The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King | Reaction & Review | Part 1

On the contrary, Christianity is full of *human* themes.

Morgan Payne

I’m definitely all in for them to watch The Hobbit movies and even The Rings of Power series

Tylor Stafford

Books are great. Movies are meh

MO

Boromir represents "Adam" or "Man". The fall of man for their intrinsic weakness. LOTR is full of Christian themes.

John Miller

No on the Hobbit - as well as they did with LOTR they did awful with the Hobbit - two very different stories. They completely missed the mark on the Hobbit -it's like they tried to make LOTR II which is complete disrespect for the Hobbit - a great piece of work completely independent of LOTR.

John Miller

This is my favorite movie of all time. Absolutely freaking epic. Everyone needs a Sam in their life! I actually just this past weekend got to meet Andy Serkis(Gollum) and got him to sign a limited edition funko pop and my limited edition “one ring” I purchased from Weta workshop in NZ!

Scuba Steve

Yea im someone who never really cared about Gollum, even though I watched this trilogy my whole life, and its my absolute favorite!

Eshwar Tangirala

I like you’re explanation, and I don’t know if you’ve read the books, I haven’t but maybe that’s why you have more depth into Smeagol. I think he is an interesting character, I’m simply not calling him a hero, I’m calling him a villain! He was corrupted far too soon by the ring, and he killed Deagol which means he was weak, greedy, and wanted the ring, for himself for his own gain and he used the ring for his own selfish reasons that’s why he was outcasted by his community. Ofc he had the ring for 500 years enough to corrupt anyone. It’s just harder for me to sympathize with him because of that

Joana

Can’t wait for you to release the last one! And hopefully a round up!

AYS

Totally agree about Sam, but in a way that's part of the tragedy of Smeagol. Even though Frodo is better able to resist the ring, he would have lost himself to the ring far sooner without Sam. Smeagol spent 500 years losing himself to the ring without anyone to pull him back. That line in Gollum's Song is gutting: "No loyal friend was ever there for me." True, that's partly because he killed his friend. 😂 But in a pretty meaningful way, the ring made him do that, and Smeagol at least has the common decency to be haunted by guilt. As awful as he is in certain ways, Smeagol wants friendship and sympathy, and he's capable of benefiting from them. He makes himself vulnerable by banishing Gollum and instead looking to Frodo as a friend and protector, only to immediately feel betrayal and abandonment and have no one other than Gollum to turn to. And although the good far outweighs the bad in Sam, his treatment of Smeagol doesn't show him in his best light. Through his compassion, Frodo actually made some progress in drawing out Smeagol, but Sam only saw Gollum. I think the movies and the books are distinct stories and worlds in a lot of ways, but at least in the books (and according to Tolkien), Sam's inability to follow Frodo's example is kind of the deciding factor in Smeagol not being redeemed. In the movies, Faramir is far more responsible for driving Smeagol back to Gollum. Seriously, what a jerk.

Kate

The books are amazing and timeless, but at their age and in 2023, the movies might be a forced watch.

Zeek

they said they havent seen them shannon

Sean Carroll

Smeagol/Gollum is a fascinating character and the performance of Andy Serkis is brilliant. I dont think anyone would consider him a hero but by far the most unique creature in the franchise.

neutchain

Sam's the GOAT. None of us here deserve a friend as good as he is.

Shannon Bey

Given their ages, I expect they've seen them.

Shannon Bey

I'm not sure the riverfolk and hobbits are exactly the same. While it didn't apply to Smeagol's murder, Bilbo suddenly having difficulty with it were part of Sauron's rise and the ring's desire to return to its master, which is also why it's hit Frodo so much harder and faster than it hit Bilbo, particularly as he grows closer to Mount Doom.

Shannon Bey

saying Harry Potter is for kids is wild. One of the best franchises ever with consistently good films.

Owen Hargrave

I'd like to see them react to Harry Potter

Callum Redfearn

Close enough, yes Denethor also had one of the Palantir stones. Just like Sauron and Saruman. Sauron used the stones to show Denethor selective visions of how powerful Sauron's army was, the Eastronds coming to join Sauron and slowly but surely drove him to despair by making sure he saw nothing but the doom of Gondor coming. This is why he is so eager to find the ring. He sees it as his only chance. Theoden on the other hand was being slowly poisoned and twisted by Wormtong and Saruman. But mostly through wispers (although it is never really explained well) and craven council. When Aragorn looks into the Palantir (in the books) he and Sauron have a battle of minds and while it was close he was able to wrest control of that stone from Sauron so it would show Aragorn what he wants and not just what Sauron allows him to see.

