Revisiting Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings

A Return to Theaters

Yesterday night, we went to a showing of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was part of a summer-long weekly Steven Spielberg film retrospective at our local theater in Culver City—we missed Raiders of the Lost Ark last week, but plan to see Last Crusade next week, which concludes the series.

Like many people, Temple of Doom is my least favorite of the Indiana Jones films. Though I love the opening Busby Berkeley-inspired musical number and the terrific action sequence that immediately follows (which has a very strong Terry and the Pirates flavor to it), I had not seen the movie in its entirety beyond those opening scenes in many years. I primarily went to accompany my wife who really wanted to see it and ended up really enjoying it. Seeing it on the big screen with a nearly full house made it great fun. (Our 19 year old son also accompanied us—he’s seen the movie too but never in a theater.)

As you’ll see in the photos, people even came in cosplay as Indiana Jones and other characters! They all gathered in the lobby afterwards—one even came dressed as Shia LeBeouf’s Mutt character in his Marlon Brando-inspired The Wild One leather biker outfit, though I didn’t take a photo.

I assume showing films in repertory has been a success because the theater is now running several retrospectives concurrently. A few weeks ago, we saw Babe as part of a weekly family summer film series and watched The Iron Giant as part of the same series a few weeks before. Both screenings were also well attended. A horror film series, presumably in the run up to Halloween, kicks off shortly with Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness. I should add these films are also at reduced prices—the family films were only $5.99/ticket while last night’s film was only $8.99/ticket (it’s reserved seating and they don’t even charge an online service fee!). Showing familiar classic films that people have a fondness for may be a way to get people back in the theater.

By the way, I had forgotten how intense and scary both Temple of Doom and Babe can be for younger audiences—during both films, in the middle of the show, I noticed that some families with young children left the theater.

I particularly look forward to a 100 Years of MGM retrospective that kicks off in September—it includes, of course, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind and Singing in the Rain, but also 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as A Night of the Opera, Shaft and others. (I’ve seen all these films theatrically, including 2001 in 70 mm). I remarked on how I’d like to see Singing in the Rain and 2001—my wife initially said she wasn’t interested in the latter, but changed her mind when she saw the trailer for it that screened before Temple of Doom, because it’s so beautifully shot! What particularly makes the venue ideal for the series is because the old MGM Studios (now Sony) lot is in Culver City as well, just down the street from the theater.

This local theater is a multiplex that was once an ArcLight. It went dark during the pandemic when ArcLight declared bankruptcy, but was purchased by Amazon Studios, which is next door to the property at the historic Culver Studios, in downtown Culver City. The theater is on a promenade next to one of the studio’s entrances. Though owned by Amazon, the theater still screens first-run theatrical films, though I’ve occasionally noticed special events and screenings there. Indeed, the 2022 West Coast red carpet premiere for Amazon’s Rings of Power series was held there, when the theater was technically still closed—we saw the temporary red carpet area they had set up, which included the Prime Video logo over the top of the theater entrance (see accompanying photo). I thought it was going to be a permanent fixture of the renamed theater, but the next time I was there, it was gone, so I guess it was just temporary for the purpose of the event. The venue is now simply the Culver Theater, though it is indeed owned by Amazon.

Below are two photos from 2022 of the ArcLight Theatre in Culver City, which by this time had gone dark due to the pandemic, and had been purchased by Amazon Studios. Though the theater had not been re-opened, it was used for the West Coast red carpet premiere for the Amazon series, The Rings of Power.

L.A. Comic Con 2023

Thanks to a fortuitous set of circumstances, I was fortunate to exhibit for a part of this year’s Los Angeles Comic Con, specifically Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2–3.

But first a confession: My primary goal for attending this year’s show was to see actors Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monagham, and Billy Boyd who, of course, played the four lead hobbits in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film adaptation. Wood and Astin actually appeared at last year’s 2022 L.A. Comic Con. However, when I showed up to see them, it turns out that I got my wires crossed and showed up on the wrong day! So when I discovered that all four of them were going to be at this year’s show, I saw a chance for redemption!

