Best of the three?

[alexhurry]

Almost definately Return of the King, The Fellowship is a close runner up, two towers is a decent adaption of the book, but I felt it just didn't have the same feeling to it.

 

[kaneda]

In the cinema I loved the FOTR, like other people have said it was the most faithful to the book. In the cinema I wasn't as keen on the two towers, sure I loved the fight scenes, loved the parts with Gollum, but I rememeber coming out the cinema with my friend and complaining about the change of Faramir's character, and them going to Minas tirith. I can't really rememeber my reaction to the third one except for thinking that the film was a never ending film that we wouldn't get out of.

So in the cinema in my humble opinion the best was FOTR.

BUT it slightly changes in the special edition DVDs. With the DVDs the two towers is my favourite - and I can actually understand why they did what they did with Faramir, and it actually works (although they could have cut out that boring speech Sam does about 'because theres good in the world' blah blah blah). Plus the two towers has the best speech in the whole trilogy "fell deeds awake, now for wrath, now for ruin and a red dawn"

The return of the king, is still never ending (and i actually never watch it to the end - I don't understand why we need to have that scene with Sam and his family), but it does have the immense mouth of sauron bit!

BUT (final but) if i could only watch one of them again, it would be the fellowship of the ring, so i suppose overall that is my favourite one.

 

[cyborg_cinema]

Best of the three?

...Fellowship is the best.

 

[Thadlerian]

Fellowship was easily the best. The other two suffered from a distinct lack of personality, and a chronic case of CGItis.

I second that, for those reasons most of all.

FOTR had what I would call moments. Those are those little places in a story when you feel you're watching/reading something you'll never forget, and which you look forward to enjoying again. FOTR had lots of them.

TT had none, or, worse; it had the opposite: It was a charade of embarrassing moments like Legolas on the shield, and endless Gimli jokes.

ROTK was just exhausting to watch, and I can't really enjoy that.

 

[sanityassassin]

I agree with most of the previous posts I really wanted to see tom bombidall and the barrowights but it was the most faithful and the shire was just like i thought it would be the tt was good in parts but the elfs coming to helms deep really ruined it for me and the return of the king was very drawn out it was the only one ive not got on special dvd

 

[Thadlerian]

...I really wanted to see tom bombidall...

Nah, I don't think that would have been good.

Peter Jackson would probably just have used him for a lot of lame jokes anyway. Tom Bombadil as depicted by Tolkien is completely incompatible with the tone of the movie.

 

[sanityassassin]

Nah, I don't think that would have been good.

Peter Jackson would probably just have used him for a lot of lame jokes anyway. Tom Bombadil as depicted by Tolkien is completely incompatible with the tone of the movie.

he did provide some light relief in a tense section of the book

 

[Thadlerian]

he did provide some light relief in a tense section of the book

Yeah, I really enjoyed that part. And that is what Jackson would never be able to recreate.
Humour in Tolkien's LOTR was moderate, allowed the reader to smile, and feel the relief of the characters.

Humour in Jackson's LOTR is just supposed to have you laugh out loud, without having to think first.

 

[Teir]

...Fellowship is the best.

As far as the films are concerned...
I have to agree. You always get those who prefer the lager scale of the next two ie. Helms Deep and of course the all deciding confrontation at the end, but theres just something so much more effective when the fellowship was all together.....and i think you find that in both the book and movie. Maybe its just me....
Then again prehaps it was the way fellowship was put together, there was a different editor for each of the films working with Jackson (shrug).

As for Tom Bombadil, i don't think he would have worked in the films. Comedy 'mood lightening' was achieved primarily by merry + pippen. i think Tom would have over done the effect. And besides, there would not have been time. Jackson had to pick out what bits were needed, and Tolkien only added Tom into the novel because his children (child?) wanted him to.

 

[Spook]

...Fellowship is the best.

Have to agree.

It's the first film that feels the most exciting to me; and like I'm watching something special on screen. There's just nothing wrong with it that's worth serious criticism.

Of course the other two are excellent in their own right (in my humble opinion anyway.) But it's FOTR that I stick on in the background whenever I paint or want to watch a film I consider a masterpeice that's fun and not a serious effort to watch. I think also as someone who loved and was raised with Games Workshop it was like seeing that world come alive since it's more or less created from Tolkien's works with a little tweaking here and there.

