[Lunatique]

I accompanied my GF to go see LOTR in the theater here in Fuzhou, China. It was dubbed, and they didn't do too bad of a job. I had already seen the original English version twice, so I knew all the original dialogues well. Very few dialogues were mangled, which was surprising. But Tolkien's style of dialogue translated into Chinese is quite confusing.

The promotion here for the film is horrible, since they never mention that it's supposed to be a trilogy, and 2 more films are supposed to follow the first one in consecutive years.

The reaction of the crowd was more confused than anything. First of all, people in China dont' know squat about the world of fantasy. They don't realize that the western fantasy world is actually similar to their own old martial arts/legends world. The books only became available here just a month ago, so no one's read LOTR. In fact, no one knows ANYTHING about LOTR or its place in modern English literature. The only people with any concept of fantasy genre are probably the teenagers that has been exposed to video games, anime, and other pop culture. But even then, we're talking very little exposure.

When the movie ended, people exclaimed "What the hell?!" NO ONE knew it's only part one of a trilogy. I think the only people that knew was me and my GF.

Anyway, I think it's sad that the promoters in China didn't care enough to do what they were supposed to. But then again, the art of film is largely ignored here by the masses. To them, it's just something to do to kill time, not something you should give a second thought about.

The lack of education and social awareness also makes watching film in the theater here a bad experience(that's why I never do it anymore. I made an exception this time because my GF hasn't seen it, and she doesn't understand English so she can't watch the original version that I have). Every other minute, someone's cellphone will go off, and the person will talk loudly, and don't even bother to end the conversation quickly. There must've been at least 50 phone calls answered throughout the movie(I'm not exaggerating. EVERYONE in China has a cellphone). Then there's the continuous talking throughout the movie. People unwrapping food packaging loudly, eating loudly, and chatting among themselves loudly. I really can't stand these people sometimes.

From now on, I'm just going to download Hi-res DVD rips from KaZaa and watch them in peace and quiet at home. No more going to theaters in China for me.

[ April 18, 2002: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[gLitterbug]

Seems like China isn�t too great when it comes to "Movie Culture" :/

I know how much it sucks when people talk and do shit in cinema, last time I went (Resident Evil), we had some suckers sitting next to us that always yelled out shitty jokes and stuff. I really would�ve like to beat em up badly

[toiletPhish]

personally i think people's reaction to lotr was just as bad over here in america... i live in a stupid hick town and i'm not a hick. when i went to the movie the theater was filled with stupid people who would critisize the movie non stop. i saw it twice. the first time there were people behind me and in front of me talking about how it was missing a storyline and things were just happening out of the blue. behind me kids were whining about how they never got a chance to go "orc hunting" in the end. and they said that they hated the movie and crap it made me so mad... even to the point of psychopathic murderous rampage....
the second time i went there was a old guy sitting right next to me with his family...commenting on how tolkien must have smoked some "awfully good stuff" to think this stuff up and etc... he was totally knocking tolkien (if he didn't like the movie...blame the frikken director...) the dickhead made me so f'ing mad that i started talking to my mom (i brought my parents this time) about how genious tolkien is and how it a frikken masterpiece just to piss the guy off. he looked at me a lot, and when he tryed to put his elbows on the theater armrests i would nudge him off with my elbows hehehehe. in the end his wife was telling him not to judge the author because of a movie that he didn't enjoy... etc and he said "your just as wacko as he is" and he finished with saying "no wonder the world is going downhill with crap like this" and "waste of my time and money." as well as the grand finale:
"If i ever met this tolkien guy that came up with this garbage, i would beat some reality into him." he explained
"Honey, the author is already dead." says wife
"what, did he die of overdose?"

i chose not to go with my friends because my friends are idiots who have never even heard of the books either...i thought they would just critisize it like everyone else. However, the next day at school everyone had the book out and was reading it and asking me questions about the book....some people were even skipping the first book because "they saw it already" ....some people were even reading the last chapter of the third book only. it pissed me off even more than the people who critisized it in theaters. i think it would be better if the movies were never made...because of all the people who don't deserve to see them...who end up seeing them. the world is unworthy for tolkien.

personally i think they should have a whole bunch of rules at the theater doors:
1. no one under the height of 4 feet allowed in, unless you can pass a maturity test.
2. no one who hasn't read the first book of the trilogy allowed to pass
3. only those who have come to the realization that the movie may ruin parts of the book will be allowed to see the movie.

the list goes on and on :0
problem is, they wouldn't make any money, because they rely on stupid people's money who are going to hate the movie anyways.
oh well.

