The Game Attempts: Final Fellowship Entry:
I…I can’t believe we made it. After everything else, we are finally are the end of the Fellowship section. About time, too. Alright, confession time. When I write these, I like to have the part of the movie I’m writing about on-hand to make sure I get it right. Well, seeing the same dang thing too many times can cause burn outs, which contributed to the long periods of no updates, but I think I’ve figured out a new system for writing the Two Towers segments.
The Fellowship pulls up onto the shore at Parth Galen. They set up a makeswift camp and Aragorn announces that they will camp there for the day and wait until nightfall to cross the river towards Mordor. That makes no sense as goblins are night creatures, but whatever. A minor but noticeable film flub. Gimli has a few complaints and points out that this route will take them through a maze of sharp rocks that many have gotten lost in, followed by the Dead Marshes. From his tone, I always got the impression that he was more annoyed as how laid back Aragorn seemed about taking this route than just that they were going to go down it. Whether I’m reading into it right or wrong, Rhys-Davies is just fun to watch get pissy.
Aragorn rebukes him calmly and casually and suggests he rest up instead of complaining. Gimli just pouts and growls in response. Pippin, who was listening in on this, understandably looks worried. Legolas, meanwhile, is staring intently into the forest, sensing the approaching Uruk-Hai. He goes up to Aragorn and urges them to leave, but his suggestion is refused. Yes, because not listening to Legolas when he says to haul rear hasn’t come back to bite you before. He didn’t want to hang around in Balin’s burial chamber either, and now he wants to get off that shore.
Merry walks up the fire they’ve built and drops some wood to next to it. He looks around, and realizes that Frodo isn’t around, and asks where his cousin had gone to. Sam, who was resting against a rock, sits up looking worried. Aragorn scans the camp when he realized that someone else is gone, too, and the camera pans in close to Boromir’s discarded shield.
This is a nice little scene that shows the tensions rising between the different members as the stress builds and the Ring keeps working them all over. It also sets up where Frodo and Sam will be heading the next part. Also, it establishes that the journey is only going to become more difficult and that fact is weighing heavily on the minds of the Fellowship members who know their geography. Putting Pippin in the exchange between Aragorn and Gimli also reminds us that this will be especially hard on the hobbits. Though I have to ponder why they changed the reason the Fellowship was waiting around at Galen Parth’s shores.
In the book, it was because the Fellowship knew they had reached a crossroads that would decide who went with Frodo all the way to Mordor and who wouldn’t and what route they would take there. Boromir had already announced that he was going home to Gondor no matter what the Fellowship’s decision to continue to help his people. So Frodo decided he wanted to be alone to think about it for an hour. Was that really too difficult for them to deliver? Here, it just looks like the Fellowship carelessly just let Frodo wander off by himself, and then also let Boromir tramp after him. Did they not notice the less than subtle figure of Boromir departing for the woods? In an otherwise great cinematic success, this alternation is just unnecessary and creates more problems than needed.
In the woods, Frodo aimlessly walks around looking at ruined Gondorian architecture in a depressed faze. Sad but calm string music plays to this, further setting the mood. He knows this is where he must part with the others and go off alone, and Wood actually does a good job of looking very haunted by this. He glances over at Boromir in dull surprise when he suddenly shows up with a pile of firewood in his arms.
“None of us should wander alone. You least of all, so much depends on you,” Boromir says in a happy tone that’s just a might forced. I just love this performance from Sean Bean. Boromir’s gruff and to-the-point character traits are clearly outlined throughout the film, so in this scene where he’s attempting to butter Frodo up, you can tell he’s not being himself the instant he starts talking.
And also, because we are never allowed to forget Boromir's growing obsession with the Ring and his care and worry for his oppressed people, this scene has been built up so it has weight and payoff.
Frodo doesn’t reply as Boromir nears. Boromir then states that he knows Frodo has been suffering, and that it’s been no secret that he does. Then he adds, “Are you sure do not suffer needlessly.” It is at this exact moment than the sad, but otherwise calm music abruptly ends. After a beat, during which Frodo looks cautiously up at Boromir, more off-putting, almost threatening music starts to set in, but very subtly at this point. Throughout the scene, it builds in intensity as the exchange goes on.
