues. Sometimes, Jackson and Company are able to convincingly communicate how characters think or feel and sometimes they don't.

I am not specifically criticizing Astin here. I will show elsewhere in other performances how this "character emotion compression" works. Indeed, another example of such emotion compression involves Sam's love of the Elves. We hear a brief line about Sam's love for the Elves when our heroes leave Bree for Rivendell. We also get to see Sam’s face light up when he first sees Arwen (Hell, I would have reacted the same way!). But is that enough for us to be convinced that Sam really loves the Elves?



Finally, Sam does get one of the few lines that made audiences consistently chuckle during the film. It occurs when Gandalf catches Sam eavesdropping in on his talk with Frodo at Bag End. That was pretty good. This minor highlight of the film, however is partially balanced by what I consider to be a faux pas in the scene where our heroes are being chased by the Nine from Weathertop to Rivendell. Sam, if I am seeing the film correctly, tells Strider / Aragorn that Frodo won’t make it to Rivendell. “It’s six days to get to Rivendell!” My problem with that line is this: How does Sam (or the other Hobbits for that matter), who are supposed to know little about the great wide world out there beyond the borders of The Shire, suddenly know that it’s six days to Rivendell? Food for thought.

Merry and Pippin: I have to admit that the first time I saw the film, I could not tell which Hobbit was Merry and which one was Pippin. I think that some of this was because of how they are introduced. When Gandalf looks at them after catching them firing off the "dragon cracker", their faces are both charred with soot. Also, I wasn't paying too careful attention to Pippin's face when the Fellowship was in Balin's Tomb. It took a second viewing for me to figure out who was who.

As with Sam, Merry's and Pippin's roles in the story don't really begin to heat up until The Two Towers. Therefore, some of my problems with Merry and Pippin were the same problems that I had with Sam. I really wasn’t paying too much attention to them on my first viewing of LOTR. However, on subsequent viewings, I thought that Boyd, Monaghan, and Jackson did a decent job of bringing the two younger Hobbits to life.

I’ve always liked Pippin as a character more than any other Hobbit Tolkien wrote about. I do so even though he accomplishes the least of any major Hobbit character in Tolkien’s stories. The reasons I like Pippin are because of his Tookish impulsiveness and because of his occasional youthful retorts. Sometimes he even mouths off to the wise and powerful. When the Hobbits reach Rivendell the following passage occurs:

“Hurray!” cried Pippin, springing up. “Here is our noble cousin! Make way for Frodo, Lord of the Ring!”

“Hush!”, said Gandalf from the shadows … “The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the Master of the Dark Tower of Mordor… Outside it is getting dark.”

“Gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that,” said Pippin…


FOTR, Many Meetings, Pg.298

Pippin is a plot driving character. He is someone who makes things happen. Jackson has done an excellent job of capturing Pippin’s proclivity for getting our heroes into trouble by his youthful, open implusiveness. In the books, it happens in Moria and at Isengard with the Palantir. We see in the film at the Prancing Pony scene after Pippin has had too much drink in him, as well as at Moria.


However, as our beloved story goes on, Pippin’s habit of “testing how hot the oven is by putting his hands on it”, result in some interesting twists to the epic. He offers his service to Denethor almost on an impulse. Later, during the Siege of Gondor, he saves the Line of the Stewards of Gondor when he runs off to go look for Gandalf so that Gandalf can deal with Denethor’s suicidal insanity. This event is really important. Who will rule Gondor if Gondor survives the war? Ages ago, Gondor went through a civil war (the Kin Strife) over whom would sit on the Throne. Remember, the only person in Minas Tirith at this time who has any clue about Aragorn and of his existence is Denethor.

Merry is a different cookie altogether. Merry tends to wonder about things and is definitely more on the ball about what is going on around them than Pippin is. More importantly however, Merry is someone whom things happen to. When the Men of Rohan ride off the Minas Tirith, Merry is nearly left behind. No Rider of Rohan will take him along because he will be a hindrance in battle. It wasn’t until the mysterious Dernhelm (Eowyn) comes along that Merry gets to ride off to Gondor.

Monaghan and Jackson capture some of this when Merry (when I recognized him!) is the one who asks Frodo about “that Black Rider” while the Hobbits are still in The Shire. He is a bit more hardnosed in this scene than I imagined Merry in the books, but his wondering about what’s going on is on the money.

Bilbo: Bilbo is a tough nut to crack in LOTR. He is no longer the central character in the story, but Ian Holm and Jackson manage to capture many of the problems that "that Mad Baggins" faces in his (really) old age. We see the problems that the Ring is causing him - I especially liked how it was accentuating his suspiciousness of others - but we don't really get to see much evidence of the other main problem that Bilbo has that is also causing him to be suspicious: his famed wealth. We do get to see his knowledge and book learning, which is rather rare in Hobbits. We also see that experience, wealth and age have given Bilbo a lot of confidence in himself. Witness how Bilbo deals with Gandalf verses how the other Hobbits deal with Gandalf.

