Outside of some sweet moves by Legolas ( Orlando Bloom), the movies have almost no interest in being deemed “cool”, and even in the biggest set pieces, there’s no whiz-bang mentality that blockbusters typically embrace. To put it another way, Lord of the Rings is almost anti-modern in its depictions. Jackson essentially trusted that the storytelling and characters were powerful enough that they would overcome any reservations about how he presented that story and characters. That timelessness carries over to the direction and Jackson’s decision to never temper the source material. Melded with a heavy reliance on practical effects and a bevy of supporting VFX, Lord of the Rings doesn’t feels dated, but timeless. Even non-characters like the CGI cave troll in Fellowship of the Ring have lost none of their potency because they work as a piece with the larger scene rather than being a neat effect for the sake of the effect. I half expected Gollum ( Andy Serkis), one of the first fully motion captured characters in a live-action film, to pale in comparison to mo-cap creations in a post- Avatar world, but while the VFX are no longer at the cutting edge, they’re still good enough when combined with the precision of the writing and Serkis’ performance. It would be a mistake to call the Lord of the Rings “dated”, and in their new 4K transfers all of the visuals hold up beautifully. While Lord of the Rings heralded plenty of imitators (remember Eragon?), the earnestness and unabashed high fantasy of these movies now stands apart from the more modern stylings of the 21st century blockbuster. Billions of dollars and loads of Oscars later, the Lord of the Rings was a risk that paid off but re-watching the trilogy this past weekend on its new 4K Blu-ray you can see how these movies were both groundbreaking in their VFX while being singular in their approach to blockbuster storytelling. Peter Jackson took one of the most beloved books in the history of Western literature, and New Line Cinema took a ridiculous gamble backing three movies that were predicated on a fantasy genre that had largely lain dormant for decades. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is a miracle of filmmaking.
0 kommentar(er)