Hans Engelen

As someone who naturally gravitates to heroes I was so surprised to see Spartan love Smeagol so much! Especially because I’ve always considered him a villain, I know he helped Sam and Frodo on his journey but in the end it was for his own gain, he wanted the ring for himself it wasn’t to help Frodo, it was yo rid of him and keep the ring for himself. It broke me when he divided Sam/Frodo’s friendship because without Sam, Frodo never, NEVER would’ve made it to Mordor. The true hero in my book, is Sam.

Joana

bro there not kids

Eshwar Tangirala

When are you reacting to Harry Potter?

Hira Memon

I also read Wheel of Time and Game of thrones. The shows are not super accurate either. We’ll see how Wheel of Time shapes up to be. They may not follow the books, but I’m still ecstatic to see my favourite books on screen. Could they all be better? Absolutely. But I know it’s hard to fit those worlds into something so small, like a show or movie. They have to make changes, and most of the time, that’s okay lol. There have been changes that pissed me off.. but overall it’s still a good time

Betty Alice

Lol I did read the books. The lore is great and fun. The hobbit movies were not the best either, but I love LOTR and they’re still apart of them now. Rings of power may be a very loose adaption, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. It’s still a fantasy show that is way better than they used to be 15 years ago, and I rather support having fantasy shows than everyone getting mad and chasing them away :/ You can still like things even if they’re not perfect guys. it’s okay.

Betty Alice

The director (Peter Jackson) did cameos in each of these movies. In Fellowship of the Ring he’s the guy eating a carrot in the rain when the hobbits arrive in Bree (to meet at the inn), in Two Towers he’s a soldier of Rohan at the battle of Helm’s Deep who throws a spear, and in Return of the King he’s the corsair (pirate) on the ship who gets shot with an arrow by Legolas. His cameos are always silly and fun to spot. Now that you’ve seen all of them (no longer spoilers) I thought I’d point them out. He does similar cameos in the Hobbit trilogy too so you might keep an eye out for those once you know what he looks like. :)

DominaZeta

A lot of wrong people on both sides here. Hobbit is fine though it adds characters that weren’t in the book to tie in with Lotr.

Ludus Aurea

My favourite movie ever, going to wait until part 2 to watch it all at oncr

Sean Carroll

Absolutely do the hobbit. They’re good fun, much less serious.

Ludus Aurea

Denethor was quite a tool, but not without reason. I didn't read the books, but my girlfriend talks about it all the time. Here's my understanding. Denethor was apparently a great man with an absolute freight train of willpower. He had been using the Palantir at Minas Tirith to keep an eye on the goings on of the world, including with Sauron, and had been gleaning off information about the plans at Mordor while the Palantir took him more and more. Essentially, he could well have ended up like Theoden when we first saw him, but staved it off. But it still ate away at his soul. Turned his slight favoritism towards Boromir into complete disdain for Faramir. Turned the pressures of holding the throne into utter paranoia. Again, just my understanding. Heavy stuff though.

Jonathanese

Pudgey better bring the tissues for part 2

Sean Lobo

If you love the world and want more history and depth on Bilbo, Wizards you know, and some you don't, the dwarven lands and cultures, The Hobbit is a ride worth taking. It stumbles as far as trying to capture the Lord of the Rings movie feel while adapting a more humorous children's book as its source material, but it doesn't make them bad movies at all. It just makes it a step down from the clean and powerful storytelling Lord of the Rings. Also... as said in Fellowship of the Ring, there's a dragon ;)

Jessie Star

To answer Spartan’s question about the wizards. First of all, very good pick up. There is a faction of Wizards: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown (he’s in the hobbit) and the two Blue Wizards (Alatar and Pallando), but the two blue wizards don’t really show up much in any of Tolkien’s work and are just mentioned briefly in the hobbit. Radagast is kind of a hermit and prefers the company of animals over humans, so he lives in Mirkwood (where Legolas is from).

Ismail Chettfour

Pls do the Hobbit! I Think you guys Will love it!