On the first evening of the show, Friday, Dec. 1, I went to the L.A. Convention Center in downtown L.A. where the convention was being held to pick up my badge. I hoped this would enable me to avoid the lines on Saturday when the hobbits were scheduled to appear. I also scoped the floor and visited friends and colleagues who were exhibiting. I was impressed by how busy it was. While there, I discovered that CAPS (Comic Art Professional Society), the cartoonist organization I belong to, had two booth spaces. One of the publishers there with a table to themselves graciously said they could clear space for me to sell some of my comics! So on Saturday, I brought in some books to sell and was heartened when I quickly sold several items the brief time I was at the table. So I decided to return the following day with more product.

As for the hobbits, they didn't disappoint—being in the same room with them was a geek moment come true. They have wonderful chemistry and a great (dare I say it) fellowship, having done the films together and, in more recent years, making appearances and "touring" (as they joked) to mark the twentieth anniversary of the films. In fact, this very month marks the release of the final film of the original trilogy, the Return of the King. They were engaging and hilarious, and deeply appreciative of what the films mean to so many people.

What's great about the L.A. Comic Con is that rather than hosting these appearances in a restricted hall with limited seating, the "main stage" is just on the floor of the exhibition hall, open to all attendees. And there's a huge screen above for those having difficulty seeing the stage. It's standing room only in front of the stage, with some seating off to the sides. I couldn't get a seat, but was able to stand on the raised platform with a great view.

As a bonus, when I showed up about 15 minutes before the scheduled panel to ensure I had a seat, actor Matt Smith was on stage!

Seeing the hobbits was a wonderful treat and a dream fulfilled, so anything that followed—like making sales—was gravy!

Another panel I attended was Craig Miller’s "Star Wars Memories." Miller was director of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm from 1977–80, going on to a career as a marketer, writer and producer in film and television. The panel is based on his book, Star Wars Memories: My Time in the (Death Star) Trenches, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the start of his career and working at Lucasfilm and on the original Star Wars trilogy. I purchased and read the book in 2019, and have had the pleasure to get to become acquainted with Miller partly because we have exhibited at some of the same conventions!

I must say this year’s L.A. Comic Con had a great vibe and good crowds—I know the show’s been around awhile, but to my eyes it really felt like it came into its own. It helps, of course, that the show is in my own backyard—each day, I simply took L.A.’s Metro line to the convention center from West L.A., a ride of only about 35 minutes (and this included taking a small box of comics and a banner stand in a carrying case with me on Sunday!). I always enjoy the opportunity to soak in downtown L.A.’s atmosphere—indeed, the convention center is just next door to L.A. Live, an entertainment complex with concert venues, theaters and restaurants, as well as the Crypto Arena sports arena.

For more photos from L.A. Comic Con, see additional photos at the end of this post or see the full gallery. Some of the friends I saw at the show can be seen here.

Godzilla Minus One

So I took advantage of being in downtown L.A. to catch the new Japanese film release, Godzilla Minus One, at the Regal LA Live movie theater just up the street. (Located right next to L.A.’s Crypto Arena, I’m embarrassed to say it’s the first time I’d walked through L.A. Live, though I did go to Crypto for the first time earlier this year to see the Go-Gos in concert.)

The film was AMAZING—indeed, an epic spectacle that was so fresh and exhilarating, it felt like watching a Godzilla movie for the first time! This is a Japanese production from Toho Studios, the studio that owns the franchise, which has released 34 films to date featuring the mega-monster since 1956, and not part of the franchise produced in the U.S. under license.

The production design, music score (a callback to the original Japanese Godzilla theme), cinematography, storytelling, and special effects were all top notch—in fact, the film credits Takashi Yamazaki at the end for  "writing, directing and vfx." He's a special effects artist turned director, who apparently put this film of wonder together for only $15 million, though it easily looks like (and surpasses many) $150–200 million films.

And though the film is very epic, the story is still very intimate and human-scale. The movie begins in the final weeks of World War II, where we meet a Japanese pilot who feels guilt for failing to fulfill his final duty as a kamikaze pilot due to not wishing to senselessly die for a conflict that's already over, and anguish for not aiding his comrades when they first encounter Godzilla in the opening scene of the film. Though fate brings him a young woman and a foundling child who, like him, have lost their families in the war, he remains haunted and anguished, and cannot accept the second chance he’s been given at life until he can find redemption—which he eventually decides can only be achieved by joining the cause to fight Godzilla, which may mean certain death. As the friend I saw it with and others have noted, it’s a Godzilla film by way of Steven Spielberg, with fleshed out main and supporting characters dealing in their own way with post-war trauma and the threat of the  atomic age—down to its Saving Private Ryan color palette.