[Nilwort]

^ I hear ya, sadly, the majority of people on this planet are itiots...

"If i ever met this tolkien guy that came up with this garbage, i would beat some reality into him."

HAHAHAH what a f*cking itiot...oh my god...It's sounds like this person needs to have some "imagination" beat into him

[Sedul]

beat them up for what? (referering the REsident Evil). It was a shitty movie anwyayz. Was laughing my whole way through.

[gLitterbug]

Sure Resident Evil wasn�t the best movie I�ve seen, but it did good what it wanted too. A friend for example loved it and got scared a lot.

And to the beat up stuff - If people don�t enjoy a movie they should shut the fuck up and leave and not scream around and shit, maybe some people DO like the movie and want to watch it without some dumbasses yelling around.

[strata]

the only people I heard in the theatre in sweden complain about the ending were a few 15 year old girls who I wouldn't have expected to have ever read or put an interest in lotr anyways...

[Giant Hamster]

I saw blade 2 just recently with my g/f.

The movie was extremely stupid...but i enjoyed it for that.

There was a small pack of ghetto g's hiding up in the corner stomping their feet, talking constantly, and laughing loudly: "Naw, dawg...uuuuuuuuuuuh, really? fuuuuck. uuuuh, look at that! look at that! did you see that shit?! blade just f-u-c-k'ed em tha helllll up!" "hahahahah! fer real! omg! Oh hey, let's get some fuckin' popcorn and shit, nigga." "aight, brb, yo." "Hahahah! fuckin blade layed the smack down"...and so on...

BUT, minus the ghetto g's EVERYBODY is in complete silence...


I have a mongoose attached to my testicles.

[PixHortHiT]

Hey Strata, is that latin I see in the bottom of you post, whats it say?

Lay it on me in swedish...

Schyrro...

[edraket]

It was the same here. Lots of people just didn't get it.
It was christmas time and this movie had been marketed to death so it should be good to go to with the whole family right?
They expected an action packed family adventure and instead they got three hours of boring dark stuff without an ending.
It just shows how dumb people can be. They don't actually think about what they are spending their money on, they just go to whatever had the most commercials.
At the same time. They payed for it and made it possible to create the best fantasy movie ever. So thats good for us right?
It just makes me wonder if the next two will be just as profitable.

[Pixie Nim]

so it's a cult movie. so feel very proud of yourself that you understood. go on. feel smug.
it's not like it matters that much if someone else doesn't agree with your opinion of a movie - hey, grow up and live with it! it's not your place to decide people are "stupid", or "dumb", or whatever, because they don't share the same tastes as you...
and the film was badly advertised in the uk, too - I didn't even realise it was part one (only) until I went to see it, and there were loads of people in the cinema who reacted the same way I reacted to the final fantasy movie.... "ummm, what? where's the ending?"
it's hardly their fault if they haven't read the book - it's not LAW that you HAVE too...

I think the movie was too aimed at the cultish types who have read the book about a hundred times and obsessed over it... it cut out all the people who HADN'T read it... hell, I haven't... but since I hang out with cultish types, o'course I knew the plot...

and it clearly wasn't Tolkien who was smoking the wacky-baccy, it was Gandalf....

Pixie
xxxxx

[edraket]

Hey... chill!

I wasn't saying that people that don't like tolkien are dumb. Hell I haven't even read past halfway the first one because I just couldn't stand those hobbits.
What I believe is dumb is that people go to a movie like that eventhough they are not into it just because it had lots of commercials and attention in the media.
It's the same as people that go eat at the MacDonalds even if there is better and cheaper food available across the road just because they don't have the brains to think for themselves.
I don't blame people that they didn't like it. It just sucked to pay for a movie and LOVE every scene of it but have bored people all around me screwing up the experience for me both the times I saw it.

