The Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Nolan Batman Trilogy

[Brain Damage]

Lord of the Rings is a better trilogy, but The Dark Knight is better than any of the Lord of the Rings films.

 

[warhorse78]

LOTR. I'm not a fan of TDKT at all, I actually prefer the Tim Burton films. My second favorite modern trilogy would have to be The Bourne movies.

 

[Warhammer]

Lord of the Rings is a better trilogy, but The Dark Knight is better than any of the Lord of the Rings films.

I agree.

LOTR is a solid franchise. The Fellowship of the Ring is the best film of the franchise. It was masterfully made. The Dark Knight, however, is a better film than any of the three, individually.

 

[The Dark Defender]

I actually think Fellowship is by far the strongest film PJ has done in his career.

It is well paced (at least the theatrical version is) and tells its story in an epic, but economical way. TTT is a very entertaining action movie, but it does not have much of a beginning or ending and relies heavily on our love of the previous film and the conclusion of the following to the point where it cannot stand on its own. However, Helm's Deep is an epic sequence that does his bloated style perfectly.

ROTK while the one I may enjoy the most in some ways, shows even in its theatrical cut the problems that would come to haunt PJ's style. While Helm's Deep was epic and riveting, the even more stunning Battle for Gondor in ROTK is a good 15-20 minutes too long and goes on an absurd length of nearly an hour. Never mind the awkward way he ends it. I am not complaining about going back to the Shire, I am complaining that he intentionally has several fake-out endings which is just bizarre.

These indulgences which were peaking through ROTK's greatness became an albatross around King Kong's neck in which a simple popcorn story became a 3-hour chore to watch. And that has only broadened more until we got The Hobbit, which is a 9-hour film based on a book less than 300 pages long.

....So, in short, FOTR is the best one.

On an aside, however anyone feels about TDKR, at least it wasn't that odd Tolkien abomination we got in December. I think we can call it for the Nolan trilogy in that match-up right now. Just saying.

The amount of actual screen time devoted to Pellenor Fields is about 15-20 minutes, and I found it far more epic and exciting than Helms Deep. I loved how every time it appeard to be over another group joined in to sway the momentum.

TTT was much more climactic to me than FOTR which is by far the least satisfying on its own. TTT benefited from not having to spend a ton of time introducing the world the characters and being able to thrust right into the story off the bat, and it atleast has a massive climactic battle where one of the two primary villains is permanently defeated, while Fellowship stops dead in the middle of nowhere and that first hour of Fellowship in the Shire (although i didn't dislike it and fully understand why it was the way it was) is by far the weakest segment of the entire trilogy.

I also think Sam's speech in TTT is more moving and inspiring than anything in FOTR and I liked the characters better overall.

Oh, and I adore King Kong btw, I actually think I love it slightly more than two out of the three LOTR films. He brought the same genre-bending spectacle to that he did to LOTR and I had no problem with the length in any of the four films at all. I prefer the longer versions of all four. I think PJ's Kong is among the most underrated masterpieces around. Not absolutely perfect, but absolutely phenominal.

 

[Brain Damage]

Two Towers is my favorite of the trilogy, especially the extended edition
I disagree that it feels like it doesn't have a beginning or an end.
Sure, the inciting incident has happened in the last film (Frodo and Sam go on their own, Pippin and Merry get captured), but all that means is that the film thrusts you right in the middle of things - which I love - and from there it feels very much like a traditional three act film, even introducing a whole slew of new characters at the start (Golum and the Rohan crew).
And it all builds to a spectacular conclusion that doesn't have a half-hour epilogue attached to it

 

[psylockolussus]

I'm not a fan of these trilogies but I prefer The Dark Knight.

 

[kvz5]

LOTR Trilogy

 

[Anno_Domini]

From Robert Downey Jr about the Dark Knight.

Well...you certainly didn't need a college education when understanding Iron Man 2 and 3

 

[Leetank]

Considering Dark Knight Trilogy, LOTR Trilogy, and OT Star Wars Trilogy all happen to be my fav out of all trilogies released so far, it's hard.

I'll have to go with LOTR just because I love the world so much more (and I prefer fantasy over sci-fi slightly). I like to say Bane and Joker are better villains though then Saruman and Sauron.

And I am in Love with the Hobbit so far and can't wait to see the other 2 parts.

