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We've mostly discussed the heroes in LOTR. What about the villains? What do you think of the way they were written and portrayed in the movies? If you read the books, are they as you pictured them?
The hour is late , and I've not yet posted my Rings-Thing response. My bad. It hasn't been the greatest of weeks, and I've been distracted by PC problems and not feeling well in that annoying not really sick but not feeling right kind of way. Sigh. I'd still a little bit that way, but I am going to write R-T, work on my conference paper, and write today. Yes I am.
But now to the matter at hand.... Villians.
Orcs:
The thing that surprised me about the orcs were how varied and diverse they were in features and coloring. I think that, especially with the Uruk-hai birthing sequences, the film did an excellent job of making us feel that they are abominations. Something that goes against nature and natural order. I was also surprised by my response to the different kinds of orcs. The Uruks were most menacing and dreadful. The Mordor orcs were the nastiest, the most spitefully vicious. But I felt more pity than anything else for the orcs at Isengard; they seemed terribly…broken to me.
The Balrog:
I couldn't let this topic pass without talking about the Balrog. Indeed, he was one of the things I was looking forward to most in FotR. I was also anxious about him, lest he disappoint. In size and power, in physical detail, in the mixture of shadow and flame, he was all a demon should be. And then some. The response his presence drew from both the Fellowship and the orc/goblin army was spot on.
Saurman:
Saruman was not what I had pictured from the books. While I enjoy Christopher Lee and feel that he is suitably menacing, he isn't the Saruman I'd have liked. Lee's look, his voice, just scream, "I'm eeeeevil!" I would have liked a Saruman who was a bit more like Gandalf, more measured, more subtle, more benign on the surface. Much is made of the power of Saruman's voice, and I'd have liked something more honeyed and seductive, as opposed to dark.
Saruman is most horrible to me not for who he is or how he is portrayed but rather in the consequences of his actions in the film. The birthing of the Uruks, the arming of Helms Deep during the Lay of Eorl the Young, the razing of Isengard, these are the things that define his wickedness and villainy for me.
Grima:
I was very pleased with how Grima came off. He was disturbing to watch and always hovered on the border of being just a bit too much without crossing over and becoming a caricature. He is utterly self-serving and has no qualms about working his master's will. The unexpected wonder in his character is his seemingly genuine love for Eowyn. The scene with the two of them together with Theodred's body is powerful, it plays on her fears of entrapment, and it captures the essence of his longing.
I also love the scene in Orthanc when Saruman addresses his army before sending it to Helms Deep. The single tear that Grima sheds (whether for Eowyn, his people, and/or himself) as he realizes just what he has leashed himself to makes him much more compelling as a personality. One small, fleeting moment. So much meaning.
Sauron:
Sauron has not captured and commanded my attention, at least not as himself. In his embodied form, he is only in the film but for the one short scene in the prologue. Sure, his armor is scary and his size/strength are imposing. I like how single blows from his mace can hurl men yards through the air. I really like how he im/explodes when the Ring is taken. However, while the flaming eyes are compelling, interesting to look at, they don't inspire terror or make me squirm. They are too fixed. Too static. Too distanced.
The Ring:
Sauron's threat is more compelling to me when it exists in the form of the Ring. So simple. So beautiful. So tempting and accessible. Jackson's decision to make it a character, "They are one, the Ring and the Dark Lord," gives Sauron a constant presence, a direct manifestation in the Fellowship. It is why (as Galadriel note), "One by one it will destroy them all."
Moments when Frodo wears the Ring and can hear the voice of Sauron speaking, when it sings to Aragorn and Boromir and Faramir as it is tempting them, when we see the members of the Council reflected in it before they are swallowed in flames, when we see it try to turn Galadriel, these are the times when I feel most directly Sauron's threat.
The Ringwraiths:
The Nine are my favorite manifestations of evil in the movie. Their gravelly voices, their inhuman screeches, the look of their cloaks and swords, their twisted and horrifying mounts, the way that they often move in perfect unison as if they are being controlled by a single mind (which they are). They are fearful. Horrifying. Delightful.
They help define Sauron's evil for me since they are pale shadows of Sauron's shadow, and unlike the lidless Eye, they are active in the world. A constant and immediate menace. I adore the scene at Weathertop because the fact that Aragorn is able to talk on five of them at once and drive them off speaks volumes of why Sauron would have cause to fear what he is capable of becoming.
