Viggo Mortensen critiques the LOTR and Hobbit movies

[DA_Champion]

I remember when I watched them, I thought that the first movie was the best one but at the time I didn't know why, I just knew that I liked it better. Since then it holds up on repeat viewings. The Two Towers put me to sleep on second viewing, and Return of the King put me to sleep on first viewing.

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http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...-special-effects/story-e6frfmq9-1226921519476

What’s that precious? Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen says Peter Jackson was too obsessed with special effects

VIGGO Mortensen has criticised the Lord of the Rings sequels, saying Peter Jackson got too carried away with special effects.

The actor, who gained worldwide fame after being cast as Aragorn in the hit LOTR trilogy, now admits he has mixed feelings about the movies that made him a worldwide star.

Mortensen told The Telegraph UK that the first LOTR film, 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring, is his favourite. After that, the films became too bloated with special effects as director Peter Jackson became enthralled with computer generate imagery, he said.

“Peter was always a geek in terms of technology, but once he had the means to do it, and the evolution of the technology really took off, he never looked back. In the first movie, yes, there’s Rivendell and Mordor, but there’s sort of an organic quality to it, actors acting with each other, and real landscapes. It’s grittier,” he said.

“The second movie already started ballooning, for my taste, and then by the third one there were a lot of special effects.”

“It was grandiose and all that, but whatever was subtle in the first movie gradually got lost in the second and third. Now with The Hobbit one and two it’s like that to the power of 10.”

 

[The Dark Defender]

I never understood thinking that Fellowship was the best, always found it to be easily the weakest and least eventful of the trilogy.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Viggo is old school, and I don't mind his comments. Sir Ian Mckellan also showed his distaste when mostly filming with green screen.

 

[Travesty]

They all put me to sleep. I still remember seeing the first one in theaters on opening night, and a guy sat next to me and wouldn't stop popping his fingers every few seconds.

I dunno, I'm not a fan of the series.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

That's certainly ....unique. The reason offered for critiquing a film because some dude popped his fingers. I have never seen that before and I am an ancient, jaded net user.

 

[Travesty]

That's not a critique on the movie at all, just a little aside of something I remember.

 

[Warhammer]

I never understood thinking that Fellowship was the best, always found it to be easily the weakest and least eventful of the trilogy.

Fellowship is the best of the trilogy. It's also the most rewatchable.

 

[titansupes]

The Two Towers was my favourite.

 

[AnneFan]

I like the LOTR trilogy, but The Hobbit hasn't been my thing.

 

[DA_Champion]

I never understood thinking that Fellowship was the best, always found it to be easily the weakest and least eventful of the trilogy.

RoTK has an ending that never ends. Also, there's a huge anticlimactic sequence when the army of the dead show up, they defeat the goblin/orc army instantly which is a huge letdown.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

That is right ladies and gentleman. Viggo agrees with me!!!!

I never understood thinking that Fellowship was the best, always found it to be easily the weakest and least eventful of the trilogy.

It has the tightest narrative by far. Every event in FotR is well paced and means something. Also contains the best character and acting moments, because as Viggo said, it contained subtly. Jackson never came close to matching the brilliance he discovered with the Mines of Moria or the Black Riders' hunt. He was too busy trying to go bigger thinking it was better. Also started draining the emotion out of scenes by going way too over dramatic with the editing. Still I love The Two Towers, even if it isn't FotR quality.

 

[Gort Baringa]

The three LOTR films were much better in the extended versions - the plot was more filled out and the pace seemed to move a lot quicker. And yes, I thought that Fellowship of the Ring was probably better in a lot of ways than the other two.

As far as the Hobbit films go (so far) I just wish that there was a compact version of each film - or maybe even one long film instead of three. The CGI was way too over the top.

 

[titansupes]

That is right ladies and gentleman. Viggo agrees with me!!!!


It has the tightest narrative by far. Every event in FotR is well paced and means something. Also contains the best character and acting moments, because as Viggo said, it contained subtly. Jackson never came close to matching the brilliance he discovered with the Mines of Moria or the Black Riders' hunt. He was too busy trying to go bigger thinking it was better. Also started draining the emotion out of scenes by going way too over dramatic with the editing. Still I love The Two Towers, even if it isn't FotR quality.

The main reason I loathe RotK and KK. Something happens, then - digital sunset sky, endless slow motion shots of characters staring and crying, with a chanting choir. Ick.

 

[Stryderk]

Viggo got paid. That's why he's criticizing the films now.

 

[Drz]

The Extended edition of Two Towers is pretty good if you ask me.

Also yeah, Ian McKellen started crying during Hobbit because he had to act with cardboard versions of the 12 Dwarves, so Jackson could edit the size differences. <___>

 

[Ipodman]

FOTR is the one that would get you invested in the characters, I guess... you wont even care about anything happening in 2 and 3 if you never saw 1

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I'd just like to point out that I have been saying this for years on here.

War Viggo!!!!

The main reason I loathe RotK and KK. Something happens, then - digital sunset sky, endless slow motion shots of characters staring and crying, with a chanting choir. Ick.

Yep, exactly. It started with Sam at the end of The Two Towers, and has got worse and worse since then. It was okay in TTT, because it wasn't overdone. But that ended with RotK.

 

[DA_Champion]

I'd just like to point out that I have been saying this for years on here.

War Viggo!!!!


Yep, exactly. It started with Sam at the end of The Two Towers, and has got worse and worse since then. It was okay in TTT, because it wasn't overdone. But that ended with RotK.

Congratulations on making that analysis long before it was ever cool. If you were saying this back when RoTK won best picture, very well done.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Congratulations on making that analysis long before it was ever cool. If you were saying this back when RoTK won best picture, very well done.

Where is my award? I was told there would be an award.

 

[DA_Champion]

Where is my award? I was told there would be an award.

You'll have to settle for psychological satisfaction, and I think you already have

 

[DarthSkywalker]

You'll have to settle for psychological satisfaction, and I think you already have

I don't know what you mean.

 

[titansupes]

I've been saying it since Kong. I was a huge fan of the first two movies. Read the books because of them and everything. Completely obsessed. Then the third came out and I sort of tried to convince myself that it was as good as the other two. Then Kong came out and had all the problems of RotK... only more! That's when the full wave of disgust hit me. December '05.

So I guess I don't the award.

 

[DA_Champion]

I really loved the King Kong vs T-Rex fight in Kong, more than any of the fights in Pacific Rim or Godzilla or Alien vs Predator.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I really loved the King Kong vs T-Rex fight in Kong, more than any of the fights in Pacific Rim or Godzilla or Alien vs Predator.

I don't like it better then anything in Pacific Rim, but I do quite love that scene. The one part of the film that lives up to the title of King Kong for me.

 

[DA_Champion]

I also felt a sense of loss when the fighter planes were downing King Kong.