Like many of the original Godzilla films, the movie also has serious themes on its mind, with the mega-monster a metaphor for the threat and horror of nuclear war, but puts the impact on the people who have to live deal with the traumatic aftermath (from both the monsters and war alike) at the forefront. 

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, this film is still to be enjoyed as a grand epic spectacle of the old school with plenty of thrills and surprises, and highly recommended!

More Photos from L.A. Comic Con

See below for more photos from L.A. Comic Con—see additional photos at the full gallery and some of the friends I saw at the show can be seen here.

My booth

Craig Miller at his Star Wars Memories panel

More Capsule Reviews in the Time of Coronavirus (2)

More capsule reviews….

Fab Four: Let It Beard Livestream (onlocationlive.com)
See subsequent review immediately following for an updated review…

The Fab Four is one of several well known Beatles tribute bands. I’ve seen several concerts and performances over the years by these bands. Including the Fab Four, though to be honest, they kind of all have blurred together. In any case, in this time of sheltering at home (and, no doubt, to earn a little bread), the band decided to put on a live performance of the Let It Be album, in honor of the 50th anniversary of its release. At only $10 for a ticket ($50 with an added virtual green room meet and greet afterwards), it certainly was reasonably priced.

In costume, the band played the album, mixed in with a little bit of chatter, taking questions from fans.

The main drawback, unfortunately, was the poor sound quality. While I’m no engineer, it’s clear they had a pretty rudimentary audio set up through the computer—I had envisioned something a little bit more robust through my receiver, but it was barely better than basic computer streamed sound, versus having the equipment and mics plugged straight into the feed.

Ah, well.

Fab Four: All We Need is Love Livestream (Part 1) (onlocationlive.com)
As I was preparing to post this review, the announcement for a second livestream concert by the Fab Four was released. Given my slight disappointment with the first show, I wasn’t sure whether to watch, but the announcement mentioned that they had enhanced the sound tech—so given the low $10 price, I thought it was worth checking it out.

I’m so glad I did—the sound was indeed much better as was the overall production quality, making for a much more engaging and fun show. To watch the concert, I streamed the show on a laptop and plug it into our big screen TV, with the sound coming through the home theater receiver and speakers. So it was definitely a much better live theater experience.

They’ll be performing the second part of the show in a week (June 26) and my wife and I will definitely be there!

Reunited Apart (YouTube)
While stuck at home, actor Josh Gad has remained productive by producing and hosting “reunited apart” remote cast and crew reunions of classic and popular films. To date, he’s done Back to the Future and the Goonies. (What’s remarkable is that many of these projects were released before he was born! No doubt because the projects promote and benefit charities, he’s attracted topnotch talent.

“Reunited Apart Makes a SPLASH” was for the fondly-remembered 1984 romantic comedy Splash. The online reunion attracted the films lead actors, Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, as well as director Ron Howard, producer Brian Glazer, and co-star Eugene Levy — and, for the late John Candy, fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds. Putting aside the corny, contrived opening set up, the interview/reunion itself turned out to be a fun romp, with Gad asking questions about the cast and crew’s experiences and memories putting together and working on the film.

Nearly as fun was the following episode, “One Zoom to Rule Them All: Reunited Apart/The Lord of the Rings.” While the teaser showed that Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd (the four lead hobbits), along with Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellan, would be on the feed, it was a great surprise to see so many more of the cast show up, including John Rhys Davies, Sean Bean, Mirando Otto, Karl Urban, Sean Bean, Liv Tyler, Andy Serkis, Viggo Mortenson, co-writer Phillipa Boyens, and director/co-writer Peter Jackson! While the get-together somewhat devolved into re-enactments from the film, it was clear the cast have a bond that has lasted all these years (I can’t believe it’s been nearly 20 years now since the first film’s release!)

All fun reminiscences to enjoy while sheltered at home.

