And he's got the sexiest voice of any man on the planet not named Avery Brooks.
Word, big huge heaping helpings of word. With...little sprinkles of...Sean Bean reading...words.
I was *so* secretly pleased that, even though his rumored "vision" appearance to Faramir was cut from the theatrical TTT, his face, well, his profile, was in it, when he grabs Frodo at Khazad Dum in Frodo's dream in the opening sequence. And he was in RotK, too, when Pippin remembers his dying defense of Pippin and Merry at Amon Hen, and thus he did manage to be in all three movies. Made me happy.
I completely did not remember that his death isn't even in the book Fellowship. It's dispensed with in about two lines at the beginning of TTT.
One further change with regards to Denethor and the Palantir - with or without the Palantir, his death in the book would have been far, far better then the firey plunge off the heliport o'doom.
Denathor's death was the biggest, 'hey! that never happened!' moment for me. Not sure why, in all the changes, that one bugged me the most. Frank, your working crystallized if for me.
Right. There is burnign yourself on a funeral pyre like some strange pagan king, and then there is having your dress catch fire and leaping off the end of a heliport like the lighting of an Olympic flame in reverse. Guess which one has the bizarro dignity?
That was what book-Denethor had, above all: dignity. There are all those mirror characters -- Faramir:Boromir, Gandalf:Saruman, Strider:Boromir -- and I think that Denethor is Strider's other mirror. Knowing Denethor allowed me to understand/imagine the greatness of the former kingdoms, and how they had fallen totally to pieces.
Denethor was Greatness Fallen. He had pretty much single-handedly stood between the forces of good and evil for decades. In the movie he's just a nut job who hates his younger son for not dying in his brother's place. He actually would have been a smart choice to send to Rivendell, especially since Boromir was managing the defense of Osgiliath and all.
and I think that Denethor is Strider's other mirror
I think Denethor also acts as a mirror figure of Gandalf was well - the Gandalf who acts as mentor (specifically to Boromir).
Right. There is burnign yourself on a funeral pyre like some strange pagan king, and then there is having your dress catch fire and leaping off the end of a heliport like the lighting of an Olympic flame in reverse. Guess which one has the bizarro dignity?
bing bing bing
Exactly why it earned a snort of derision from me even the first time around.
eta there's not even hippo dignity in how movie Denethor went out.
No hippo dignity.
And the squishy eating scene gave me the quease. But I suppose that was intentional. "Look! He's crazy...he's got bad table manners!
far, far better then the firey plunge off the heliport o'doom.
Still. Can't get over the line from A Bug's Life, "Flaminnng--DEATH!"
My co-worker returned my DVD of RotK just now, and had some questions.
"Why did that little guy with the curly hair and blue eyes have to get on the boat?"
"Wasn't that dark-haired girl supposed to be dead?"
"Now, that creepy little jerk, he fell into the volcano with the ring and died, right?"
She really got none of the names, even after seeing all three films, but she did love the scenery, the battles, "the animals" (I'm guessing she meant the Mumakil here), and "that creepy little jerk" (Gollum). As a complete newbie and non-fantasy-geek, she's probably the epitome of the filmgoer that the studio was afraid "wouldn't get it," but she loved the series nonetheless, and wants to spend a weekend doing a marathon viewing of all three in a row when she has some time to herself.
