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What is the best Lord of the Rings movie?

R

ResidentWeevil13

Member
Ive never read the books. I've only seen the movies once or twice. So please take me being a casual fan into account before jumping down my throat.

I've heard people love the first one, but I enjoyed 2 and 3 way more. I thought fellowship was boring, and it felt like the overarching plot doesn't move much during the movie. Within the past couple of years I watched the extended fellowship, and I found it so lackluster that I didn't even continue my planned LOTR marathon.

Also between 2 and 3, I think I might like 2 the best...
¯_(ツ)_/¯
 
A

Any Questions

Member
Jacce said:
You didn't know there was extended version of the films?
LordoftheRingsExtended-box.jpg
Click to expand...

It's what I roll with. Love all the movies.
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
Return of the King > Fellowship > Two Towers

No question for me. RotK has all the emotional payoffs that have been building throughout the whole series, and I absolutely adore the endings.
 
D

DeathyBoy

Banned
Bobby Roberts said:
I mean, I'm not calling any of the films bad. I love them all. But The Two Towers is the least of the three.
Click to expand...

I mean...

FOTR is clearly the actual best (it can't really be disputed), but TTT is just so... nostalgic, I guess. Just hit me at the right time and has the most memorable shit in it.

To this day I'll maintain Dourif is on another fucking level in that film.
 
K

Kuros

Member
Fellowship extended is virtual perfection to me. The other two felt a little more rushed with a few more unnecessary changes.
 
S

Shaanyboi

Banned
Fellowship. Usually you have the "dark middle chapter" with trilogies, but in FOTR they get their asses thoroughly kicked and it's heartbreaking.

The first half is a pseudo horror film with them being hunted by the wraiths as they leave home behind, but then the back half, there is no winning. They lose Gandalf, their most powerful member, but also Frodo's sole beacon of guidance and security. They lose Boromir in what is still one of the most heartbreaking redemptions ever. Merry and Pippin are lost to the Uruk Hai. The Fellowship has failed, and those still willing to fight have to still admit that the mission can't work as they intended. The movie strikes the perfect tone in every moment, and the final moments get me every goddamn time.


What is the big emotional tragedy of Two Towers? Haldir? Big tears from all those hardcore Haldir fans? Two Towers is still a fine movie, but it goes out of its way so hard to sell Aragorn as this all-important pinnacle of humanity as opposed to a human being making real choices. Not to mention turning Legolas into a superhero and Gimli into a joke. There are changes I can agree with but the emotional climax being Sam's dumb speech was real fucking weak. Also chasing away a Nazgul with a single fucking arrow? Come on...

Return of the King is a great fucking movie but the Extended Cut especially undercuts some of the heroic surprises. We don't need to see Aragorn commandeer the ships, we don't need that added scene with Merry and Eowyn when the point is made already when she grabs him up. And Aragorn saving Eowyn inadvertently from Gothmog was such a lame undercut of her own victory.
 
U

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
The theatrical version of FOTR is the original and the best.
 
foxdvd

foxdvd

Member
Fellowship is the best.

Two Towers is a small step down, with one hell of battle.

The third movie is a mess, but the Frodo/Sam dynamic is the best thing in all three movies.
 
R

Ragnar Blackmane

Member
The Two Towers Extended. Helms Deep alone is the absolute high point of the entire trilogy and it lasts for close to half the movie and is very powerful both emotionally as well as a cinematographically. In comparison the battle for Minas Tirith is just too fragmented by the other plotlines and unfocused particularly without the added scenes in the EE, even the battle for Osgiliath (inlcuding the attempt to retake it) in the same movie is better done.

Also Christopher Lee's performance as Saruman is outstanding and one of the absolute high points of the entire trilogy. In Particular the "no dawn for men" speech I could watch endlessly on repeat.
Personally my favorites are:
The Two Towers EE -> Return of the King EE = Fellowship EE
The Two Towers -> Return of the King -> Fellowship
 
F

Franchuzas87

Member
Fellowship of the Ring.

Starts small, charming and adventurous, and then gets progressively bigger with nearly perfect pacing and some really great drama beats. Gandalf* and Boromir deaths are the cherry on top of two of the best action scenes Jackson ever directed, even if they are not as big as the battles in the consecutive films. You really feel the human weight here.
 
E

Easy_D

never left the stone age
I feel they all have some of the best moments of the trilogy, but I gotta go with Fellowship.
Nothing can top the comfy opening or the feeling of adventure as they set out.
 
K

Kuros

Member
Sean Bean as Boromir is one of the reasons I love the fellowship more than others. That and Gandalf the Grey > Gandalf the White.

The casting for the movies was just sooooo good.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
Ragnar Blackmane said:
The Two Towers Extended. Helms Deep alone is the absolute high point of the entire trilogy and it lasts for close to half the movie. In comparison the battle for Minas Tirith is just too fragmented by the other plotlines and unfocused particularly without the added scenes in the EE, even the battle for Osgiliath in the same movie is better done.

Personally my favorites are:
The Two Towers EE -> Return of the King EE/Fellowship EE
The Two Towers -> Return of the King -> Fellowship
Click to expand...

Moria and Amon Hen are better sequences than Helm's Deep (as good as it is)
 
J

Jacob

Member
Fellowship is the most consistent and has the strongest ending.

TTT is still really good but comparatively the weakest.

ROTK showed some of PJ's worst tendencies even more than TTT (eg everything about the Army of the Dead) and rushed through the second half too quickly (in the process condensing the world and reducing much of the cast to cameos) but has some of my favorite moments in the trilogy, including the charge of the Rohirrim at the Pelennor.

Talking Extended Edition for all three; been so long since I've seen the originals that I don't always remember which scenes were added or not.
 
J

jett

D-Member
Fellowship is easily the best, but the other two movies are greatly improved when you take it all in as a whole and watch all three close together.
 
F

Ferr986

Member
Shaanyboi said:
Fellowship. Usually you have the "dark middle chapter" with trilogies, but in FOTR they get their asses thoroughly kicked and it's heartbreaking.

The first half is a pseudo horror film with them being hunted by the wraiths as they leave home behind, but then the back half, there is no winning..
Click to expand...

To be fair, Aragon kicks Wraith asses. I didn't read the book so I dunno if it's the same, but it kinda annoyed me how easy he got off against multiple Wraiths.
 
D

Dougald

Member
Fellowship is by far my favourite, Two Towers is also excellent but a little action-heavy for me. ROTK suffers for me from trying to one-up helms deep with copious amounts of CG
 
T

TheXbox

Member
Return of the King is the best even though neither version is ideal. The theatrical needed, like, fifteen more minutes. Not a fucking hour.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
-griffy- said:
ALTERNATE THREAD PREMISE: Which Lord of the Rings film spawned the best funny?

Examples

FOTR: They're taking the hobbits to Isengard.

One does not simply...
One-Does-Not-Simply.jpg


TTT: What's taters precious?

ROTK: Share the load.
DeeOyem.gif
Click to expand...

Taters has never, ever, ever failed to make me laugh, and I've seen TTT something like 8 times? Close to 10.

I burst out laughing at that whole exchange every time. Sam is so fucking annoyed with Gollum, and Gollum is so bewildered at what he's seeing and hearing. It's perfect. You got Sam practically rapping the use of a few good taters at him, and then Gollum busts out his best Ol' Dirty Bastard with that "rrrrraw & wrrrrrrriggling"

Shit is too good.
 
C

C4Lukins

Junior Member
Fellowship is the only one I really enjoy. The other two films have some great moments, but are tedious overall.
 
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