@brogokudestroys: “He's complex throughout; ROTK simply shows him in the last stage of his transformation.”
One thing I didn’t mention is I really do not know what they were trying to do with the Gollum flashback. Before they told us to sympathize him because he was once a normal guy but from the first frame he already looks creepy, there’s no humanizing because basically the first thing we see him do is murder somebody, and he’s already referring to himself as “we” which I thought was a post ring behavior.
Oh, that's simple really. Nobody becomes evil from the spot. Everyone has a bit of it inside them. It shows that despite the fact that he was still a good person by the beginning, there was a spark there. The beginning of that obsession started with something so innocent and minute. It's a great shot. Hell, the entire flashback makes it clear what the movie's trying to say. This character is tragic and it really shows how dangerous the ring is to someone's moral compass, which raises the stakes for Frodo's own journey.
Oh and also as for manufactured tension: Aragorn leaving at night and not telling anyone that was out to get help instead of people thinking he was abandoning them.
When was this?
“ROTK shows Gollum being overrun by his "ring" personality due to his own emotional weakness. He projects his guilt onto Frodo and uses Frodo as a sort of tool for his salvation; his belief that he can be redeemed. This is destroyed when Frodo supposedly betrays him, which leads to him giving into his other personality. He's complex throughout; ROTK simply shows him in the last stage of his transformation.”
Most of that is from Two Towers. RotK doesn’t do much with him. TT handles him psychologically pretty well, I’ve personally had a voice in my head that trashes myself that I can’t shut up so the “you don’t have any friends, nobody likes you” “I’m not listening, I’m not listening” “you’re a liar and a thief, murrdurrer” “I hate you” is all good. I also like how he deludes himself into thinking he fixed the problem. When I’ve had mental health problems I got better and relapsed a lot (I definitely should have gotten therapy)
Two Towers shows the conflict happening. ROTK shows the end result of it.
I would have preferred to have Gollum to be more in a state of confusion and inner conflict in RotK which would probably be more emotionally realistic (because I experience inner-identity shifts throughout the day which lead to inner conflict and I definitely don’t have multi-personality to anywhere close to Gollum’s extent) and more dynamic.
I don't really think that's at all necessary. It's nice but I don't think it's needed. Besides, multiple personalities are real life things. DID includes that. There are plenty of fictional characters with this disorder like Elliot Alderson, the Narrator from Fight Club, and more. I don't think this is anything particularly new.
“Faramir's development was perfectly fine to be honest”
It further develops Boromir’s character because it shows us how he can tap into the hearts of the people with speech but there’s pressure on him to do so, what’s ironic about thie speech is that he tells people the Orcs won’t take this city again but they actually do very soon: “but his rule is failing, and our people lose faith. He looks to me to make things right” (FotR) but more importantly it allows us to feel his family dynamic and why he’s desperate to do something significant which leads him to want to bend his morality because he’s fixated on that goal. We know and feel why letting the Hobbits go was a significant decision. It contrasts Faramir with Boromir.
But a lot of this isn't really necessary and only messes with the pacing of the movie without adding anything that was needed. Like I said before, it's cool, but I don't think it's a must to add it.
“sure a flashback would have been cool,”
A common phrase is “show, don’t tell”
Yeah, but there's also "tell, don't show" in certain situations. Se7en is a great example of that being done right. Persona is another.
“Fellowship's ending doesn't even come close to the sheer catharsis of ROTK's ending,”
So RotK has a good ending, I certainly love moments like Sam being encouraged to take more initiative in his life because he went so close to death, his experiences strengthened his resolve. Frodo being in the reverse situation. Frodo passing his book to Sam. But Boromir is a better developed character than anybody. Amon Hen is an incredibly directed sequence, basically every 2nd is perfect, how it’s shot, how it’s edited, the sound design, how throughout the movie Frodo trusted Aragorn closely but now Frodo is tense around him. Lurtz is amazing. Aragorn bringing his groups spirits up when they are feeling down. Aragorn’s character development. Frodos last interaction with Merry and Pippin.
Boromir is a better developed character, but Frodo's internal conflict is better than anyone's in the series by a long shot. Frodo's paranoia is better executed in later movies with better development. Those are really solid portions of the ending, but ROTK wraps up Aragorn's character development perfectly, it parallels Frodo and Bilbo extremely nicely, it ends off Sam's journey perfectly, and it's far more emotionally satisfying than Fellowship's.
Order of the Phoenix is probably Radcliffe’s best acting of the series. He’s really a great actor, in this one he conveys pain and discomfort: https://youtu.be/j7H-iNImxX4?feature=shared
Radcliffe does a good job in the movie in terms of acting yeah. I'd say LOTR's cast is better by a small margin though
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