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[bubosquared]

Have just returned from semi-improntu meeting with sileas and rane_ab to watch RotK (fourth time for me, second for them). Had much fun, but must learn to control urge to babble when in slasher company.

Anyway. Notes:

When Aragorn and co ride up to Orthanc, Théoden is the only one who has to keep spurring his horse on. Poorn Théoden King, everyone else's horses obey freely and he's stuck with the one stubborn one. ("Move, damn horse, move!") I am easily amused.

In the Hall of Methuseld, when Théoden gives his "Hail the victorious dead" speech and makes me wibble every time, I noticed that while Éomer is standing right next to Théoden, Éowyn is standing off way to the side. This could just be because Éomer was the one who saved the day at Helm's Deep, but still. Just some food for thought.

The pain in Elrond's eyes when he says "The life of the Eldar is leaving you." Ow. Owwwww.

I have something down on "Gondor needs no King" vs "The rule of Gondor is mine", and I'm not sure if I really remember what I meant by that, but I think it was something about the difference between Denethor and Boromir. This isn't really apparent in those lines, but that's what made me realise it. Boromir's resistance to Aragorn as the King of Gondor seems to me to be much more about not wanting some scruffy-looking Ranger from the North to come in and declare himself King of a people who've been fending for themselves for ages, whereas for Denthor, it's more about not wanting to give up his own power. I may be totally off-track here.

When Éomer leaves the Hall to go gather the Rohirrim, he gives Éowyn this condescending little pat on the shoulder and it makes me want to hit him. Preferably with Gandalf's staff.

Speaking of the Rohan royalty, and I should really reread TTT and RotK and pay special attention to this, but it seems that Éomer and Théoden have had minor personality transplants. In the books, IIRC, it's Théoden who says the "I only doubt the reach of his arm" line, and book!Théoden does have a bit of condescension going on towards Éowyn, but it doesn't bother me as much with him because he's her father figure, so it's more understandable than coming from (movie!)Éomer, when it kinda destroys the sibling relationship they had in the books. (Movie!Théoden also would not let either Éowyn or Merry fight, but it'smore concern for them, especially for Éowyn, than condesension.)

Moving on, during the catapulting of Minas Tirith, someone shouts"We need more rubble [for the trebuchets]!" and sure enough, the wall gets hit and bam! More rubble! I continue to be amused by this.

The charge of the Rohirrim at the orcs remains a breath-taking moment. Fuck, but it's like a tidal wave sweeping away the orcs, and then the orcs run away and Théoden regroups his army to attack the Elephaunts, such a hopeless, suicidal charge at those huge creatures, yet to a man, the Rohirrim obey, and oh, but it breaks my heart. And yet it isn't until he catches sight of the Witch King that Théoden loses hope and shows despair, and I love Bernard Hill for that moment alone. The man is a genius actor.

And okay, I have some nitpicking to do about the scene at the Black Gate. When Aragorn and co. ride up to the Black Gate to call out Sauron's army, they're on horses, but a bit later, as the orcs close in on them, all of them are on foot. What happened to the horses? On a smiilar note, you can see several riders in the crowd, but they're all at the back. Which strategic genius put the cavalery at the back, people? Huh? (All right, they might be Gondor's mounted infantry, but still. Putting horses behind foot soldiers? Who thought that up?) And on a different note, when Aragorn's being attacked by the troll, why isn't anyone but Legolas even trying to help him? Come on, people, help your King, here!

Legolas continues to annoy me with his Random Elf Wisdom. More on that over here.

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[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

but the second time I saw it, I was almost crying.

Me too! Just, knowing that his daughter is lost, that he hsa to let her go, it's so. Oh.

I missed that! I don't think it was in the subtitles.

It was, I looked for it this time. random amusement in the middle of battle!

I will not talk about the Faramir and Osgiliath or I'll just cry again. Sigh.