The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a new genre in cinema

 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson was released between 2001 and 2003, in my article I'm going to focus on the extended edition.

The shooting of the 3 movies was done in one time and last 2 complete years, they were mostly shot outside in New Zealand and all New Zealanders participated on the project by making the costumes, doing the make-up, the prosthesis and even also helped to shoot by acting (like the riders of Rohirrim) but also behind the camera.

Those movies are based on the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien; Peter Jackson wanted to put them on the silver screen from a young age.

Tolkien's family didn't enjoy the films of Peter Jackson. Christopher Tolkien, the author's son, didn't want the books to be adapted because they were written for him and his brothers when they were children and also because he did his best to compile his father's other works on this universe after he passed away. He also didn't want his father's works to be adapted on the silver screen because it is a complete universe and movies have this tendency to erase a lot of details when they are based on books, things that could make things worse due to this complex story.

I agree on the fact that there's some bad parts about this trilogy like the fact that it was shot in New Zealand instead of the British Isles because Tolkien based his stories on the British, and European, folklore and also the fact that a lot of things from the books were forgotten; as I've read so far I was surprised to meet Tom Bombadil in the books and I wonder why he was forgotten in the movies because he seems interesting to show and to play.

One thing that Peter Jackson done best was to try to cast a maximum of actors from the British Isles and also Christopher Lee, who was the only actor who had the luck to meet Tolkien (he gave Lee the authorization to play Gandalf but Peter Jackson didn't wanted him to play this role because it was way to hard for a man of his age due to the amount of stunt for this role). Elijah Wood, who is American, learnt to speak with a British accent for the role of Frodo because he really wanted to be a part of the project.

Except for the issues of perfectly adapting this work, those movies are just sumptuous; the epic battles are like paintings, the landscapes are like dreams and the elvish places are like poems.

Sauron doesn't appear much but his oppressive presence is often remembered to not forget the threat that he is to the peace of Middle-Earth. Even if he is one of the biggest villains of pop culture I find sad the fact that he is not much shown and developed in the movies while he is an interesting character.

Those movies are actually extremely well done without using CGI much, at a period in which CGI starts and is not perfect yet.

5/5 If I put aside the books, those movies are just perfect, that's why I gave a perfect note (also because those books are not quite easy to read for everyone). The casting is great, just like the make-up and the settings.

 

See you next week for the next article.