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What is the best Lord of the Rings movie?

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Member
I think Fellowship is pretty hard to match, since it has the most character stuff and very charming introductions for all the main players. It's a little short on action compared to the others but I'd rather have spent that extra time in Hobbiton than get more orc-slaying. While the sequels tried and had to introduce new characters, none of them are really as exciting or endearing as those in the original Fellowship. Many of the later characters just felt like obstacles to be overcome or people that had to be convinced to fight.

The Two Towers gets a little tedious with the Ents, but Helm's Deep is excellent aside from extreme skateboarding Legolas.

Return of the King....I almost would have preferred this movie to be 80% Sam & Frodo's struggle to get to Mt. Doom. I don't think a lot of the action outside of that was really solid, and most of the CG battles have not aged particularly well. The ending(s) of the film really recapture the heart and whimsy we felt at the beginning of the trilogy, so it bookends the series rather nicely.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Fellowship (extended or not) by Far. More consistent throughout, more memorable, and it had that "first movie magic" feel too.

Return of the King (extended) is the worst. Pacing is atrocious.
 

Rockandrollclown

lookwhatyou'vedone
Fellowship. It always felt so much better on a film making level to me. The only shot from the other two that I thought was on the same level as Fellowship was Gandolf falling into the underground cavern with the Balrog. I enjoy the other movies just fine, but Fellowship was a marvel.

Also, Fellowship has Boromir, who is the best character.
 
Fellowship but that is because its mainly a straightforward action movie, the main team is all together the majority of the movie. Once you get in to the 2nd and 3rd book it starts becoming incredibly convoluted with endless side plots.
 

JCHandsom

Member
I'm gonna be that guy and say Return of the King Extended

The more LotR, the better I say

EDIT: Actually, I'm gonna change my answer to RotK theatrical. That was the version I was thinking of.
 

adj_noun

Member
.......?????????

have i missed something

Each LOTR movie has a theatrical cut and an extended cut. They're saying they like the extended cut of Fellowship of the Ring the best.

It's been so long since I saw the theatrical cuts of the LOTR films I'll admit I sometimes forget they existed.

Anyhoo, my favorite is probably Two Towers Extended.
 

mnannola

Member
Fellowship (extended or not) by Far. More consistent throughout, more memorable, and it had that "first movie magic" feel too.

Return of the King (extended) is the worst. Pacing is atrocious.

Can't argue with anything here. Two Towers had some awesome moments and the helms deep battle is the best in the series. Return is just not very rewatchable due to pacing issues. Fellowship just does such a great job introducing all the characters and setting up the other movies.
 

War Peaceman

You're a big guy.
Fellowship is the best because we get the great characters together for the most time. Everything at Amon Hen is tense and exciting. Oh and we also see Hobbiton.

Two Towers has the highest high, which is the Hornburg. Theoden is sensational.
 

-griffy-

Banned
Fellowship is most consistent, Return has arguably the highest highs, Two Towers has the best battle when taking everything surrounding it into context.

That said, I don't know that I have an interest in proclaiming any of them best. I'll stop and leave any of them on in the background when I'm flipping past TBS.

(Also, I prefer the theatrical cuts of all three, though I enjoy the extended cuts for what they are)
 

Jacce

Banned
.......?????????

have i missed something

You didn't know there was extended version of the films?
LordoftheRingsExtended-box.jpg
 
Extended Fellowship

Strafer got it straight out the gate.

Fellowship is also the only film in the trilogy whose extended version actually improves it. But either theatrical OR extended, Fellowship is the best film in the series.

Then Return of the King theatrical.
Then The Two Towers theatrical.

IF you had to rank all SIX versions of the three films:

1) Fellowship (EE)
2) Fellowship (TE)
3) Return of the King (TE)
4) Two Towers (TE)
5) Return of the King (EE)
6) Two Towers (EE)
 
Fellowship for me because it’s the book Jackson tinkered with the least when translating it to film.

He took some relatively sizeable liberties with the other books, though overall I still think the trilogy is a fantastic representation of Tolkien’s work.
 
The Two Towers has always been my tops of the three followed closely by The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Return of the King isn't bad per se I was just ready for it to be over by the end.
 

kmfdmpig

Member
Tough call for me. I love all three.

Fellowship is great, but prior to Moria the action seems a bit too ritualistic, like it's a theater production rather than a film. Boromir was a highlight of the film for me and was much more sympathetic a character in the movie than he was in the books, at least for me.

Two Towers was one I liked a bit less than Fellowship for my first watch, but my fondness for it has grown with each subsequent viewing.

Return of the King has great moments, but I really disliked how overpowered the ghost army was. It felt a bit like deus ex machina and undermined the significance of the others fighting.

I think if I were to rank them I'd probably have TT>FOTR>ROTK, but it depends on my mood and the gap in between them is quite small, IMO.
 
Fellowship is easily the best, since it's the most propulsive, least bloated, and most of the characters have satisfying arcs, and it briskly moves from great set piece to great setpiece after easing you into the story

Two Towers is easily the weakest as it's mostly meandering since all the characters are split apart and don't go anywhere and mostly just deal with tedious stuff. Helms Deep is amazing though.

Return of the King picks things back up again with more of a sense of forward momentum, adventure, and emotionally satisfying resolution, but it's still far more bloated than Fellowship and has some dumb scenes that hold it back.
 

DeathyBoy

Banned
Strafer got it straight out the gate.

Fellowship is also the only film in the trilogy whose extended version actually improves it. But either theatrical OR extended, Fellowship is the best film in the series.

Then Return of the King theatrical.
Then The Two Towers theatrical.

IF you had to rank all SIX versions of the three films:

1) Fellowship (EE)
2) Fellowship (TE)
3) Return of the King (TE)
4) Two Towers (TE)
5) Return of the King (EE)
6) Two Towers (EE)

Bobby why?

TTT's Theo stuff alone is top tier LOTR. Bernard Hill stealing the Goddamn film through sheer awesome.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
Ranking the Return of the King Extended Edition anywhere but dead last is madness to me. The padding concerning Aragorn, Legolas and Gimili riding a tsunami of human skulls in the mountains of the dead was enough to drag it down massively alone.
 
Ranking the Return of the King Extended Edition anywhere but dead last is madness to me. The padding concerning Aragorn, Legolas and Gimili riding a tsunami of human skulls in the mountains of the dead was enough to drag it down massively alone.

One shitty scene is still better than 1/3rd of the movie following Merry and Pippin trying to get the ents to go to war
 
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