The Slashing of the Shire
We all went out to see Return of the King yesterday afternoon. For the most part, I found it immensely entertaining, visually stunning, emotionally moving, and with the exception of deleting the entire Scouring of the Shire sequence, the total absence of Saruman and Wormtongue, along with the greatly expanded role of Arwen the Horsefaced Elf, fairly faithful to Tolkien. I expect that some of the more egregious cuts will return in the extended DVD version.
It also quite accurately depicted the devoted relationship between Frodo and Sam, although the dewy looks exchanged between them, gauzy photography, and swelling score made it seem quite maudlin...almost romantic. As my friend Jonathan remarked, "the slash possibilities do more than suggest themselves." It put me in mind of this hilarious parody.
And speaking of parodies, anyone who's read Harvard Lampoon's Bored of the Rings will probably find themselves unable to watch this film without mentally renaming the major characters Sorhed, Goodgulf, Arrowroot, and Frito Bugger.
If you love classic horror films as much as I do, then you'll find a lot to love at