Boromir then begins to babble about how there are others ways that they go in a subtly desperate tone, and all the while avoiding directly identifying the Ring. He starts insisting that “but to destroy what hope we have, can’t you see that is madness.” He starts to slowly approach Frodo who also slowly backs away. Frodo solemnly tells him off, and straight up tells Boromir that what he says sounds good, but only to the side of him that’s scared.
Boromir then loses composer for just a brief second, and he outright snarls while throwing the wood to the ground.
“I ask only for the strength to defend my people! If you could lend me the Ring…”
Sean Bean’s acting in this scene is stunning and dare I say, perfect. The way he portrays Boromir’s despairing over the state of his people turning to madness is inspired and the progression flawless.
Frodo backs away from him quickly by several paces, refusing. At this point, the music has built up from subtly off-putting to outright threatening as Boromir rapidly begins to break down. Boromir’s demeanor has undergone a very frightening change. The last remnants of his faÁade break when Frodo tells him that he is out of sorts, which is thefinal push to make his attitudemgo from forced pleasantness to just barely holding himself back from charging Frodo to take the Ring from him by force. When he speaks, his already uneven tone begins cracking, rising from “straining to sound normal”-to-almost yelling:
“What chance do you think you have. They will find you. They will take the Ring,…”
Then at this point, he loses control over his voice, and begins shouting: “…And you will beg for death before the end!”
Frodo wordlessly turns away from him and walks away, ending the “discussion” right then and there. Boromir watches him go, scowling murderously, and then the last of his self-control when he lets “FOOL!” fly past his lips and he begins stomping after the hobbit. Frodo begins to run from him, but Boromir catches up to him and bears him to the ground, pinning him. He grabs at the Ring, demanding it with the voice of a maniac, trying to loosen the hobbits’ grasp on it. Then Frodo slips the Ring on. It stuns Boromir long enough for Frodo to knock him away and then run for it. Some people think Frodo punched him, I think he kicked him.
With that, the last strands of Boromir’s sanity are lost, and what follows can only be described as the rantings of a lunatic as the bile words almost seem to just spill out of Boromir’s mouth like a waterfall: “I see your mind. YOU WOULD TAKE THE RING TO SAURON! YOU WOULD BETRAY US! Well, you go to your death, and THE DEATH US ALL! CURSE YOU, and all the Halflings…”
Boromir is cut off when he trips and falls almost as if through Divine intervention (that being the book’s description and the film seems to follow suit) and he lands facedown very hard. He slowly gets up, quieting muttering Frodo’s name in tears at the realization that he…well, was taken by the Ring’s allure and acted like a psychopath. The grief and shame he experiences are visibly overwhelming to him, which Sean Bean again delivers perfectly.
We cut back to Frodo sprinting away from him in the Shadow Realm of the Ring. Boromir’s apologetic pleas can just barely be heard, but Frodo pays them no heed as he climbs a set of stairs onto a stone throne.
So, to recap: The Fall of Boromir scene. Perfect. Bean and Wood were at the top of their game in their delivery of the scene, but especially the former. No complaints. Bean is usually a very under-stated performer, but when he emotes: DAY-AMN!
Frodo begins seeing things from far away, as is the nature of the throne he’s sitting on. Like in the book, the Sight shows him the land of Mordor and brings him up to the Eye of Sauron. However, they skipped a bit, since in the book, he also got to see Gondor, which made him feel hopeful. Anyway, Frodo hastily backs away from the All-Seeing Eye while trying to take the Ring off and ends up falling to the ground a good story below becoming visible halfway down the fall. Ow.
When he lands, he looks around confused. He is interrupted by the arrival of Aragorn. Frodo stutters out that the Ring has driven Boromir mad, and then Aragorn angrily demands to know where the Ring is. This comes off more as Aragorn’s stress getting to him rather than any anger towards Frodo, but in light of what just happened, the Baggins runs several paces away from him, telling the Ranger to stay away.