 

[dreamwalker]

Twin Towers (the moive at least) is serious underrated
It happens to be my favoriate. From the gandalf scene at the very begining (just beautiful piece of art directing) to the rising tension just before the grand battle, the destruction of saromons tower, to the end with gandalf the white becoming GANDALF THE LIGHT. It looked and felt really good and probably will (this is a comon concenus) stand the test of time better than all of the other films.
FOTR didn't have enough (what actually happened was very atlittle at all) considering the length of the film, it was good, but compared to TT, things that happened seemed less significant.
ROTK had way too much, and was way too long, leaving you exhausted and unable to watch it again in full, ever. It had the effect of having just to cap the series off.
TT got the balance, a little sexual unresolved sexual tension, the journey is still going and charaters are developing, plus the great fight scenes and artist direction. Its the one i've seen more than the others combined because its pretty balanced.

Seeming as this is in the films and TV section, I make no excuse or appology for judging them by what I saw on the screen regardless of what mastery Tolkien origanally embedded into the books - frankly, I find fantasy hard to read so I stopped at the Hobbit .
Speaking of, the whole trilogy mised a little smoag (sp?)(<dragon) action. Shoulda been something P jackson added to spice up FOTR .

 

[Esioul]

ROTK was just exhausting to watch, and I can't really enjoy that.

That is true. I've had it on DVD for over a year I think, but I haven't got round to watching it yet as it seems like such an effort. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it's just an effort. Besides, I hate spiders.

 

[Spook]

That is true. I've had it on DVD for over a year I think, but I haven't got round to watching it yet as it seems like such an effort. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it's just an effort. Besides, I hate spiders.

Somewhat related but at an opposite end of the spectrum, I can't watch the films on DVD unless they're the extended versions. I just feel otherwise that I'm watching a hatchet job that had parts cut to make for an easier cinematic release.

I used to keep tarantulas, so Shelob was kind of cool to me. But I can't watch a film with Huskies in it without getting nervous. I blame the Thing for that.

 

[mikeo]

Good to see so many FoTR fans - it was both my favorite of the movies and my favorite of the books in the trilogy format. It's the most complete as a single story - it could almost stand on its own if the other two books hadn't happened. Also, the next two movies just wandered further and further from the books...

I have to admit I didn't miss Tom Bombadil at all - even in the books I found him to be a strange addition.

 

[Thadlerian]

Twin Towers (the moive at least) is serious underrated.

I fail to see how that movie can be underrated. The marketing for it (and its merchandise) was just as extensive as for the others. It got maxed out reviews everywhere, and most people I've seen rank Two Towers as their favourite.

probably will (this is a comon concenus) stand the test of time better than all of the other films.

At least until someone makes a movie with even more CG, explosions, monsters, etc.

Shoulda been something P jackson added to spice up FOTR .

In hindsight, it is truly surprising that he didn't. After all, they intended to have Aragorn fight Sauron one-on-one in the end of RotK.

 

[dreamwalker]

At least until someone makes a movie with even more CG, explosions, monsters, etc..

Wasn't that film ROTK?

 

[Thadlerian]

Wasn't that film ROTK?

Naw, no explosions in that one

Except for that big shockwave-thingy when Sauron died. You'd think big, rendered shockwaves are compulsory in any film that includes just the slightest minimum of CGI.

 

[Firefly]

Without a doubt its got to be FOTR for me, it has brilliant overview of the characters interaction between each other and the development of their friendships, which any good begin should have.

I'm glad however they left out the hobbits adventure in the borrow downs, Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. In the book it seemed to be a throwback to the Hobbit which I hope Peter Jackson gets to film....I can't wait to see the battle of the five armies and Smoag.

 

[moviefan]

ROTK for me the battle for middle earth has begun !lolz

 

[GOLLUM]

Like a number appear to be saying here FOTR and ROTK were better than TTT.

Peronally I also felt FOTR was the best of the three in terms of filmmaking and charater development and becasue it was most faithful to the book despite the ommission of Tom Bombaddil and how Sam accquired Bill The Pony but ROTK was the best in terms of the battle scenes etc..

Like lace I was dissapointed with the ommision of the scouring of the shire and the story b/w Faramir and Eowin which didn't even get a few minutes play time, which I'm sure could have been cut from somewhere else for the sake of character development.