It is not necessary to pore over old texts or glimpse through a palantir to learn that I am a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings. I am also a fan of Peter Jackson’s now 20-year-old film trilogy adaptation, despite its flaws. So when I learned that all three movies, in their extended editions, would be back in theaters in several three-day, back-to-back windows this June, I had to partake. Doing so reminded me all over again why I enjoy the movies and love the books.
There was a surprise for me at the outset of my viewing experience: I did not realize I had purchased 4DX tickets. 4DX theaters have in-house lighting, motion, and other effects intended to make moviegoing a more immersive experience. The most noticeable aspect of this is the seats themselves, which can move and vibrate. After being initially unsure whether I was in that kind of theater, I received complete confirmation during the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring, a momentous battle that put the effects on full, rambunctious display. Though I was worried, at first, that I would find this distracting, I got used to it by the middle of Fellowship, and was genuinely enjoying it by the end of The Return of the King. A highlight was the wizard battle between Gandalf and Saruman, which made full use of the seats’ vibrational and rotational capabilities.
I would have enjoyed the movies thoroughly without these enhancements. I have seen them many times. Before this viewing, however, I had only seen Return of the King in theaters. I was eight when the first one came out, saw the first two on DVD, then read all three books (after a friend bet that I couldn’t) before seeing the third on the big screen. It’s quite obvious that these movies were made for, and deserve, the biggest canvas possible.
The battles, scenery, and (almost entirely) not-dated special effects fill every inch of the frame; Howard Shore’s fantastic score heightens every moment. The quieter, more intimate moments between fewer characters draw the viewer in all the more. And the movies take full advantage of New Zealand’s stunning natural beauty, which is even more apparent in a theater’s greater dimensions. Scenes that can give me chills (the Ride of the Rohirrim) or choke me up (Sam carrying Frodo at Mt. Doom) when I occasionally return to them on YouTube or TV were absolutely magnified in their power. I even noticed a few things I hadn’t before, such as a deliberate parallelism between Frodo and Sam across two of the movies (and, as a minor criticism, the fact that Rohan is built up better as a place to care about than Gondor is). Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was simply made for theaters.
That artistic act of adaptation was an immense challenge. And it is one that the production, for the most part, met. I know the books very well, and know well what changes were made from them. Some alterations and additions still rankle me. Many of them appear in extended-edition scenes, of which I’d seen some already, while others (in a pleasant surprise) were completely new to me. Other changes are more justified, or at least justifiable. And even deviations are forgivable, given the thoroughgoing fealty to the spirit of Tolkien’s work.
It is this fealty that has given Jackson’s trilogy some measure of the artistic immortality Tolkien’s work has already secured. My own showings bore evidence of this. The crowd was a self-selecting one, obviously. Still, it was significant that those in the audience reacted so passionately to many key moments, moments they had doubtless witnessed many times before. That included scenes that have since passed into internet lore as memes: “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!” And did you know that Aragorn deflected a real knife/broke his toe in that scene?
But in an internet-saturated age, the endurance of these moments also counts as a form of cultural memory. Though at times I wished people would just sit back and let the movie wash over them instead of feeling the need to clap and laugh, I came to accept all their reactions as a form of the same appreciation for the movies that I myself have.
My appreciation is sincere, deeply felt, and now reinvigorated by my moviegoing experience. We’ve had a decent amount of Lord of the Rings media in the years since, some made by Jackson himself. More is on the way. But what we’ve had thus far has failed to measure up. I don’t need a palantir to predict that this will remain the case, and that the Lord of the Rings trilogy will continue to stand apart as the preeminent faithful, if flawed, transmitter of Tolkien’s creative vision to a mass audience.