Aragorn pursues him, and holds up his arms in a surrendering fashion to show he means no harm. He tries to calm Frodo down by restating his vow, but he is informed that there may be one person he cannot protect the hobbit from: himself. Frodo asks if he would destroy the Ring or take it. He opens his palm and shows the Ranger the cursed trinket.
Cue the ominous elvish chanting as the Ring begins speaking to Aragorn, tempting him. Aragorn slowly starts to step forward towards it. Frodo gasps in horror as he thinks he is about to behold the Ring break the mind of another one of his friends. Aragorn’s movements are slow and his usually steady hands tremble. The entire scene is tense, especially considering what just happened a few minutes ago.
Finally, when Strider’s hands are just inches away from taking it, he regains control and instead closes Frodo’s hand around it and the music dies, breaking the tension. Aragorn looks on Frodo with an understanding look, and acknowledges that he can accompany the hobbit no further. Frodo tells him to look after Sam. Mortensen's delivery was excellent.
Suddenly, Aragorn leaps back and draws his sword. Frodo pulls out Sting, which is glowing. Aragorn turns to face down the approaching enemy and tells Frodo to run. After the second time being told, the hobbit complies and rushes off into the woods. Aragorn rounds the corner and before him is the Uruk army.
Lurtz growls at him as the Uruks change. Aragorn raises his sword in front of him in a quick, quiet prayer and then commences with the asskicking. He nimbly side steps the first swing at him and jabs he thing in the back before unleashing a series of swings, stabs, and slices, effectively stopping their advance single-handedly. Now this is how Aragorn is supposed to fight. Outdone by a single orcish captain? Really, Bakshi? Lurtz orders the other Uruks to hunt down the Halflings while Aragorn fends them off at the front.
Eventually, the Ranger is overrun and he retreats up the steps of the very platform Frodo had just been on, fighting off Uruks every step of the way. The choreography is excellent and you can see the tactics Aragorn is using to stay alive. The Uruks are playing checkers. Aragorn is playing chess. With him at the top of the staircase, they can only come at him a few at a time and are easily defeated by his superior swordsmanship.
When a mob of Uruks pass underneath, Aragorn shouts out a battle cry “Elendil” and jumps down at them. That guy doing all the stunts, by the way? Viggo Mortensen. Yeah, he lost half a tooth landing on those guys. The tumble stops the their advance again and Aragorn continues to sword fight them off in a lying down position. Legolas and Gimli finally arrive to back him, Legolas performing inhuman feats of archery and Gimli just thwacking the hell out of every Uruk in his path.
Aragorn explains that they’ve come for Frodo and he dashes off after the ones that got past them into the woods and almost immediately finds on tangle with. We cut briefly to Sam looking for Frodo, and then looks around alarmed when he hears the struggling. Frodo, meanwhile, trips and falls (again) and crawls over to a hiding place behind a tree. Thankfully, the Uruk-Hai are as stupid as ordinary orcs and run right past him. After the coast is clear, Merry and Pippin poke their heads out of nearby brush and beckon Frodo over to them.
He looks mournfully their way and just shakes his head know. Merry looks perplexed, but then realization hits him. Pippin incredulously asks what Frodo thinks he’s doing.
Merry: “He’s leaving’.”
Pippin jumps out of their hiding spot, ignoring Merry’s attempts to stop him. Merry ends up following him out and stopping him before he reaches Frodo. The two cousins look further up the hill and see the approaching Uruks. Then Merry turns to Frodo and tells him to run. They stat shouting and drawing the Uruks to them. They run off the big lumbering oxen in hot pursuit.
An excellent little scene that shows how brave and understanding Mery and even Pippin can be in a pinch.
Frodo then sneaks off towards the river bank. Merry and Pippin continue to lead the Uruks off. Pippin happily exclaims that it’s working. Merry just impatiently tells him to keep running. A short, humorous moment. We get some more footage of the Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli fighting off Uruk-Hai, and then back to Merry and Pippin.
They finally find themselves cornered, and an Uruk with an ax approaches them, ready to kill. Ho boy, would this guy have been in trouble later. Thankfully, Boromir rushes up and grabs the ax. He proceeds to kick the Uruk where the sun doesn’t shine and then buries the ax in his back. Merry and Pippin stab some Uruks that try to grab them and clearly under-estimated them. Boromir puts a throwing knife into one’s throat. Nice shot.