Bag End tells almost as much about Bilbo as the rest of the film does. As I alluded to above, I wish that that the general audience had seen some bags of gold or some similar items to represent more of The Hobbit.

In a way, Bilbo's life in The Shire is almost like being a Rock Star in our world except for the awkward matter about sex. Bilbo presumably did not sleep with a lot of Hobbit babes after he got rich. But Rock Star he is - rich, eccentric (talk about that disappearing act!), constantly pestered by mobs of people who always want a piece of you - no wonder Bilbo decided to run off to Rivendell.

Many people have told me that one of their favorite scenes of this movie was where Bilbo sees the Ring when he is giving Frodo his Mithril mail and Sting. His temporary "freak out" really spooked a lot of people.

In all, I enjoyed Bilbo more in Hobbiton than in Rivendell. I think it's because we see how the Ring has worn Bilbo out in Rivendell and that makes me feel sad for him. In Rivendell, we also see how the world has passed Bilbo by in old age. At least he completed his book - and did anyone catch
that Bilbo's book had a RED COVER?

Ian Holm's Bilbo was a bit dry for me, and his opening words with Gandalf about wanting to see the wide world again sounded like lines from movie dialogue rather than a conversation between two people, but otherwise Bilbo was a pleasant surprise.


Aragorn: Aragorn is not a difficult persona to play other than how he grows in stature as the story progresses. The real challenge for any film maker in dealing with Aragorn involves properly explaining Aragorn's full background. The key words here are full background. I mentioned earlier that one of my disappointments was that the film could have explained - in as little as one or two minutes of screen time - the fates of Gondor and Arnor during the entire arc of the Third Age. In interviews, Viggo Mortensen mentioned how he and Jackson wanted to show an Aragorn who was a bit unsure of himself. Film viewers would have had a much better idea of why he is unsure of his place in the world if they would have had some inkling that Aragorn is a "King without a Land" because of what happened to Arnor.

Many more things about Aragorn would have resonated with viewers if film viewers had known about Arnor. Aragorn's words about Amon Sul, coupled with his sad words about the tower that was once there, would have brought much color to the film. Viewers also would have had a much better idea of why Boromir treated Aragorn the way he did while they were in Rivendell. Viewers would have gotten a strong feel for a conflict of interest over the future rule of Gondor between Boromir and Aragorn. Boromir's death, in turn, would have meant even more to viewers than it did.

I can easily imagine Mortensen's Aragorn as King. No other character (except Arwen) has his scenes changed more than Aragorn, but even so little of his character has been altered. There are several scenes where his judgment is just wonderful. How he tells Legolas at the Council to sit down when he leaps up to defend Aragorn against Boromir's insolence was clearly the right way of handling a really awkward situation. How Mortensen looks at Gandalf when Gandalf tells him to lead the Fellowship on in Moria captured some strong emotions. Clearly, he is getting worried about Gandalf's judgment and demeanor.

Perhaps the only aspect that I miss about Aragorn from the books is that there are times during the story when Aragorn essentially berates people. The classic example of this is where at the Council of Elrond, Aragorn goes on a tirade about Barliman Butterbur's slow wits. Aragorn, hard edged because of the life he has lived, is someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly.

Mortensen, however, is a really uneven in how he delivers Aragorn's dialogue. There are times in which his words are amongst the most emotional of the film. His utter amazement at Frodo's survival from the spear hit he takes in Moria is perfect. When he yells at Gandalf that Saruman is using his powers to bring down Caradhras and that the Fellowship must turn back, Mortensen is clearly doing everything he can to dissuade Gandalf from continuing to journey through to the Redhorn Pass. To go on is suicide.

Sadly, Mortensen’s wonderful dialogue falls really flat elsewhere and in my view nearly destroys several scenes. Two scenes that were nearly shattered for me by Aragorn were when the Fellowship escaped Moria, and when Boromir tells Aragorn of his fears for Gondor’s future when the Fellowship are still in Lorien.

When the Fellowship finally escape from Moria, the camera goes into slow motion as the Fellowship is shown in stages of terrible grief over the loss of Gandalf. Sam breaks down, while Merry and Pippin are comforting each other. I was particularly struck by the look on Legolas’ face. He shed no tears (I didn’t see any Elves shed tears during the film), but the look on his face was that of someone who is just absolutely dumbstruck with disbelief over what has happened. Legolas looks like he is about to attempt to deny to himself that what he just saw happen really didn’t happen.

