Even Aragorn Agrees!

In reference to my previous post...

No Aragorn/Viggo doesn't have an opinion on progressive theology but he does have an opinion on Peter Jackson, over the top CGI and The Hobbit (as an aside the only thing better than the George R.R. Martin Game of Thrones books is the HBO series and the only thing better than watching the series when the new episodes come out on HBO is reading the Entertainment Weekly recap. Funny stuff and a guilty pleasure).

Anyway, Viggo Mortensen was quoted in an article titled Viggo Mortensen calls 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy a 'mess'. It seems some of the behind the scenes goings on with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy were a mess. Interesting but kind of irrelevant although this quote got my attention (emphasis mine:

“Peter was always a geek in terms of technology but, once he had the means to do it, and the evolution of the technology really took off, he never looked back,” Mortensen says. “In the first movie, yes, there’s Rivendell, and Mordor, but there’s sort of an organic quality to it, actors acting with each other, and real landscapes; it’s grittier.”

Mortensen says the “ballooning” of Jackson’s reliance on CGI began with the second film, The Two Towers, and has increased with each subsequent project. “It was grandiose, and all that, but whatever was subtle, in the first movie, gradually got lost in the second and third. Now with The Hobbit, one and two, it’s like that to the power of 10,” Mortensen says.

See even Aragorn agrees that the CGI in the Hobbit is over the top! The LotR and Hobbit are mostly character driven. They are stories about Bilbo and Thorin, Frodo and Sam, Gandalf being mysterious and gruff while being fiercely protective of hobbits and their culture. Smaug makes a brief appearance, very little magic happens (always more of a threat than a reality) and we see long stretches of dialogue versus massive battles. I guess that doesn't make for thrilling theater but it does make for fulfilling reading.