Meanwhile, an Uruk has Aragorn pinned against a tree and is trying to strangle him. He has a hold of the Ranger’s sword arm, so yeah. Legolas, meanwhile, is sniping down Uruks charging right at him before they can reach in inhumanly rapid succession. Gotta love the details. Finally, Legalos gets a shot at the Uruk’s back and he releases Aragorn. Then they hear the Horn of Gondor blowing, and realize that Boromir calls for aid. Unfortunately, this also calls all the Uruk-Hai to him, and they rush down the countryside as one towards the sound of the horn.
The camera pans overhead of the charging Uruks all the way back to Boromir, Merry, and Pippin without cutting. Nice. Boromir continues to stupidly call the Uruks to him (also something I thought was dumb of him in the book, too) and bids the hobbits to run for it. They do run, maybe a couple of paces, and then turn right around again and start throwing well-aimed rocks at the Uruks, which knocks them senseless. Boromir is now fighting off waves of them with about as much skill as I’d expect from Aragorn. Yeah… That could have been a nasty fight if it came down to that.
Lurtz struts into view and instead of engaging Boromir, takes out bow and arrow and takes aim. In the theatrical cut, he pretty straight forwardly just shoots Boromir almost right away. In the Extended Cut, you get additional fighting, but that’s it, so jumping ahead to Boromir becoming a pin-cushion…
Lurtz fires the first shot, and unlike most movies featuring bows and arrows, Weta workshop knows how they actually functioned and had Bean fit with a shirt that went on under the tunic and armor that had the fake arrows on there pretty solidly, so they didn’t wobble around like they just barely punctured the skin, giving off a better “lethal” look to the imbedded arrow in Boromir.
Boromir rasps out a pained whoosh and collapses onto his knees. Merry and Pippin cease throwing rocks and stare in horror as another one of their comrades has been struck fatally by the enemy. The formerly intense battle music stops quickly and silence sets in.
Boromir then gets back up and begins downing Uruks once more now in slow motion, and somber music fitting of a warrior taking his last stand begins playing. He is struck with another arrow, and this time the sound of bolt striking and piercing his flesh is more pronounced and always makes me flinch. He moans painfully and collapses. He notices that Merry and Pippin are still here, instead of running. They stare at him in shock. For a third time, Boromir finds his strength, knowing his dying, but he will defend the hobbits as long as the ability to do so.
He takes down about three or four more Uruks before being pierced with the third and final arrow. His strength gone, he falls for the third and final time, never get up again. Merry and Pippin draw their swords and angrily slash at the Uruks, but they are picked up and hailed away. As they go, they try desperately to get free and return to Boromir’s side, to help him. As if this scene wasn't heart-breaking enough.
Then the Uruks just run past Boromir as if he were nothing, the ultimate insult to a warrior. Lurtz steps up to him with a gloating sneer on his face as he takes aim one final time. He does so standing right in front of Boromir. I never heard more booing at a character than I did in the theater in 2001. The man of Gondor looks up at his opponent, and just as Lurtz is about to fire one last arrow off, Aragorn leaps at him, knocking them both to the ground.
They both tumble on the ground and get up quickly. It’s Aragorn’s long sword against Lurtz’s short sword and shield. Aragorn jumps and him and tries to drive his blade into him, but Lurtz’s superior strength allows him to effortlessly throw the man several feet away into a tree. Aragorn is stunned and Lurtz hurls his shield at him, pinning the Ranger against the tree by his neck. The shield looks as if it were deisnged to do this with the bottom having a space big enough to fit a human neck with sharp points on either side of it. The Uruk leader rushes up ready to cleeve off the uncrowned king’s head, but the latter is just quick enough in escape.
Aragorn punches Lurtz in the stomach and gets back-handed and sent hand-over-heel across the ground again. Lurtz charges him and slices at him from above, but Aragorn is quick to roll out of the way and then stab the Uruk in the leg with the knife Celeborn gave him. Lurtz punches him in the face and then drags him to his feet and head-butts him before punching him away again. Aragorn crawls over to his sword while Lurtz pulls the short blade out of his leg.
