The Lord of the Rings film Trilogy has certainly turned out to be huge commercial success story. Well deserved too.
I went to the first film expecting to be disappointed as books turned into films usually are. However I really enjoyed it and Jackson’s determination to stay true to the storyline (well almost!). OK Tom Bombadil wasn’t there but IIRCS the Company spent just one night there. Then there was the drowning of the Ringwraiths, which was not in the book, but hey the lovely Liv was there instead so I wasn’t complaining.
I went to the second film expecting to be really entertained and found that I was a bit disappointed overall. For some reason the pace was a bit too dry. Though there were great scenes as well. The breaking of the Company was very well done, the Ents were fantastic special effects but of course Gollum stole the show.
Given the hype leading up to the final film of the series I decided to try and keep an open mind until I had time to see it and think it over. I must say overall I enjoyed it. The battle scenes were great with plenty of action. The way Gollum baits Sam and Frodo up the stairs of Cirith Ungol and into Shelob’s lair was high drama at it’s best.
As was the final end to their journey, when Gollum and Frodo grapple for the Ring on the edge of Mount Doom.
The final part when Frodo departs for the West was moving too. Though perhaps to those not steeped in the books this was an unnecessary afterthought. It seems to have put some reviewers off anyway.
As for the Lord of the Rings as a book it stands as one of the great works of Modern English Literature IMO. Why? Because it recreates a whole world in great detail that encompasses many of the great stories and traditions of Western European storytelling. He interwove and altered somewhat many Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Norse, Germanic and Roman mythological tales within his work.
Some people have criticised Tolkien as being a bad writer who should have kept to his studies of old Anglo Saxon manuscripts. Maybe they forgot that he was a Professor of English at Oxford University, and also a literate man of the first order. His writing consists of good English geared towards a reading public not particularly in search of a work full of words only found in dictionaries. Hence I think one of the reasons it has such a large following. No doubt the LOTR also appeals to those with a spirit for adventure and possessing a certain level of unconventional’ imagination!
Tolkien was concerned that the English people had lost their legends and myths, which he rightly considered to be an important part of the conciseness of a Nation. He had spent the most influential years of his youth living in the English countryside amongst the villagers and peasants who could trace their ancestry back to the Anglo Saxons of the 5th Century. Their way of life was only just beginning to change in Tolkien’s youth and it was this older way of life, rather than the brash new Age of Machines that appealed to him.
The storyline never flags throughout an ever-changing background of scenery and characters. Some have described the characters in LOTR as ‘wooden’ and lacking depth but I did not find them so. To me they are ‘live’ personas, who I can empathise with. I think about their battles, struggles and fears regularly and I suppose if there is a moral lesson to be learnt it is that the struggle against evil is something that we must never surrender to. Nor must we be afraid to resort to the sword to protect our communities and our friends, even when the odds look hopeless. Even Sauron had feet of clay once the source of his power had been destroyed.