 

[The Dark Defender]

I love RDJ, he's one of the rare few in Hollywood that I like and respect as both a person and an actor, but I don't know what the hell he's talking about in that interview about TDK films.

There are themes and subtext to TDK films as there are with most good movies, but there's nothing that's exactly THAT difficult to grasp.

He seems to be talking about them like they're obscure "artsy" movies where almost nothing onscreen can be taken literally and you need to spend hours on end trying to figure out what the director was trying to say to "get it," which none of TDK films are even close to being.

 

[BatLobster]

RDJ was just trolling with that comment. Ironic for him to take a swipe that that franchise considering how much influence Begins had on the first Iron Man. Still gotta love the guy though, haha.

Back on topic, I've been meaning to rewatch the Rings trilogy. I watched Fellowship around Christmas in preparation for The Hobbit but never finished the other two.

This is so un-nerdy of me to say, but honestly I really find the movies to feel endless, indulgent, and difficult to get through sometimes. The length tends to be a problem for me, it's just hard for me to muster up the desire to watch them. They're technical marvels but I just don't have that emotional connection to them. I'm going to give it another chance though, I recent bought all 3 on Blu-ray just to have in the collection.

I respect the hell out of what Peter Jackson did with them. It's just never been 100% my cup o'tea. Frankly, I actually like The Matrix Trilogy more than LOTR. That doesn't mean I think it's "better", I just enjoy those films more. I tend to prefer sci-fi to fantasy though.

*Waits to get pelted with rocks for that Matrix comment*

 

[Leetank]

RDJ was just trolling with that comment. Ironic for him to take a swipe that that franchise considering how much influence Begins had on the first Iron Man. Still gotta love the guy though, haha.

Back on topic, I've been meaning to rewatch the Rings trilogy. I watched Fellowship around Christmas in preparation for The Hobbit but never finished the other two.

This is so un-nerdy of me to say, but honestly I really find the movies to feel endless, indulgent, and difficult to get through sometimes. The length tends to be a problem for me, it's just hard for me to muster up the desire to watch them. They're technical marvels but I just don't have that emotional connection to them. I'm going to give it another chance though, I recent bought all 3 on Blu-ray just to have in the collection.

I respect the hell out of what Peter Jackson did with them. It's just never been 100% my cup o'tea. Frankly, I actually like The Matrix Trilogy more than LOTR. That doesn't mean I think it's "better", I just enjoy those films more. I tend to prefer sci-fi to fantasy though.

*Waits to get pelted with rocks for that Matrix comment*

Everyone is entitled to there opinion

I didn't care for Revelations that much, but I still love Reloaded

and the Original Matrix is a Classic within Cinema and movie history.

 

[BatLobster]

Everyone is entitled to there opinion

I didn't care for Revelations that much, but I still love Reloaded

and the Original Matrix is a Classic within Cinema and movie history.

Appreciate that

I actually am a pretty big Revolutions defender (I'll spare this thread THAT lol), but I think Reloaded is pretty underrated. Really cool action, bucket loads of style, just a real adrenaline rush once it gets going, with a real mindf*** at the end. I remember just having the time of my life watching that movie for the first time. I think the Matrix movies more than anything are what made me a movie geek. They hit me in those early teen years, perfect timing.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Lord of the Rings for many reasons, the least of which (but possibly the most satisfying), is pissing off Batfans by voting against their Precious.

 

[Leetank]

Appreciate that

I actually am a pretty big Revolutions defender (I'll spare this thread THAT lol), but I think Reloaded is pretty underrated. Really cool action, bucket loads of style, just a real adrenaline rush once it gets going, with a real mindf*** at the end. I remember just having the time of my life watching that movie for the first time. I think the Matrix movies more than anything are what made me a movie geek. They hit me in those early teen years, perfect timing.

I loved the smith/neo fight and the defense of Zion in the 3rd one, but to me the action in Reloaded was just so much better (That freeway chase is still my favorite car chase scene in any movie) and I wasn't really fond of how they ended it all, but it sure had its moment for sure.

 

[Fenrir]

The LOTR trilogy most definitely. Though it must be said that this is kind of an unfair matchup because the LOTR trilogy is unlike any other trilogy ever made in the sense that it is in fact one big film shot all at once and then chopped together into three convenient little parts. That is why it does not suffer the problems of massive quality inconsistencies between different films the way every other trilogy does.