Just Mercy
In acknowledgment of the times we live in and the long overdue social changes currently underway in U.S., many streaming services have made available and featured films with social justice themes under the Black Lives Matter banner.

Among those is 2019’s Just Mercy, based on a memoir by the same name by Bryan Stevenson, an attorney who founded and social justice activist, who opened a center in Montgomery, Alabama to provide legal assistance to death row inmates who did not have access to adequate or competent defense counsel, and, worse, were clearly wrongly accused and the victim of racism. It stars Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan. Stevenson went on to found the Equal Justice Initiative based on the

book of the same name, which some of you probably may have seen. The film is based on the memoir of an attorney named Bryan Stevenson, an attorney and social justice activist, who opened a center in Montgomery, Alabama to provide legal assistance to death row inmates who did not have access to adequate or competent defense counsel, and, worse, were clearly wrongly accused and the victim of racism. It stars Jamie Foxx and Michael B. Jordan. Stevenson went on to found the Equal Justice Initiative that has grown and remains very successful and active. It's a very moving film, focusing on one specific egregious case (from the late 1980s/early '90s) of a man named Walter McMillian (Foxx), an inmate on death row who clearly was unjustly railroaded into prison. Stevenson (Jordan) quickly finds holes in the case, and people who are willing to speak up, but must fight a justice system that is clearly stacked against people of color and the poor.

Starting with Foxx and Jordan as the leads, the film features a solid cast, including Brie Larson as the social justice activist who brings Jordan to Alabama to do this important work and Rafe Spall as the District Attorney who fights the mounting evidence every step of the way (Spall has turned up on my radar in a few projects — he also was part of the ensemble in the film, the Big Short — and has done terrific, different work in each role, proving to be a solid character actor.

Just Mercy turned out to be an excellent complement to two other films I’ve seen with similar social justice themes, Selma and Marshall, that I hope to review here soon as well….

REVIEW: Anything You Can Imagine... (and Reassessing the Hobbit Films)

I discovered and first read J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit in the mid-1970s, when I was in junior high school, which of course immediately led me to tackling the Lord of the Rings (LoTR). The books had already been discovered by a new generation of readers in the 1960s, particularly hippies and the college crowd, according to popular lore. Around this time, the book really hit the mainstream, with displays in bookstores devoted to the series, launching fantasy as a full blown genre. (The  role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons debuted in 1974 and the Sword of Shannara series of novels by Terry Brooks in 1977.) The famous Hildebrandt Brothers LoTR calendars, launched in 1975, defined the look of Middle Earth in many people’s minds at the time. (Since then, I’ve read the entire trilogy numerous times; it’s not unheard of for some people to read it annually!)

The Hildebrandt Brothers defined the look of Middle Earth in the 1970s

This was followed in 1979 by the ambitious but ill-fated Ralph Bakshi animated adaptation. (The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed Bakshi about the film.) Much if not all of the film was filmed live action then rotoscoped (essentially traced/xeroxed onto animation cells)—among the actors providing live action body references or voices were John Hurt (Aragorn), Star Wars’ C3PO’s Anthony Daniels (Legolas) and Billy Barty (Sam Gamgee). Planned as two films, halfway through production and already underfunded, Bakshi was informed there would be no second film.*

While the film is inconsistent, I have a soft spot for it—I saw it in a theater in San Francisco on its release and still think the mood, tone and production and character designs hold up well. Somewhere I have a paperback photo-comic adaptation of the movie; I also thought the soundtrack and theme scores were particularly memorable, though I must admit they haven’t dated well. (As many people have noted, the first movie of the LoTR film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson contains several sequences that clearly echo Bakshi's film; indeed, Jackson has acknowledged this influence, noting that Bakshi's adaptation was his first exposure to the trilogy.)

As a lifelong Tolkien fan of both the books and the films, then, I was thrilled to receive as a holiday gift, the book, Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth, by Ian Nathan, which briefly covers Jackson’s biography and background, focuses on the complex journey it took through Hollywood to get a green light, details its pre-production and production, looks back on its legacy, and briefly covers the making of the subsequent Hobbit trilogy. (The book is so timely that it even includes a postscript about the planned Amazon LoTR series that was announced shortly before the book went to press.)