In the midst of all of this comes Aragorn. “All right. Boromir, Legolas, get them out!” Aragorn comes in and almost casually says that we have to roll ’em up and move ’em out. He sounded flat and emotionless, almost as though he were barking out orders like a drill sergeant. In the immediate aftermath of what is one of the ultimate highlights of LOTR for millions of Tolkien fans – the epic confrontation between Gandalf and the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad–dum – Aragorn seems almost casual in his demeanor. Sean Bean’s Boromir begs Aragorn to, “Give them a moment for Pity’s sake!” that is nothing short of Shakespearean in its intensity. He almost saves the scene. But Aragorn merely replies that Orcs will fill the woods by nightfall and that we have to keep going on our adventure. When I was hoping to have my heart sink when Hope has failed, I merely experienced a brief pit stop before we head on out.

The other scene I mentioned, where Boromir is confiding to Aragorn about his thoughts about Gondor, is another letdown. Boromir has an almost soaring scene here. He tells Aragorn about what Galadriel said to him about the fate of Gondor. He then stares into the distance as he speaks magnificently of the Lord’s of Gondor being called home (Jackson borrows some words from Chapter 1 of The Return of the King and uses them for Boromir’s dialogue here). “Have you ever been called home?” Aragorn’s eyes follow Boromir’s as Boromir speaks. Aragorn is clearly feeling plenty of empathy for his distant kinsman.

Then, another letdown. After Boromir finishes his words, Aragorn limply replies that, “I have seen the White City.”

End of conversation. Now really Aragorn? Have you really seen the great City of Minas Tirith? Well of course you have dammit! Tell us you have for Pity’s sake! Or is that really all you have to say to Boromir when Boromir is clearly going through such an emotional moment? Why did he not say something to try and reassure Boromir that things would turn out all right? Don’t try to come back and say that Aragorn did so this when Boromir was at deaths door. That was an entirely different scene altogether.

I can’t rag entirely on Mortensen for this. Blame for this lies ultimately on Jackson. After all, he was the one who wrote and directed this, didn’t he? In all fairness though, Mortensen did play a passionate and fairly convincing Aragorn, even if he was not always consistent.

Boromir: After going on and on about Boromir while writing about Aragorn, shouldn’t I have been writing about Boromir instead?

Sean Bean plays an absolutely wonderful Boromir. Boromir is a fairly easy character to play – somewhat one dimensional, but Sean Bean succeeds over and over again in bringing a true Shakespearean (not that word again!) intensity to Boromir’s role in the epic. He is one of the few characters who truly manage to shine through the massive scale, panoramic scenes and special effects that define this film.

The Boromir of the film seems slightly different from the Boromir of the books. Most of this difference in my mind revolves around the idea that the Boromir of the books is more interested in military glory for its own sake. Sean Bean’s Boromir is someone who looks to the One Ring for help in the noble cause of defending his realm against Sauron’s minions.


If one thinks subtly about the argument raging within the Fellowship as to where to go with The Ring, there are broader reasons for Boromir to suggest taking the Ring to Minas Tirith other than it being the best way to go. Boromir would be on his home ground. If he wanted to seize the Ring there, he could conceivably call upon his subjects to aid him in seizing the Ring if he so desired. Just a thought.

With precious screen time ticking away, I was a bit disappointed that Faramir’s dream sequence, which brought Boromir to Rivendell in the first place, seems to have been left out of the film(s). I say seems here – I suppose it could be possible that Faramir may yet tell Sam and Frodo about his dreams later on, but it appears doubtful. The reason I was hoping for the dream sequence to be in the films would be to lend an aura of human mysticism that is in the books. I know you Tolkien fanatics out there, we could go into an entire argument about Destiny, Iiluvatar, the Valar, and all of that. This writing is not a theoretical analysis about Middle Earth. It is writing about Tolkien in my world and what the books mean to me. The films are clearly part of my world!

When the casting for these movies was announced, I was absolutely thrilled that Sean Bean took this role. I knew he would be good, but he turned out even better on screen than I thought he would be. Bean is known here in America mostly for being a villain. His best known roles were when he battled Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and when he tried to do in Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in Golden Eye. It was great to see him play a flawed man who strives to redeem himself before his end.

Legolas and Gimli: Outside of their budding friendship, Legolas and Gimli accomplish the least of all the characters within the Fellowship. They do get to do their fair share of Hollywood Heroic Fighting, but mostly Legolas and Gimli allow Tolkien to offer some insights to us about Middle Earth from the viewpoint of their respective races.