 

[BatLobster]

the least of which (but possibly the most satisfying), is pissing off Batfans by voting against their Precious.

 

[Shikamaru]

Lord of the Rings is a better trilogy, but The Dark Knight is better than any of the Lord of the Rings films.

I share the same opinion.

 

[Shikamaru]

Lord of the Rings is a better trilogy, but The Dark Knight is better than any of the Lord of the Rings films.

I share the same opinion.

 

[CGHulk]

edit.

 

[jmc]

LOTR is much more a single 9-10 hours story spread over 3 films where as Nolan's Batman is far more episodic. Thing with LOTR is everyone seems to just count the entire 3 parts as one film, much like what eventually happened with the books themselves. No one really calls them 'Fellowship of the Ring', 'Two Towers' or 'Return of the King', it's just Lord of the Rings. Nolan's trilogy on the other hand is very much the opposite.

 

[DACrowe]

The amount of actual screen time devoted to Pellenor Fields is about 15-20 minutes, and I found it far more epic and exciting than Helms Deep. I loved how every time it appeard to be over another group joined in to sway the momentum.

TTT was much more climactic to me than FOTR which is by far the least satisfying on its own. TTT benefited from not having to spend a ton of time introducing the world the characters and being able to thrust right into the story off the bat, and it atleast has a massive climactic battle where one of the two primary villains is permanently defeated, while Fellowship stops dead in the middle of nowhere and that first hour of Fellowship in the Shire (although i didn't dislike it and fully understand why it was the way it was) is by far the weakest segment of the entire trilogy.

I also think Sam's speech in TTT is more moving and inspiring than anything in FOTR and I liked the characters better overall.

Oh, and I adore King Kong btw, I actually think I love it slightly more than two out of the three LOTR films. He brought the same genre-bending spectacle to that he did to LOTR and I had no problem with the length in any of the four films at all. I prefer the longer versions of all four. I think PJ's Kong is among the most underrated masterpieces around. Not absolutely perfect, but absolutely phenominal.

The battle may be only 20-25 minutes of screentime but it is crosscut with other events for closer to an hour. The sequence just runs too long, IMO. By the time the Olephants show up, I am looking at my watch.

I will grant you that Sam has a moving speech in TTT, but so does Gandalf in the Mines of Moira in FOTR. And all nine characters interested me in FOTR, while, again, whenever the Ents and Merry and Pippin showed up in TTT, it feels like a good time for a bathroom break on any viewing after the first time. Even Frodo and Sam's story gets pretty boring in TTT after Faramir captures them and remains so until the Nazgul show up.

Don't get me wrong, I think all three are great movies and I consider LOTR to be the second best cinematic trilogy of all time (the original SW is first for me). But, I was just noting how the tics that came to consume Jackson until we got the bloated mess that is The Hobbit last year, were beginning to be present since ROTK. And I just think FOTR is structurally stronger than TTT.

As for King Kong, I will say that I enjoyed it when I saw it. A little less the second time and...I never went back after that. I own the DVD and will likely never muster the will power to ever sit through that again. He had great dramatic moments around Kong and the Naomi Watts character. But, it is not a masterpiece when there is so much filler that could have obviously been cut by a filmmaker too precious about his footage. It should not take 40 minutes to step foot on that island. And given how boring/useless the Adrian Brody character was, we probably could have trimmed his side of things. Certainly, the kid who was reading "Heart of Darkness" who then disappears for the entire third act could have been cut all together, as could have the skipper. Yes, his death would have no resonance then. But it has very little for a payoff that 10-15 minutes of meandering subplotting to set up.

But just to clarify, I am one of the few who do not like the EE. I did like TTT one, actually. But the other two I thought just ruined the pacing and were kind of boring, even after reading the books.

 

[jmc]

The extended Editions are a slog to get through. I bought them because of the behind the scenes content.

 

[Lord]

I prefer watching the extended versions than the normal ones, so many amazing scenes left out, Saruman's death comes to mind

 

[kedrell]

When I saw this thread only one reaction was possible,



But seriously, LOTR by a land slide of land slides. It's so far above it's bordering on ridiculous.

TDK trilogy vs. the Matrix trilogy, now that's an even match.