The hour is late , and I've not yet posted my Rings-Thing response. My bad. It hasn't been the greatest of weeks, and I've been distracted by PC problems and not feeling well in that annoying not really sick but not feeling right kind of way. Sigh. I'd still a little bit that way, but I am going to write R-T, work on my conference paper, and write today. Yes I am.
But now to the matter at hand.... Villians.
Orcs:
The thing that surprised me about the orcs were how varied and diverse they were in features and coloring. I think that, especially with the Uruk-hai birthing sequences, the film did an excellent job of making us feel that they are abominations. Something that goes against nature and natural order. I was also surprised by my response to the different kinds of orcs. The Uruks were most menacing and dreadful. The Mordor orcs were the nastiest, the most spitefully vicious. But I felt more pity than anything else for the orcs at Isengard; they seemed terribly…broken to me.
The Balrog:
I couldn't let this topic pass without talking about the Balrog. Indeed, he was one of the things I was looking forward to most in FotR. I was also anxious about him, lest he disappoint. In size and power, in physical detail, in the mixture of shadow and flame, he was all a demon should be. And then some. The response his presence drew from both the Fellowship and the orc/goblin army was spot on.
Saurman:
Saruman was not what I had pictured from the books. While I enjoy Christopher Lee and feel that he is suitably menacing, he isn't the Saruman I'd have liked. Lee's look, his voice, just scream, "I'm eeeeevil!" I would have liked a Saruman who was a bit more like Gandalf, more measured, more subtle, more benign on the surface. Much is made of the power of Saruman's voice, and I'd have liked something more honeyed and seductive, as opposed to dark.
Saruman is most horrible to me not for who he is or how he is portrayed but rather in the consequences of his actions in the film. The birthing of the Uruks, the arming of Helms Deep during the Lay of Eorl the Young, the razing of Isengard, these are the things that define his wickedness and villainy for me.
Grima:
I was very pleased with how Grima came off. He was disturbing to watch and always hovered on the border of being just a bit too much without crossing over and becoming a caricature. He is utterly self-serving and has no qualms about working his master's will. The unexpected wonder in his character is his seemingly genuine love for Eowyn. The scene with the two of them together with Theodred's body is powerful, it plays on her fears of entrapment, and it captures the essence of his longing.
I also love the scene in Orthanc when Saruman addresses his army before sending it to Helms Deep. The single tear that Grima sheds (whether for Eowyn, his people, and/or himself) as he realizes just what he has leashed himself to makes him much more compelling as a personality. One small, fleeting moment. So much meaning.
Sauron:
Sauron has not captured and commanded my attention, at least not as himself. In his embodied form, he is only in the film but for the one short scene in the prologue. Sure, his armor is scary and his size/strength are imposing. I like how single blows from his mace can hurl men yards through the air. I really like how he im/explodes when the Ring is taken. However, while the flaming eyes are compelling, interesting to look at, they don't inspire terror or make me squirm. They are too fixed. Too static. Too distanced.
The Ring:
Sauron's threat is more compelling to me when it exists in the form of the Ring. So simple. So beautiful. So tempting and accessible. Jackson's decision to make it a character, "They are one, the Ring and the Dark Lord," gives Sauron a constant presence, a direct manifestation in the Fellowship. It is why (as Galadriel note), "One by one it will destroy them all."
Moments when Frodo wears the Ring and can hear the voice of Sauron speaking, when it sings to Aragorn and Boromir and Faramir as it is tempting them, when we see the members of the Council reflected in it before they are swallowed in flames, when we see it try to turn Galadriel, these are the times when I feel most directly Sauron's threat.
The Ringwraiths:
The Nine are my favorite manifestations of evil in the movie. Their gravelly voices, their inhuman screeches, the look of their cloaks and swords, their twisted and horrifying mounts, the way that they often move in perfect unison as if they are being controlled by a single mind (which they are). They are fearful. Horrifying. Delightful.
They help define Sauron's evil for me since they are pale shadows of Sauron's shadow, and unlike the lidless Eye, they are active in the world. A constant and immediate menace. I adore the scene at Weathertop because the fact that Aragorn is able to talk on five of them at once and drive them off speaks volumes of why Sauron would have cause to fear what he is capable of becoming.