What follows is my review of the book, as well as an opportunity to revisit my love for the books and LoTR films and reassess the Hobbit film trilogy.

It does feel like kismet the films ever got made. The project was first picked up by Miramax—then run by the now disgraced Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein—but it quickly became clear the brothers didn’t have the resources to fund two films, partly because they now answered to their new parent company, Walt Disney, which had recently purchased Miramax. Indeed, the brothers then tried to get Jackson to whittle the story down to one film. Balking, Jackson and his team procured from the Weinsteins 10 days to find another studio—any deal would reimburse the Weinsteins for the seed money they already had spent, as well as retain their financial interest in the films' grosses. There weren’t many takers who even agreed to meet with Jackson, but on the last day they met with New Line and its head, Bob Shaye. As the story famously goes, after Shaye saw the sample reel Jackson and his production team had developed to demonstrate their vision and special effects capability, after some silence, the inscrutable Shaye said something along the lines of, “Why are you making two films? Isn’t it a trilogy?” (The book notes that this wasn’t simply largesse or common sense wisdom on Shaye’s part—New Line was in search of a new franchise, having exhausted the shelf life of series like Austin Powers and Nightmare on Elm Street.)

At first glance, Jackson didn’t seem to be an obvious choice for such an ambitious undertaking. Armed with little more than New Zealand/Kiwi can-do spirit, he had made a splash and attracted attention with early DIY/shoestring productions like Brain Dead and Meet the Feebles; caught the attention of more people in Hollywood with the more mature and nuanced drama Heavenly Creatures; and showed his capability for bigger special-effects projects with the Frighteners (produced by Robert Zemeckis). He also had a friend and supporter in Mark Ordesky at New Line who got him the meeting with Shaye (Ordesky would eventually serve as executive producer on the production). As the book shows, though Jackson was an “outsider” from New Zealand, he was hardly naive; with the help of his agent, he otherwise proved plenty smart and savvy in playing the Hollywood game that is necessarily part of the process given the hundreds of millions of dollars and egos at stake.

Anything You Can Imagine covers the full history of the making of the films behind the scenes, including the creation of Jackson’s Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, under the leadership of longtime friend/partner in crime Richard Taylor. Of course, the films would not have been possible without advances in digital special effects (which included the innovative Massive software for generating crowds where individual “agents” could “think” and make movements for themselves) and the talents of the perfectly cast film, which included Elijah Wood as Frodo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, and Viggo Mortenson as Strider/Aragorn. (Mortenson joined the production a few days after principal photography began after original cast member Stuart Townsend was let go—at the time, “creative differences” were cited, but of course, there’s more to the story, with Townsend seemingly a bit overwhelmed by the movie's demands which gave Jackson second thoughts given the rigors of production and his need to work with actors who were drama-fee.)

A whole chapter is also devoted to Andy Serkis, whose performance and interpretation of the pivotal character of Gollum completely re-shaped the film. Planned as an entirely CGI/animated character, Serkis’s fully invested and very physical performance of his lines convinced Jackson (and his co-screenwriters/brain trust, wife Fran Walsh and Tolkien fan and fellow writer Philippa Boyens) to bring Serkis on set to act opposite the other actors. His performance soon would be motion captured as reference for the animators, highlighting the on-the-fly/flexible way Jackson approached the films, much to the benefit of the final production.

Numerous behind-the-scenes stories are told, including the New Line’s smart marketing gamble to show an exclusive 30-minute “sizzle” reel at Cannes, which created positive buzz for the film and reassured not only the fan community but especially investors and distributors, who had begun to feel skittish about the project. (According to the book, these foreign distribution deals covered the full production costs of the film by the time the shoot began, but in moments of panic, Shaye took pains to remind Jackson that many of these companies would go under if the first film faltered at the box office.)

The book inspired me to watch the original trilogy again—I own the full extended edition of each film and, while I have seen them numerous times, as well as all the outstanding behind-the-scenes full-documentary extras, it had been many years.

