Before I go on ranting about how Peter Jackson and crew bungled on the Lord of the Rings, it's important to begin by saying that I believe they did do an outstanding job. Creating three films at once is a Herculean undertaking in and of itself - especially when the Lord the Rings has been revered for decades.
This article points out some gaffes/oversights (some out of frustration, some for humor's sake) that I was hoping Jackson, New Line and Weta Workshop would look into before filming, "The Hobbit". While I am guessing they weren't waiting to hear from me and my 2 cent opinion, I at least wanted to put it out there...here's what I came up with:
The top 20 things I can't help but wonder, "What the heck were Peter Jackson and crew thinking?"
In the extended DVD commentaries they explain that towards the end of the FOTR, Jackson informs the sound team that the Ringwraths don't sound scary enough so they somehow arrived at using a sound byte from his wife (Fran) screaming instead. While none of us outsiders heard the original sound that Jackson didn't like, I find it hard to believe it was any less silly that what they used. I don't mean to take anything away from Fran Jackson, she sounds like a lovely woman, I just don't understand why they used this sound - it wasn't scary, it was just annoying.
Carrying the Ringswraiths point a little further, even their appearance wasn't that scary. Having the experts over at Weta make them (and their robes) a little more wispy and wraith-like would have been a nice touch - I suggest this because I know they had the skill to do it. Right now they look and move like nine ordinary guys riding around with black hoods rather than kings of old that have had their souls and wills stripped from them.
Ford of Bruinen: Having Arwen take Frodo on horseback to Rivendell wasn't what I would have done, but I understand it. I just can't help but wonder why they had the Ringwraiths chasing them both in broad daylight. Perhaps they were on a tight shooting schedule but having the Nazgul riding around on a perfectly sunny day just didn't work - I almost expected to see someone walking their dog or throwing the Frisbee in the background. Shooting this at night, at dusk or even during rain would have been preferable, perhaps even the guys doing digital grading could have helped with this.
Opening scene of the Return of the King. Hey look, I know Andy Serkis worked his tail off playing Gollum, but it seemed liked Jackson bent over backwards just to get him into the picture. In the extended DVD commentaries, the writers indicated that they wanted to concentrate their storyline on Frodo, but I am not sure how this 5-10 minute Smeagol detour fit into that plan. The Two Towers had a nice opening scene, too bad the Return of the King's wasn't.
Orlando Bloom wins the award of the dopiest quote off of the extended DVD commentaries. He makes the comment that when Legolas is on the screen, "...he wants to show everyone that he's capable of taking care of business". Based on reading Tolkien's books several times over, it seems that this is Bloom talking about himself rather than Legolas. The character certainly had a general distrust for dwarves, but I never saw him as arrogant, prideful or conceited about himself. No Bloom, Legolas isn't concerned with showing everyone he can take care of business, maybe that's the way you feel about yourself. This shouldn't have bothered me but it did; it's important that the actors stay true to the character. Bloom's a good actor - I like him, but this was a silly comment.
In the extended DVD commentaries, several of the actors praised Jackson and the other two writers for allowing them to contribute and make suggestions about the characters. Being an outsider to the movie business, I can only speculate that this approach is done to build trust and inspire actors - not a bad idea. But when many of the actors indicated that they were unfamiliar with the LOTR (some hadn't even read it, unlike Christopher Lee), why would you let them make suggestions or modifications to the character or scene?
John Rhys Davies is terrific as Gimli, in fact I can't imagine anyone else playing him. Still, I wonder if I was the only one that was baffled and somewhat annoyed about the coming and going of his Scottish accent. This isn't on Davies - the directors should have left these Scottish takes on the cutting room floor.
Much like the Ford of Bruinen comment, I understand why they tried to weave Arwen into the storyline throughout the trilogy (everything from flashbacks to weird psychic connections), but I didn't agree with it. It slowed the pace of the movie down and just didn't fit well. Thank goodness they didn't include the scenes they shot of Arwen fighting at Helm's Deep, that would have been a disaster.
Not sure what they were doing with the Kate Blanchett and the Galadriel character: shooting at a different frame rate, slowing her voice down and shooting extreme close up of her eyes. Hmm, Galadriel was a high-elf, and a powerful force, but she wasn't a sorceress - I wonder why they tried to make her out to be.
During the blistering snow storm on Caradhras, you can pick out the few shots that the actors were actually out in colder weather (their faces have a blushing tint to them). Most of the shots however have actors with warm faces because they were filming under hot studio lights with fake snow that...well, looked fake.
