IP: Lord of the Rings review: There's still nothing like the book

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 13:15:37 -0500
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,49256,00.html
>
>    LOTR: One for the Book
>    By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
>    9:00 a.m. Dec. 19, 2001 PST
>
>    Arwen Evenstar, elven warrior of Rivendell, snatches a dying hobbit
>    from his foes and outraces the fell steeds of the dark lord to bear
>    her frail burden to safety.
>
>    With the wraith-riders routed by her magical arts, doughty Arwen (Liv
>    Tyler) bends over the listless Frodo and bequeaths him a boon beyond
>    measure: Immortality, her place on the ship that eventually will bear
>    her kin across the great sea of Middle Earth.
>
>    Welcome to the new old world of Lord of the Rings, at least as
>    imagined by director Peter Jackson in the three-hour film, The
>    Fellowship of the Ring by New Line Cinema that opened Wednesday.
>
>    As any devotee of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic will know soon enough,
>    Jackson's vision of Middle Earth is not the same as Tolkien's. In the
>    first volume of the trilogy, Arwen is depicted in only six paragraphs
>    -- "such loveliness in living thing Frodo had never seen before" --
>    and as an serene maiden, not a grim princess.
>
>    To squeeze the 423-page first volume into a three-hour movie, Jackson
>    ruthlessly pruned chapters from the book and rearranged the
>    narrative's flow. (November's Harry Potter film, on the other hand,
>    was a far more faithful adaptation of its source.)
>
>    Jackson discarded prominent characters such as the faun-like Tom
>    Bombadil, who shows up in three book chapters. Other scenes are added,
>    like when the obstreperous dwarf Gimli attempts to hack apart the
>    great ring with his trusty axe. (It didn't work.)
>
>    [...]

For archives see:
http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/