In the extended cut, Lurtz sickly licks the blade, disgusting Aragorn before throwing at him. Bu the ranger is quick and knocks it out of the air with a swing of his sword. Lurtz growls in frustration and comes at Aragorn with everything he’s got. The two lock blades, but Aragorn’s superior swordsmanship skills win out and Lurtz ends up down one arm and with a blade stuck in his gut. Lurtz’s mistake is obvious. He should have held onto his shield longer. Again, the Uruk was playing checkers and Aragorn was playing chess.
Defiant to the end, Lurtz grips the Ranger’s blade and draws it in and menacingly growls at him. He probably meant to get Aragorn in close to kill him, or maybe not. Either way, Aragorn yanks the sword out and finally just decapitates the vexing thug once and for all.
Aragorn rushes over to Boromir’s side. The first thing the fallen warrior does is tell him that the Uruks took Merry and Pippin, and then asks where Frodo is. Aragorn gives Boromir a look, and then:
“I let Frodo go.”
“Then you did what I could not. I tried to take the Ring from him,” Boromir confesses.
“The Ring is beyond our reach now,” Aragorn replies evenly.
Boromir begs for forgiveness and admits that he was blind to the Ring’s influence on him. He thinks he’s failed them, but Aragorn is quick to quell that fear, stating that he reclaimed his honor in trying to save Merry and Pippin. Boromir looks as though he’s about to cry. When Aragorn tires to pull an arrow out, Boromir tell shim to leaves, and then mutters:
“It is over! The world of men will fall, and all will come to darkness, and my city to ruin.”
“I don’t know what strength is in my blood, but I will not let the White City fall, nor our people fail,” Aragorn vows.
Boromir visibly sheds a tear at his king finally acknowledging the people of Gondor as his own, and smiles. Then he looks upon his lord one more time and says:
“I would have followed you, my brother. My captain. My king.”
Then Boromir quietly passes away and leaves our world forever. Even writing this now, I’m almost in tears. I don’t cry at movies. Never before. I cried twice at The Fellowship of the Ring. Once for Gandalf, even though I knew he was coming back, and once for Boromir, a desperate man at the end of his rope who made a bad choice.
Aragorn utters a little prayer for Boromir, and sadly laments that the people of Gondor will look for his return, but he will not. Then Aragorn stands up and sheds tears for his follow comrade, his face caught the glow of sunlight shining through the trees. It’s a beautiful image. Legolas and Gimli arrive and see what has befallen of their comrade. Legolas looks on with sad confusion, still unused to mortal lives just extinguishing around him, and Gimli sadly hangs his head, knowing they’ve lost another good soul to this fight.
I have no complaints about any of this. The fight choreography and stunt was fantastic, the acting was top notch, and again, Sean Bean did a great job in capturing Boromir, humanizing him and making him relatable, and that’s what sells the tragedy of his death.
Frodo stands alone on the river bank, with his arm held out in front, bearing the Ring. Tears adorn his face and not for the last time. He looks drained and scared. We hear his thoughts:
“I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.”
Then, he recalls what Gandalf said to him:
“So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide to what to do with the time that is given to you.” We get a quick flashback of Gandalf’s warm, smiling face as he says, bathed in gold heavenly light, as if from beyond the grave. This gives Frodo the courage to try once more. He grasps the Ring and pockets it, and marches out to the elven boats. He pushes one out and starts rowing across.
Suddenly, Sam emerges from the tree line calling after him and stopping at the river bank. Frodo ignores him and keeps going, but Sam is persistent and wades in after his dear master. Frodo tells Sam his intent:
“I’m going to Mordor alone.”
“Of course you are! And I’m comin’ with you!”
By this point, Sam is almost up to his neck, and Frodo tries to call him off, but he won’t hear any of it and wades right into the deep and unsuccessfully tries to swim out to the boat and sinks beneath the surface. There we get a long sequence of Sam almost drowning until finally Frodo’s hand breaks through the surface and he hauls his companion onto the boat. Frodo chastises Sam for being reckless, to which our favorite gardener answers:
“I made a promise, Mr. Frodo. A promise! Don’t you lose him, Samwise Gamgee and I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to.” Astin’s driven and stirring performance warms the heart as the two embrace. The film fades to the two of them rowing away to the opposite shore, towards Mordor.