Oliver Lysholm

No way you just said look up some lore then say watch rop. you can say what you want good bad mid show, but it’s factual anti lore and anti what Tolkien stood for

joseph wells

one of my favorite parts is that in the beginning Gimli and Legolas disliked each other but they grew into good friends willing to kill for each other. I love the characters in these stories.

The Hobbit is a more faithful adaptation of the source material than Rings of Power...and is in every respect better written, acted, and produced. I have read the book, and I have read the Silmarilion upon which Rings of Power is (very) loosely based.

TwistedMagoo

Exactly - though I'd argue it's less moral fiber and more stability/willpower. Even Boromir ran the risk of killing Frodo, even Frodo nearly got Sam killed, the ring makes people do bizarrely out of character things. It's the PCP of the Tolkien world, we're lucky none of them ate their own hands.

Molly Barrett O'Callahan

These have been my favorite reactions from you all thus far! Thanks!

Ryan Chody

The Hobbit is not real lore. Rings of Power was far better than that cash grab of a trilogy. That should say something. The fact that a lot of you do not even know that the Hobbit is not real at all tells us that you have never even read the book. There is a great Hobbit movie. It is a cartoon. Also you do not know the definition of oxymoron. Maybe if you read a little more. lols

Shawn Brink

Bilbo kept the ring for a whole ass generation with only an unhealthy attachment to show for it, and even then he was able to willingly let it go after some pressure. Smeagol took one look at the ring and immediately murdered his friend for it. It is such a vast difference in moral fiber/constitution.

Julien

rings of power is so bad. it's an insult to tolkien.

What a oxymoron of a statement! If you want them find out more lore they should stay away from rings of power which is completely fabricated by amazon writers! No more real lore (as in written by tolkien) in movies/tv unfortunately outside the hobbit/lotr trilogy. Stay away from rings of power seriously.

Anthony Brown

You guys should look up some of the lore. It’s a big world and it will explain a lot of things that we don’t get in the movie. Also, rings of powers has 1 season so far and it’s good :) maybe check that as a reaction option

Betty Alice

IF you watch the hobbit watch the theatrical versions. The movies are long enough as is and the content is stretched a bit anyway. The tone is a bit strange as well since the book is meant as a childrens book/story. While the movies try and capture the tone and essence of the Lord of the Rings movies. They're worth a watch but go in with different expectations then going into LotR.

PostMan

I personally love the joke theory that Gimli wasn’t tempted because he wasn’t going to show weakness to the ring when some pointy eared elf jerk was doing just fine around it.

Molly Barrett O'Callahan

These aren’t spoilers, just outside of film canon confirmation of some ideas. Sméagol was just an incredibly weak willed person, that’s why he fell so quickly, I believe that was confirmed. Not sure if he was also mentally ill or highly codependent prior to the ring, but my guess is the latter. He invented a personality to lean on because he was alone. Frodo and Bilbo were both emotionally healthy, willful, self-aware, and at peace with their wants and needs, so the ring didn’t have a good foothold in manipulating them. It finds crevices in people’s insecurities and pain, and Frodo took a long time to break down. The pain of the journey definitely formed those crevices I think.

Molly Barrett O'Callahan

You get to see another wizard if you watch the hobbit. God sent 5 wizards to middle earth for various purposes and two of them got lost many years before the events of these movies.

Queen Alicent's Feet

Elrond was never against Aragorn being the king of Gondor. Elrond is like Aragorn’s father, he looked after him after Aragorn came to live with the Elves decades prior to this and he knows Aragorn’s lineage and has always supported his claim.

Queen Alicent's Feet

If you love Gollum then you have to watch the hobbit just for more of him.

Queen Alicent's Feet

Definitely watch the Hobbit films. You will enjoy them. I would not recommend the extended editions however as they actually take away from the film by adding silly and cheesy scenes.

Queen Alicent's Feet

Sarumans death isn't even in the theatrical cut.

Nick Huber

“I guess no 1v1 with him and Gandalf” - That cracked me up 🤣🤣 Yea, certainly not

Jan

Letsssss goooooooooo!

Isaac_

Bb and lotr same day spoiling us guys

Professor Rizzard The Third

What a start to my holidays <3 BB and LoTR on the same day

SleeplessCSGO

Yeah boi

Jozzer