I thought I was all done with the LOTR film analysis.
Apparently not.
I was getting off topic in the Arwen thread so decided to start a new topic on why I am sometimes so critical of PJ, despite being known as a revisionist at TORC and then, much more accurately, as a Transcendentalist.
The Transcendentalist approach rocks. This is exactly the attitude I shall take to the forthcoming Narnia movies, which I am feeling very excited about, because that fabulous trailer made me feel like December 2001 all over again. In other words, I will not - I hope! - be finding fault with the Narnia film if it differs from the book. No, the most important thing for me is whether or not the Narnia movies capture the spirit and the Christian allegory of CS Lewis's stories. That's the Transcendentalism I'm looking for.
I am no longer interested in comparing book and film differences in PJ. What I am interested in is discussing PJ's cinematic style ... and THIS is at the heart of any criticism I have of him.
How can I be so hard on PJ at times, when I have been such a champion for the films? Well, because this is LOTR, and I love LOTR with a dotty passion. So any film director taking this story on will get a hard time from Tolkien-nuts like me.
Secondly, because when PJ gets it right, he gets it SOOOOO right. Which makes the stupid stuff stand out all the more painfully.
Thirdly, because I think as a director PJ has great strengths - and weaknesses. I found 'Heavenly Creatures' impressive but uneven. I would say the same of ROTK.
PJ's gifts as a director are not in dispute - or they shouldn't be. Every time I criticise PJ, I think of how ghastly the LOTR films could have been, what an utter travesty they could have been, the story mangled beyond recognition by Miramax's distressing one-film deal ... and I am grateful. Truly grateful. Thank God for PJ and New Line: I mean it. It was the hand of Providence. PJ did something extraordinary, and he deserved all the commercial and critical success he garnered.
But, yes, I have quite strong criticisms of PJ now and then. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate the films.
PS. Ever since I got involved in LOTR fandom, it has heightened my film perception considerably. It's why I can watch Ridley Scott's 'Kingdom of Heaven' and regard it as enjoyable but still inferior to PJ's flawed but fabulous ROTK.