The film then fades to Boromir set adrift on the boat, bearing him back home. Aragorn pulls on the gauntlets that once belonged to their felled companion, since they officially belong to heir of Gondor. He glances across the body of water towards the retreating forms of the hobbits as they vanish into the trees.
Legolas begins to push a boat out onto the river, urging the other two follow suit. He stops when he realizes that Gimli and Aragorn aren’t following him and he looks back at them with a puzzled look.
“We’re not following them?”
Aragorn announces Frodo’s errand is beyond their ability to aid. Gimli mutters that the Fellowship has been broken and the two look to Strider for instruction on what to do next. He places a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Not if we hold true to each other. We will abandon Merry and Pippin to torment and death. Let us hunt some orc.”
The elf and dwarf exchange looks and Gimli lets out an enthused “YES!” and laughs heartily as he follows Aragorn, and is followed by Legolas, off to save Frodo’s silly cousins.
The music then picks up on a happy note they run off and continues on when we meet up with Frodo and Sam again. They step onto the top of a high rocky ridge, overlooking the land from a high point. They can see Mordor in the distance. Frodo comments melancholically that they will probably never see the others again, but Sam optimistically says that they may.
Frodo looks at Sam fondly.
“Sam, I’m you’re with me.”
Sam smiles and nods his head in response, the wordless reply being the most powerful in this instance. With that, the two hobbits march forward, towards the Land of the Black Shadow. Fade to black.
Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Conclusion:
How does Peter Jackson’s rendition of The Lord of the Rings hold up and how well did it adapt the epic work to the big screen? Today, March 2012, it still holds up very well, keeping up with the most recent advances in technology with no problem, and most agree that it’s still good by today’s standards. Heavens know it was certainly the best 2001 had to offer, since the first Harry Potter movie’s effects certainly all looked like effects. In contrast, the philosophy of creating the effects for LotR, whether on-set or CGI, was “make it look real”. So, from a technical standpoint, it does just fine. The productions values were just great, and New Zealand was the perfect untouched backdrop for Middle-earth.
Story wise: Well, to sum it up, really good, but flawed. Overall, most of the choices and small alternations the team made were wise ones in adapting the saga to screen with just a few noticeable screw ups that only really stand out as screw ups because the rest of the film is really, really awesome.
At the time this film came out, no one thought it could be done and most people familiar with the book looked on with cynical or at least skeptical eyes, due to the disappointments of previous adaptations. However, the trailers were really well designed and made the film look damn good. So we gave it chance and were mostly satisfied with what we got. An insane amount of work, care, and creativity went into this and it shows. Oh yeah, and it was made known to the public at every given opportunity that this was the first of three, so very few were taken off guard when the story was unfinished at the end of this.
The film goes along at an even pace in both the theatrical and extended release of the film, so the audience is never bored. The charm and personality of all the characters were largely preserved, though Jackson did tend accentuate certain aspects of their character of others at times. Such as Frodo’s vulnerable side being given most of the focus over his intellectual traits. Most of the characters in terms of looks also look like they stepped right out of the book, with exceptions (looking at you, Weaving).
No important plot details were omitted and Jackson knew to keep explanations brief when need be, so the story was never confusing or full of holes. Unlike Bakshi, Jackson and his team did not go into this just assuming that everyone had read the book or do so recently, instead taking the time to properly introduce and explain. You know, like competent story-tellers!
Howard Shore’s score captures the essence of the story and enhances every scene it’s in, effectively earning him the respect and fame he now has.
The acting typically ranged from good to excellent, with exceptions (look at you, Wood). The result of these elements coming together, well, resulted in a huge hit movie that hass been hailed as a modern classic since it’s release.
Tolkien's themes of love, friendship, loyalty, and courage are preserved and there for anyone to see through the actions of the Hero characters.
Now, it is time to move onto Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
