Current mood:

indescribable

Say it with me: "Well, I'm back..."
So. I spent ten hours in line yesterday, two of which were with smolder and kitarra and another two of which were spent in comfy seats in the the theater, thank goodness. And we got GREAT seats. Still, six hours alone in the Santa Ana wind behind a gaggle of teenagers from a church school...I want a medal, dammit.

So. I've seen it. :) :) :) I think my initial reaction was utter quivering (literally) fascination, followed by three-and-a-half hours' worth of alternating joy and shock. It was an incredible movie, but I also think there were severe pacing problems, some story cuts/changes that made me want to scream, and a few moments which were overplayed to the point of innappropriate audience laughter. Which were balanced by the WOW moments and the Ooo! moments, and a couple lines I admit I was able to raptly mouth along with the screen. *blush*

I'm not functioning well enough yet to do more than randomly list things. All of the LJ-Cuts below are loaded with spoilers, needless to say...

23 Things That Made Me Squee (Or Cringe In A Good Way, As The Case May Be)

1) Beregond! Sure, they never said his name, but that was Ian Hughes, and he had LINES. *squee*
2) Eldarion! The kid, that was Eldarion! It was in the credits!
3) I'll have you notice Eomer (aka "mah boy") took down two mumakil with one shot. *preens*
4) Sam. ROCKS. As he should.
5) The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!
6) The beacon sequence blew my socks off.
7) The Dead. OMG the Dead. O.O
8) The counting! And "That only counts as one." *luffs Gimli*
9) The charge of the Rohirrim. Eeee!
10) Erk erk all the horse-crushing ERK.
11) The fact that everyone in Minas Tirith used the name "Mithrandir" for our favorite White Wizard.
12) The Gamgee wedding! And Ally and Maizie! *squeak* Is it possible adore Rosie any more without being Mary Borsellino? I don't think so!
13) The suicide charge. And the severed heads. I was sure they'd leave those out. *shudder*
14) Frodo's barely-healed wounds from Weathertop and Moria (?).
15) The rings! You could see Vilya and Narya on Elrond and Gandalf's respective hands at the Grey Havens! And omg that was KeeeerCirdan there too. :)
16) Eomer without armor. For about, oh, ten seconds. BUT STILL.
17) Grond. Grond. Grond. Grond. Eheh.
18) Look who got secondary title credits: Lawrence! Yay! Loved the bitchy little "step aside" maneuver by his orc, if I identified him correctly.
19) The palantir certainly LOOKED good.
20) Feverish!Faramir. Poor baby. I wonder how the enemy knew to send HIM back like that? There's a story there, eh...
21) "And THAT'S for my old gaffer!"
22) More drunken hobbit table-dancing! I'm surprised they both wound up in their own, er, pallets that night. *duck*
23) And yup, PJ's kids showed up as Cute Gondorian Children.

9 Things That Made Me Go "Okay, PJ, THAT Was A Decent Change"

1) Pippin lighting the beacon fire.
2) Pippin singing.
3) Legolas taking out that mumak. I was braced for cheesy, but okay, it was kinda cool. *looks embarrassed*
4) The way the endless trudge across Mordor was handled.
5) Having Frodo last four years instead of one so Elanor would be a toddler and Frodo-lad would have been born. Tres cute.
6) Sam taking the Ring off-camera. Nice bit of suspense for the non-book people.
7) Giving Merry the reins. If anyone know how to dodge between the feet of large four-legged animals, it's a hobbit!
8) Pippin finding Merry on the field afterward. Even if the slashometer DID nearly shatter. *facepalm*
9) Merry being able to tell his Rider was Eowyn. It always DID seem rather unobservant of him.

15 Things That Made Me Go "WTF No Nooo"

1) Denethor's death. WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?! That'll get a rant of its own, I think...
2) Beregond not doing ANYTHING. I mean yeah, I see the point thematically of having Pippin save Faramir, but would it have killed PJ to have "one of the guards" (*cough*ianhughes*cough*) break ranks and help?
3) Could Legolas and Aragorn have been any slashier at the coronation? If Arwen hadn't turned up, I'm pretty sure the King was about to snog his elf right there in front of the entire world.
4) Okay, Theoden, die already.
5) Okay, Frodo, go west already.
6) No minor characters, but I already bitched about that.
7) Arwen's dying because of the Ring?! How stupid is that? Doubly so because it ended up meaning nothing to the plotline anyway!
8) The way Dunharrow was designed -- if it's that evil, why climb all the way up there to camp? But maybe that's a canon WTF too.
9) The cheeseball "Fellowship Reunited" scene towards the end. I felt my teeth rotting. (And that was only eight of 'em, anyway. *sulks*)
10) No Mouth of Sauron? I KNOW he was cast... I guess I can see why he was cut, but I was kinda looking forward to him.
11) The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am with how Eomer got cut out AGAIN. That scene where he loses it on the Pelannor has always been a fave.
12) Would it had killed PJ to leave something in about Aragorn and the palantir? He held it for a moment, it affected him. It would have taken five seconds to gasp to Gandalf that Sauron knows about him now or sommat.
13) Merry, you idiot, don't just stand there -- frickin' knock the palantir from Pippin's hands!
14) Let me just mention Denethor's death again, because I'm LIVID about it.
15) Most important, as said, no sign of Eowyn/Faramir. *weeps*

3 Things That Made Me Go "But It Was In The Preview..." (yes, I know, "wait for the extended version," I'm just saying)

1) Eomer's anguish. See icon.
2) Gandalf & Pippin vs. the Witch King.
3) Merry swearing allegiance to Theoden.

10 Things You Should Know If You've Only Seen The Movie

1) Eowyn didn't ride to the Black Gate because of her injuries. As didn't Merry. And Pippin gets hurt there.
2) And oh yeah, Eowyn falls in love with Faramir and marries him. KIND OF IMPORTANT. *fumes*
3) When the hobbits got home, the Shire was ruined and they had to rally their kin to free it.
4) Four years? Hardly. Frodo lasted ONE year before he had to leave.
5) YES, Sam does eventually get to join him, but only after thirteen children. ;)
6) The Three Hunters did NOT go through the Paths alone -- they went with a pack of Aragorn's Dunedain kin, plus Arwen's kick-ass twin brothers. And Legolas did NOT lose Arod (that's his horse, hello?).
7) Hang on, Celeborn did NOT leave with Galadriel...and where was Shadowfax, hmm?
8) Yes, Legolas and Gimli stuck together after that.
9) Aragorn found a new living White Tree and planted it in the courtyard. The old one was cut down, chopped up, and turned into a magic wardrobe.
10) ...okay, no, it wasn't.

AND. This is me stopping now before I rattle on all day. Still haven't fully absorbed this all in my internal "movie canon," if that makes any sense. Give me a few days and another showing. I'm also fighting to keep my own mental images o everything intact, which is hard, but I'm trying...

More later perhaps when I can think again -- I'm functioning on three hours of sleep and trying to catch up on work. Oh! Chris did finish his chainmail in time, and he looked fantastic in costume (!). I'll have pictures up tonight, though believe me, I do not think they do it justice. He was drop-dead sexy, if you ask me...but so was Plastic Eomer, and I got pictures of HIM in his new ROTK duds too. *G* Again, to be posted tonight.

BTW, azewewish? I got your message. "Ran into Sala Baker at Trilogy Tuesday" indeed. Argh! ARGH! You! Bitch! *dramatic jealous hissyfit*

And one last tiny thing: *sniff* I'm so proud...