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I saw Return of the King today, the 11:30am show. I waited about 45 minutes in line before they let people in, which wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t right up front in the line, but I was close enough to get a seat in the stadium near enough the middle. I bided my time before the movie started reading the new Al Franken book. Then it was 11:30, and nothing happened. Then it was 11:40 and they told us they had a technical problem, and to be patient, so people started getting antsy. Then it was noon and they said they thought they knew the problem and it was going to take the booth tech to fix it, but it was OK because he was on his way. They also said that a couple hundred people could still get seats to the 1:00 show in another theater, but not everyone. People started to get very ornery then. Thankfully the show got started around 12:15.
Oh, there was also some crazy older guy dressed up in a white robe, beard, and hat with a white staff and plastic sword who worked the line, saying the poem about the rings of power and telling us that there will be a great battle on the Pelennor Fields. Then, for some reason, he singled me out and said “I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that if the movie is like this in quality, you’ve wasted your money. It’s ok, if I was in your place, I’d think that as well.”
I liked the movie a fair amount. It was very long but didn’t seem that way. I did have some problems with the way some things were presented, and some of the effects (particularly the far shots of hobbits in the same seen as taller folk, where they used quite obvious doubles).
They left out one of the parts that I find to be very integral to the story and meaning, but I already knew it was gone beforehand. I am speaking of “The Scouring of the Shire”, which Peter Jackson claims to really dislike so he didn’t bother adapting or filming it. Quite a shame, because it really helps show two things, one that the war wasn’t just in Gondor, and the other was the loss of innocence of the hobbits in general, which seemed a key thing to the beginning of the Fourth Age.
Whatever, the movie is about as well done as one can expect, and it most regards it kept the spirit of the original if not the exact plot. And the most important thing is that it was very entertaining and I didn’t feel like I wasted my time or money. But my bladder was mighty full and my legs needed a stretching when it was over.