In retrospect, I began to be disenchanted when I noticed that Howard Shore's score seemed awkward at moments, almost amateurish. A good score is supposed to support the film, not draw attention to itself. But at moments Shore's music forced itself into my consciousness and dimmed the magic spell the film was trying to cast on me.

In fact, please note that word "trying." Perhaps The Return of the King tries too hard, and ends up being a bit self-conscious because of the effort. Consider Legolas's killing of the murmak -- what was the point, really, except that he had a cool scene in each of the two earlier films, and needed one here. But The Empire Strikes Back did that scene, and better, more than twenty years ago.

And I have to cite what I view as some misplaced attempts at humor. Gimli isn't supposed to be a wise-guy, is he? And early on in the film, there was one reaction shot with Gollum (Andy Serkis) where he cowers behind a tree after being attacked by Sam, which was right out of blackface shuck-and-jive comedy. A ripple of laughter floated through the audience at the screening I attended, which was surely not Jackson's intent.

And while we're on the subject of Gollum, it's my belief that some of the scenes with him were throw-aways, quick cuts or asides there just to show how slick the animators have gotten at their craft. Believe me, as one who has tinkered a bit with animation, I appreciated it. But as a movie-goer, one who is trying to get into the story, I already knew how wretched the little bastard was - why keep pounding that into me? I'd rather have had a bit less of Gollum and a bit more of Saruman. And that ending—they completely overturned Tolkein's extended Shire-bound coda in favor of an extended schtick-laden scene at the Grey Havens. I mean, how much do these hobbit men like each other, anyway? The gay subtext in Tolkien's work, which never overwhelms the thread of the plot, really comes more to the fore in the film with loving glances and such. True, all that sort of thing and more is in the book, but times were different then, and one can't escape the relatively large homoerotic charge that builds up across The Return of the King. All of the females, even Shelob, are somehow larger than life and mostly magical. The one actual romance in the book, that between Arwen and Aragorn., requires that the elf maiden give up her immortality if she is to be able to handle her love for the human.

Don't elves go to school precisely to learn how to deal with this sort of thing? How to keep their emotions in check, I mean? As far as Arwen (Liv Tyler) as an elf, a supernatural, immortal being, is concerned, Aragorn ought to be little more than a talented domestic pet. Endearing, loveable, sure - but not acceptable as a love-object. Just allowing her the capacity to feel that sort of emotion for a human de-elphainzes her a bit. Is that really what Tolkein wants?

Even Elrond (Hugo Weaving) caves when his daughter makes mooneyes at him. I dunno, all of this works better in the books than in the film. Maybe it's the high mythopoeic content of all of this. Tolkein is not good with individuals. He's great with sweeping plot and history, but as far as the individuals go, he doesn't "ring" quite true.

Many moments are thrilling and almost painful to watch. The film opens with a scene in which Smeagol and his friend Deagol discover the Ring while fishing. Smeagol murders his friend for the seductive trinket. Thus begins his descent into degradation and misery. It's gripping.

Also, the scene in which the Riders of Rohan suddenly appear on the ridge overlooking orc-beleagured Minas Tirth is a supreme moment of filmmaking. Then they drive the wedge of their forces into the right flank of the goblin army. Outstanding!

Ah well -- I know I'm in the minority. The movie really is good, of course, but it could have been—and should have been—better.

Recent Raves:

Those Of My Blood

A novel by Jacqueline Lichtenberg
2003 Benbella Books
www.benbellabooks.com

Jacqueline Lichtenberg, best known for her Sime-Gen novels, here takes up the challenge of writing a crossover. But not just a two-way cross over: she's written a science-fiction romance starring vampires. Her blood-drinking luren, as they're called, are descendants of a space-faring race marooned on Earth some centuries ago. They have some of the commonly accepted powers of media-type vampires, as well as some of the weaknesses.

The book's lead is Dr. Titus Shiddehara, an astronomer. Twenty years before the book opens, Titus, then known as Darrell Raaj, had a life and a fiancée. But a car crash ended that life. To his shock, he awoke as full-fledged vampire. Now, having pledged never to drink human blood again, he lives on a synthetic compound. There are other luren like Tutus, calling themselves Residents. But there are also the Tourists, vampires who have not renounced human blood.

The Tourists and the Residents have kept their clashes private over the past few hundred years, knowing that humans would destroy them all if the truth became known. But now an alien spacecraft has crashed on the Moon, a luren craft that proves Man is not alone. Humans are working to contact the aliens - but Titus knows that the aliens are luren, and that attracting their attention may have fatal results for all mankind.

Lichtenberg gets a lot of this right. It's nifty that she's staged the second half of the book on the Moon, long associated with vampiric doings. The book moves along fairly well, although I confess that I had a hard time getting into it - the author drops us into the middle of events with very little preamble and it took me a while to get my footing. In fact, the book reads as if it may be part of a series, but I can't determine if this is true.

Actually, my only real complaint about Those of My Blood is that the romantic element is curiously muted for a book that won the Romantic Times Award for best SF novel. My current romantic standard in pop culture is The Bridges of Madison County. Lichtenberg's book doesn't quite have the star-crossed tragic underpinnings of that work. I would have liked to have seen more heartaches in it. Don't get me wrong - there are many ups and downs between Titus and his lady-love, but I feel that they are there more to drive the sf portion of the plot. Lichtenberg is a talented writer who's been in the business for a good long time now. I'd like to see her do some more work with these characters, and maybe tinker a bit more with the balance between romance and science fiction. It's certainly a niche that can be more fully explored, and she's made an excellent start.