one of these days I might actually write up something for my website about why the Peter Jackson LOTR films rubbed me very much the wrong way, and also using that as a vehicle for reexamining the books and talking about what about them still works for me and what doesn't. I'm not nearly the Tolkien fan I used to be, but LOTR _was_ my "Undertale" for a while, the popular work that woke something up inside me that I hadn't felt before.
@kara_dreamer I will look forward to that, if you write it! I'm largely interested to see how much intersection there is between what bothers you and what bothers me tbh. >.>
@InspectorCaracal I'll have to rewatch the films O_o I bet it won't sting as much this time. I was really excited about the first one and went to see it with my then-partner on my birthday, and walked out a bit stunned: how had my beloved "Fellowship of the Ring" turned into...THAT? And it would get worse.
there's a lot to complain about, but if there's any one thing I'd pick out as a pervasive fault of the films, it's their almost complete mishandling of the characters. Jackson's versions do and say things Tolkien's would never dream of doing and saying. Crucial, character-revealing moments of decision are smudged out or taken away.