I was impressed by Orlando Bloom’s acting skills. Of course, many young women (and a few men) were probably more taken in with his appearance. Specifically, I liked watching the way Jackson zeroed in on his face in certain scenes. In Rivendell, I liked watching how he reacted to Gimli offering to join him in helping Frodo, just after having a raging argument that exploded when Gimli roared, “Never trust an Elf!” I mentioned earlier how I liked how he reacted to the Fall of Gandalf.

However, I have to drag Jackson through the mud again about his directing here. In Lorien, we hear the Elves start to sing about the Fall of Gandalf. Legolas says the words in the story on how he would not translate the words of their songs because the grief is still to near. The scene seems almost uncaring and rushed. The feeling of true loss that Tolkien had the Fellowship express while in Lorien over the loss of Gandalf is practically absent. Maybe if the camera had lingered for just a few moments, or showed members of the Fellowship reminiscing about Gandalf the way they did in the story would have better conveyed to viewers how Gandalf touched so many lives.

How did I intend to write about Legolas here and end up writing about Gandalf?

Galadriel: I am going to use this part of my review to also go over the Lorien scene.

The first time I saw the film, I was not entirely impressed with Cate Blanchett’s work. I think it had more to do with the entire Lorien scene more than with Jackson’s presentation of Galadriel. It wasn’t that I was not impressed with his presentation of Caras Galadon (I was!), it was that the editing of the film from Moria to Lorien makes it seem like our heroes were getting back into their hot rods and just reaching the next pit stop on the highway. It particularly affected how the Fall of Gandalf was presented. It almost seemed to me as if Gandalf were just another Orc casualty in the film, while clearly he is not.

So what does this have to do with Galadriel. Not much. Film viewers get their cursory, hurried introduction to Galadriel from Gimli. I guess I shouldn’t gripe too much. In fact several people told me that they liked how after he boasts how watchful he is, they are suddenly caught unawares by Haldir.

I should make a short comment about the Haldir scene here. I really liked how Haldir and the Lorien Elves were presented. They seem androgynous. It seems that there were both male and female Elves in the scene, but they are also really beautiful to behold. Not only that, they clearly have the attitude of fierce warriors who are watching the frontiers of their fabled land. I would not have wanted to be caught prowling the neighborhood by these Elves.

The introductory scene with Celeborn and Galadriel was another scene that was jarring and rushed. What was incongruous about it was that Celeborn starts his dialogue only to be practically cut off by Galadriel. Celeborn is quickly sidelined. Of all the times I saw this film, only once did it seem that this was not the case. It’s almost certain to me that which film print you watch makes some difference on how you perceive the film. Nonetheless, every other time I saw the film, I felt as though Jackson was simply hurting the film by having Celeborn be in there.

Galadriel is presented somewhat differently in the film than she is in the books. In the film, she is presented more as a “witch” to use Gimli’s words. I have to admit though that I rather liked this presentation of Galadriel. Frequently in Tolkien’s writings, others in Middle Earth see Galadriel as some kind of mysterious and perilous goddess, even though we see her to be kind and wise. I didn’t mind seeing her as someone who could make your blood curl. I also liked how she presented as having the power to speak to someone without using words. Clearly, Jackson was borrowing from Tolkien’s writings where Elves were able to speak to each other without words. For Galadriel, he simply extended this power so that she could communicate to other races as well.

Blanchett is the only actress around right now who I could imagine playing Galadriel. It’s probably a safe bet that most Tolkien fanatics feel the same way. The special effects used to present Galadriel where she has her vision of how she would be if she were to take the One Ring were quite interesting because that scene is a textbook example of a scene that is hard to visualize adequately. Ergo it was a scene that could have really gone wrong. I will say that the first time I saw the film (along with all the other Tolkien fanatics –remember!) two young girls who were sitting in front of me broke out in laughter when this scene was shown. However, that was the only time that people reacted that way during this scene. In my view, Jackson and Blanchett passed the test.

The first time I saw the film, I didn’t notice in the introduction that Galadriel was clearly shown wearing one of the Three Rings. It wasn’t until the second time I saw the film that I noticed that she was wearing her Ring when the Fellowship leaves Lorien.

Elrond: I really enjoyed watching Hugo Weaving play Elrond in this film. Jackson and Weaving did an excellent job with Elrond all the way around. Elrond was presented in all of his colors – Warrior, Healer, and Lord of a great house where memories of things are still preserved that have long passed into legend.

Weaving’s Elrond has an appropriately august presence. At the same time, he can also be puzzled and amused when the other Hobbits pop in and declare that they will be a part of the Fellowship.

I have already written elsewhere about my hopes for scenes showing Elrond and Gandalf speaking of history and events. Perhaps one or two minutes more of this would have been better, but I am getting picky.

                   
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