The original LoTR film trilogy still stand up as modern classics—while, of course, they have the benefit of Tolkien’s original story, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens deserve full credit in unlocking the film’s complex storyline, themes, characters and drama, and making them accessible to modern day audiences, both to fans and non-fans alike. The changes they made to the original text for cinematic reasons or to deepen the characterizations in many cases improves or builds on the original text. The production design and special effects in the films by Weta Workshop remain incredibly impressive and created a credible world, but never overshadow the film, the story or the characters. One only needs to view the extras, or listen to the commentaries on the DVDs, to see how deeply and seriously the filmmakers thought about the story, character motivations, and world and culture building on Middle Earth.

The book also motivated me to re-watch the Hobbit film trilogy. While I originally saw this second “prequel” trilogy in the theaters at their release, I had never binge-watched them as I had the LoTR films numerous times; indeed, since their release, I've usually only "half-watched" them when they showed up on TV—in fact, until I decided to watch the full film trilogy, I discovered I didn't even own all three films. I did have the first two films either on DVD or on streaming, but never bought the third film. When I finished the first two, I went out and purchased the extended version of the third film on Bluray. (You can find my reviews of the theatrical film releases of film one here, two here, and three here.)

When I first saw them in the theater, I did not feel as invested or enthralled by them like the first trilogy. In fact, in my initial review in 2015, I even said the last film left me a little cold.  Like many, I felt the action, special effects and spectacle seemed to overwhelm what was the thinnest book of the series, turning what was a light children's adventure romp into a somewhat dark epic that seemed even bigger than LoTR. No doubt it was a challenge to find the right tone for a story based on a lighthearted children's adventure that needed to segue and have the same feel as the original LoTR films. The story, of course, is a true prequel to the trilogy, concerning the finding of the “One Ring”—which the filmmakers bolstered by adding material mentioned only in passing (if at all) in the Hobbit but were still part of Tolkien’s canon of back story in the appendices of his original trilogy, unpublished pieces, and his other Middle Earth work like the Simarillion. (Adding Legolas also connected the two film trilogies.)

With Weta concept artist Daniel Falconer at the 2014
San Diego Comic-Con

On fresh viewing, however, I was more forgiving and found the Hobbit films more enjoyable and engaging. Jackson clearly tried to preserve some of the original kid-friendly tone of the book through the over-the-top action set-pieces and some of the humor. The dwarves’ escape from imprisonment in the elf kingdom of Rivendell comes to mind. In the sequence, Legolas and a companion she-elf, Tauriel—played by Evangeline Lilly and created for the film—first try to recapture them, but when orcs attack, they end up allying with the dwarves in battling a common enemy. The levity and breeziness of the action, however, is often undercut by Jackson’s glee in finding innovative and funny ways to graphically kill and behead orcs, indulging Jackson's sensibilities as seen in his earlier films. These kinds of inconsistencies exist throughout the Hobbit films, as Jackson tried to honor the heavy tone of the epic Middle Earth mythology while keeping it accessible and fun in keeping with the tone of the original Hobbit book. It’s important to note that humor played an important role in countering the gravitas of the original LoTR trilogy as well, but in those films the humor is generally more nuanced, character based and less broad; in the Hobbit movies, I felt they sometimes took you out of the film.

That said, the Hobbit trilogy ultimately is still quite a feat of bravura filmmaking that is true to the original book as a product of the Middle Earth mythology, if not necessarily the tone of the original story by Tolkien. Obviously, Jackson felt the films had to feel consistent. While it would have been impossible to make each of the 13 dwarves in the film fully developed characters, they have distinct personalities and some have their own memorable moments; the realization of Smaug the dragon as a character is impressive (played by Benedict Cumberbatch, paralleling a similar journey Serkis took when he was cast as Gollum); and the final climactic sequence, the “Battle of Five Armies,” as the third film is named, is an incredible achievement of battle and storytelling logistics. Yes, it’s long and there are some moments that feel drawn out, but it’s thrilling nonetheless, especially with fans familiar with the book, with moments like the elves allying with the dwarves (and humans) to fight the orcs, and Legolas’ final battle with Bolg being especially satisfying.

Anyway, for any serious fan of the LoTR films, Nathan’s book should be a great read and an opportunity to revisit both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books and film trilogies.

My dog-eared editions of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy, dating to the 1970s

My extended DVD collection of the LoTR film trilogy