On watching Return of the King, again

So, I finally bought the extended mix of ROTK, and of course, had to watch it as soon as I got home. Some thoughts:

• The lighting of the Gondorian beacons still makes me cry (this must be the 4th repetition). The background is the Southern Alps, and you know, that's part of home. A gorgeous part, of course.


• The thing that irritates me the most about the changes the script writers made to the story is the whole forging of Anduril and giving it to Aragorn once he's ready to go to Minas Tirith thing. I mean, that whole sword-as-representation-of-potency crap was old in Freud's day. They haven't worn out that trope in kung-fu movies yet, but really, I think leaving it there and in Arthurian myth is the best thing for it. Arwen's flag was much more symbolic in a layered sense.


• I still have trouble separating Karl Urban's flaring-nostril'd rendition of Eomer from his rendition of Jamie the gay ambulance driver. *snerk* Although his looks really have improved with age.