Only twice before, in 30 years of going to the movies, has it happened whilst
I was there. The first was during Indiana Jones, when he was faced
with that sword-wielding opponent. Indy seems gone for all money as he is
unarmed. Suddenly he whips out a gun and bang, he shoots the enemy and wins.
The audience spontaneously applauds. Mid-film.
Last night, during a preview of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, it happened again.
Peter Jackson is a cyberweaver. Sure he sets a new benchmark for brilliant
CGI visual effects, but they are interwoven with emotional and involving human
elements. The effects themselves are jaw dropping, but they add to the mix,
rather than dominate. It is CGI in context.
I can’t really go into the storyline too much as 1) you probably know it
or 2) if you don’t, it would spoil it. Suffice to say, we jump back and forth
between the “Frodo” , “Gandalf” and “Aragorn”
threads. It’s done with care and skill and – at over three hours – we also
have enough time to close out this complicated story and yet still provide
an enthralling and entertaining experience.
The Battle scenes – as the producers had hinted – seem to be an order of
magnitude larger than The Two Towers. As per the books the character
focus shifts in the final installment with Sam and Pippin having larger roles.
Other ones: Shelob, the giant spider; The Dead Oathbreakers; The Oliphants
and the flying Nazg?l are literally awesome. A slight hint – if you are
scared of spiders, you may feel the urge for a sudden popcorn feast coming
on. Or a full bladder.
As if these aren’t stunning enough, it’s the human (et al) scale that brings
home the achievement. In a number of shots we witness a character interacting
with the CGI world in stunning way. In one example, we see Gandalf on his
horse, riding around the winding pathway up the huge Minas Tirith. It’s all
done from a continuous, sweeping, ‘helicopter’ viewpoint and from a distance
that shows the sheer scale of things in Tolkien’s world.
To be fair, Peter Jackson and team had extremely strong source material,
but that is only the input to the movie algorithm. Give me the same marble
block and I couldn’t carve a David statue.
Having said that, I was very disappointed with The Matrix Revolutions. My
only comment on this is that the bar has now been set for George Lucas for
his next film. He should watch Return of the King very, very carefully.
Whiz bang effects mean nothing without heart. Computer silicon is cold, but
it can combine with gifted filmmakers to produce a heartwarming, thrilling
and satisfying masterpiece.
Memo: P Jackson c/- New Zealand. So long and thanks for
all the films. Seriously: ta muchly. You’ve worked
magic. By the way, what about The Hobbit? The Silmarillion?
Come on. You’re on a roll, mate…