By Shelobs Appetite
From the OneRing Message Boards...
The best part of the recently-released trailer(s) is that my expectations have been adjusted to reasonable levels. IMO, this is very important for me, and for others, who have been expecting to enjoy these films a lot. This post is meant to both express my views on the trailer, and to help keep expectations realistic for those who were (and perhaps, still are) expecting LOTR-level quality (or, like me, better than LOTR-level quality).
Please note that this thread is NOT just about discussing the stuff in the trailers we love and hate, as that is happening in other threads. I hope for it to be about whether or not we should be adjusting our expectations, whether or not that is a good thing, whether or not we are overreacting to what is, in the end, a marketing product, and how people now feel about the films as we enter the final stretch.
Let me start with my reactions to the trailer(s), and then end with a brief conclusion about my expectations. Then, I hope people will talk about how they are adjusting, and whether or not I am crazy to change my level of anticipation so dramatically from "very high" to "quite low." So, first: The good, the bad, the ugly, and the very, very ugly.
The good
1. Goblin designs. Though I share the concerns about the overly-CGI nature of these clips, the goblins look much more like they do in my imagination than the goblins/orcs of LOTR.
2. Fifteen birds in five fir trees. These scenes are ripped right out of my imagination.
3. Some parts of the humor: In the alternate ending trailers, the bit with the Gandalf-dwarf bet, and Balin’s description of Sting as “more of a letter opener” are funny enough.
4. My expectations are now appropriately lowered. Significantly. This will mean that my disappointment in December will be less.
5. This is a trailer. I will reserve judgment until I see more of the film, as trailers rarely capture the essence of a movie.
The Bad, the Ugly and the very, very ugly
Let me take a deep breath first. Okay…
1. Bad PJ humor X10. I find PJ’s humor in LOTR to be bad. However, never in LOTR was there a major slapstick gag at the center of a crucial plot point in the narrative. The Great Goblin falling on the dwarves from some impossible height, after the dwarves say something like “could have been worse” followed by a truly cringe-inducing “you’ve got to be joking” is almost criminal. The death of the Great Goblin, and the escape from Goblin Town, should be full of tense and horrific drama, and should not conclude with a horrid and impossible joke (the weight of the Goblin would surely have crushed them all). This destroys the suspension of disblief for me almost completely. If this shot makes it to the final film, I will find it difficult to reenter Middle Earth after it. All sense of danger and real consequences eliminated. This sort of thing happened with the warg and Gimli in TTT, but it was a minor scene, far more plausible, and thus, forgivable. This scene is a major one, involves a major villain, and is almost physically impossible. Awful beyond belief.
2. Digital/airbrush/hallmark card/CGI awfulness. I don’t care what the techies preach, this smooth and silky look, coupled with an insane amount of CGI, makes this film look like a Middle Earth-themed hallmark card converted into a film. Goblin Town, for example, should be a deep, dark place, full of fear and shadows. Instead, it is a CGI video game environment, brightly lit, with CGI bridges and CGI stunts (the dwarves pulling Bifur up through the bridge, etc). Gollum’s Cave looks like it was filmed in Hugh Hefner’s grotto. How can PJ, someone who appreciates horror, so sanitize and airbrush these environments, that they have a virtually ZERO fear and awe factor?
3. A seemingly new stairs of Moria scene. Only this time, in the high pass of the Misty Mountains. Look closely, and you will see that there is a shot where the dwarves are separated by a large gap in the pass. What could have been an evocative scene, with shadows of giants tossing boulders in the rain-swept and lightning-lit dark, is turned into mindless nothing we have seen already. Why?
4. Thorin. I will reserve judgment on this, but he came off about as thrilling as a plank of wood.
5. The dwarf designs. The prosthetics look absolutely and unequivocally atrocious. In one of the alternate endings, what should be a humorous little scene with what seems to be a very likable Balin, is marred by that awful red-speckled rubber all over his face. A baffling design choice.
6. Bilbo. My main excitement around these films has been centered around the wonderful Martin Freeman. Based on these clips, PJ seems to be directing him into kiddy-comedy blandness. Something about his delivery, and acting, seemed to be an odd and disheartening mixture of sleep-walking through the role, and over-doing it (the fainting scene, in the alternative trailer, looks horrible. I mean, who faints like that? A bad and unfunny gag.) I love Martin Freeman, and have been very much looking forward to his subtle brand of very English humor. I fear that PJ’s deeply-ingrained unsubtlety will mar his performance. Prove me wrong, Martin. You’re my only hope!
7. CGI animals galore. We know what animals look like in real life. So when we are presented with, say, CGI hedgehogs, it is difficult to fool us. These guys, the rabbits (and the wargs, though those clips were far too quick) don’t do the job. Again, I don’t care what the techies want us to believe. CGI is NOT there yet.
8. Gandalf. Not sure what it was, but McKellen’s dialogue sounded as if he was phoning it in. I didn’t catch a hint of his previous nuanced performance here. As if he is reading lines from a page in front of a greenscreen, and cannot get a good handle of what the hell he is talking about.
9. Not a moment of immersion. This is difficult to describe in specific terms, but not once did I feel transported to Middle Earth during this trailer. While I understand that the full film may succeed at that, this has me very worried. Just as the Narnia films, and the Star Wars prequels, never felt likr a real alternative universe, this version of Middle Earth does not feel like a real alternative universe.
10. Clearly aimed at adolescents. This trailer was clearly aimed at the adolescent demographic. While I concede that the final film may not do this, and that this is a marketing product (and WB isn’t always great in this department) I fear that the films are being very consciously aimed at a much younger demographic than LOTR. McKellen’s comments on how the “kids” are going to be thrilled by the 3D lead me to believe that this is the case. Perhaps just as Lucas aimed the prequels at his young children, PJ is aiming these at a younger, and more action-craving, crowd.
This is not to be confused with the light whimsy of the book. This is not light whimsy I’m seeing. Its sugar rush instant gratification adolescent stuff. Nothing like the books, and nothing like the previous films. That is why we are getting two seemingly divergent negative opinions, which go something like: “This is nothing like LOTR” and “Why are we getting LOTR II?” The trailers combines the worst elements of LOTR-action, with the worst elements of juvenility. A double-whammy, IMO.
Conclusion: Lowered expectations, but not giving up on it just yet
I will wait for the film to pass judgment. This is a trailer, and not the film. But I have adjusted my expectations considerably.
And perhaps that is for the better? I need my sanity, and there is no use going in expecting greatness, only to be driven insane (and physically ill) by medicore Middle Earthian fast food.
I will expect fast food, and if I get a little bit of good gastro-pub fare, I will be pleasantly surprised.
What say you?
