What Sunsilver said.
And I will add these:
Grandeur
I do honestly have to wonder which films you were watching, solictr.
These films are simply the most astounding I've ever seen, in terms of cinematic spectacle that immerses you in the experience, bringing Middle-earth gloriously to life. The soaring pillars of Moria? The majesty of the Misty Mountains? The lighting of the beacons? The muster of the Rohirrim? The sweeping plains around Edoras? The glory of Minas Tirith? The eerie macabre light of Minas Morgul? The haunting beauty of Rivendell, with its Lauterbrunnen-type waterfalls?
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Nobility
Adding to Sunsilver's wonderful list: "For Frodo".
The importance of friendship and loyalty is stressed very strongly in the films.
I would agree that PJ does not emphasise Tolkien's great themes of mercy as much as I would wish (e.g. Aragorn lopping off the Mouth of Sauron's head!!)
Immense weight of history
To be fair, could a movie version really, honestly convey the full weight of history of Tolkien's mythos? I doubt it. PJ does a pretty darned good job! It thrills me to see Moria on screen ... the only surviving reminder of the First Age I am ever likely to see in the cinema.
Poignant sense of loss
One of the most powerful scenes in the entire film trilogy is Arwen standing by Aragorn's tomb, a desolate woman in the black of mortal mourning, having forsaken her immortality and finally tasting the bitterness of separation by death. A scene so piercingly beautiful, so sad, so utterly Tolkienesque, that it made me gasp out loud when I first saw it. And then my eyes filled with tears. I don't cry easily in films, and I don't easily cry at books either - LOTR, although it's my very favourite book, has never made me cry. I cried because this scene is just so perfect. I've always found Arwen's lonely death in Lothlórien very sad, and to see her emotional desolation on screen like that was simply incredible. The film brought home to me just how much she had given up.
Hollywood cliches
PJ does sometimes pander to this, e.g. Aragorn's cliff dive. But his film trilogy of LOTR is really
far too quirky and original to be tarred with the Hollywood brush. Indeed, I am profoundly grateful that PJ's project was a labour of love and not some studio project. Because if his film trilogy truly had pandered to Hollywood cliche, it would have ended with fireworks over Minas Tirith and a big jolly happy wedding party.
Certainly no Grey Havens. What, end on a downer? Nah!
I am also very thankful that Fran and Philippa were on board, because I think they curbed many of PJ's excesses.
"Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could ... "
Letter no. 246, The Collected Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
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