[strata]

pixhort: yeeep, it's latin... it means: How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood...

now I don't know how to translate THAT into swedish... =D

[Pixie Nim]

relax, edraket, I was commenting more on remarks like this:

quote:

---

1. no one under the height of 4 feet allowed in, unless you can pass a maturity test.
2. no one who hasn't read the first book of the trilogy allowed to pass

---

quote

Quote:

the dickhead made me so f'ing mad that i started talking to my mom (i brought my parents this time) about how genious tolkien is and how it a frikken masterpiece just to piss the guy off. he looked at me a lot, and when he tryed to put his elbows on the theater armrests i would nudge him off with my elbows hehehehe.

I just think that's a little immature, forgive me for saying so.... it's not really your (not you personally, the general "you") place to decide who gets to see what...

Pixie

[edraket]

Oh..ok..
Hehe. Well it looks like he was ruining the experience for himself as well.

[zaar]

Of course there�s no law that says that you have to read the books before you see the movie, but my guess is that most people (here at least) would say that you should expect to understand less or miss a few points if you haven�t. And also you might ruin a great reading experience by seeing to movie first (if you ever intend to read the books).
But IMO the movie wasn�t �aimed at the cultish types�. When I went to see it I brought a friend who hadn�t read to books, we we�re on the edges of our seats trough the whole movie, and when it was over we said the same thing: cool, can�t wait to the next one comes out! But on the other hand the rest of the audience didn�t seem to understand a single thing (the theatre seemed to be filled with monkeys). They where laughing at thing that weren�t funny at all, and kept moaning about how long and slow the movie was. I�ve seen this happen before in other situations (�hey, why is he so famous? I could paint like that too, even a child could�) To me it seems like a lot of people feel intimidated when they don�t understand, and their reaction is some kind of defence mechanism. Instead of trying to understand they say: "waste of my time and money.", �no wonder the world is going downhill with crap like this�. Being ignorant and afraid won�t help anyone understand anything.

[ April 19, 2002: Message edited by: zaar ]

[travis travis]

I'm a tolkien reader, and so is my family, but we were all pissed how the film is a bit slow, really just starts picking up at the end, so I think a WTF reaction to being cut off isn't out of range here. The end is a little too much of a setup for the other films, and doesn't make you feel like what you just watched was complete in itself. That's understandable from a trilogy viewpoint, but not from a theatre-goers, even the educated, you still have gut reactions to things. You don't go to the movies for an incomplete experience that you have to wait a year between installments. Jackson should have done more to make it stand on it's own as well as part of a trilogy.

That's a caveat really. I found it a good film. Visually incredible, if nothing else. I hope the future installments have better character development, rather then event focus, but at the least the movies will stand complimentary to the books.

[Marakaz Buzjuz]

Totally agree man, it's a waste that they wont see our western form of fantasy.. I'm from holland and people over here did understand.. Everyone I talked with liked the movie... I think the center of " beast perception" would definetly be England. This whole fantasy knight stuff came from "King Arthur and his knights of the round table"
the old British Legend.

[Lunatique]

Giant Hamster-- Amen to that, brother!

If people pay to go see a movie, they need to remember that other people paid money too. Why is it so hard for these folks to shut the fuck up and watch?

[Bomu]

It's interesting to hear how well these cult fantasy movies do in foreign countries.. Or should I say how Badly they do! I havn't read any of the books, except for the Hobbit, and still thought it was a good movie. Everyone I know also thought it was great. so perhaps it was just the UK's majority that understood it.

Usually I get really annoyed by strong brittish accents, but for once, I'm glad the accents were there!

[Giant Hamster]

I don't really care who goes to see the movie aslong as they shut up and watch it.

[klaivu]

People liked the movie around here I guess .. I remember passing some " fantasy hobbyists " that were camping in front of the movie theatre to line for the premier tickets. I went to a press preview with a borrowed press card two weeks earlier, and I really regret not spoiling the movie to those campers ..

I don't think it was a particularly good movie - Tolkiens books' depth is about myth and language, and the movie version, stripped off of all that, is just another action film.