In the Two Towers, one of the staff members comes up with the idea of trying to keep the audience in suspense when reintroducing Gandalf by mixing Ian Mckellen's voice with Christopher Lee's, so the audience can't really tell if it's Gandalf or Saruman. One of the production guy's explains the process in the extended DVD film commentary; he said he felt they nailed it. No, they didn't. Not to knock the sound guys for trying - this was just a foolish idea that should have been squashed quickly.
All things undead are green. Ever notice that all of the creepy things in Middle Earth are green? The sprits in the water of the Dead Marshes (when Frodo falls in), the City of the Dead and the Army of the Dead, as well as Minas Morgul. What is it about florescent green that is scary? Had I lived in Middle Earth I would have run like hell from anything or anyone that was wearing brightly colored green clothing. When the Army of the Dead storms the orcs on the Pelennor Fields it looks like a child spilled green paint that runs all over the furniture. Future note for, "The Hobbit": florescent green doesn't equal scary. Perhaps they watched too many Ghostbusters movies and figured they'd make everything undead the same color as Slimer.
The Weta team did a terrific job with the Eye of Sauron, unlike a lot of the other characters, it actually did look a little spooky. Too bad they had to ruin it with some shots in the Return of the King with a spotlight shining from the center eye. I realize they are helping the audience understand that Sauron is actively looking and seeing things, but it looked light a Black and Decker flashlight coming from the center of the eye. Cheesy.
The "Let's show off Orlando Bloom", Legolas' trapeze act in the Return of the King where the character single handedly climbs up, disarms and kills a mûmakil moving at full throttle. Sure, I know Orlando's a hit with the ladies, so showing him off is fine, but this scene was not only blatantly ridiculous, it just wasn't necessary. This one's on the writers - not Bloom.
It really was a Crack of Doom. John Howe does a terrific job in designing the door to Sammath Naur, again, it looks scary, but what the heck was the lighting crew thinking about when Frodo and Sam got inside? Look at the flashes on the actor's faces - it looks like there was lightning storm in there...perhaps Gandalf left some fireworks in there that got too close to the lava. Whatever the case is, this looked amateurish and was certainly not necessary. Instead of looking like a place of foreboding and dread, they made the Crack of Doom look like a fun house ride at the county fair.
Sam tumbles off a cliff in the Two Towers when he, Frodo and Gollum approach the Black Gate of Mordor. All during this scene you can see they filmed on a bright, sunny day, which doesn't help the idea that Mordor is a horrible, dismal place. Perhaps it is possible for the sun to shine in Mordor, but Sauron could affect the weather (like Saruman could). Perhaps it's me being picky, but I just can't understand why they left the sky a bright blue when right behind the Black Gate was a land called, Udun, which translates to "hell". I don't picture hell with sunny skies, do you? The post production guys should have fixed this, or they should have done something about it when they were shooting.
On the Stairs of Cirith Ungol, Frodo has a near psychotic episode where he's duped by Gollum into sending Sam away. In the extended DVD film commentary, the staff seem rather proud of coming up with this idea, they felt that it shows that Frodo is capable of making mistakes. They also indicated that this gives Gollum a payoff, since he's been trying so hard to separate the two heroes, and it increases the tension. This approach in separating Frodo from Sam ate up a lot of film time on screen. The writers tried to get clever here when they should have stuck to Tolkien's script - it was fine.
Billy Boyd does a nice job singing in the Return of the King, I don't want to take away from his performance - I am just not sure why it's in there. Much like Orlando Bloom's trapeze act in killing the mûmakil earlier in the movie, this seemed like a contrived effort to showcase Boyd's other talents. The writers had to cram an unbelievable amount of story into just these three movies (and they did an admirable job), why they devoted so much time to this scene is a mystery to me.
Having the warg battle in the middle of the Two Towers actually wasn't a bad idea. I think they took the idea a little too far (both figuratively and literally) when they had Aragon fly off the cliff with one of the wargs. Silly. To make matters worse, Aragorn gets out of this mess by having a psychic connection with Arwen and having a horse (with apparently a GPS system because Aragorn looked half dead and couldn't guide him) carry him safely to Helm's Deep. I am not sure what I am more puzzled about: what actually happened during that scene or why it was in the movie at all.
The lighting, the lighting, the lighting: in Mordor and the Dead Marshes - in some of the shots you can see that it's sunny out. In many cases you'll notice that the lighting shifts significantly from one scene to another. Come on guys, you went to such great lengths to make sure the props were authentic - why would you neglect the lighting?
