Digital Fortress

WATCHABLE AND UNSATISFYING MOVIE (and an irritating musical score)
It’s been a while since I have my last movie review. I have seen few movies this past weeks. But I’ll just review this one first….Troy.

 

 

This is the first time I saw this movie. I was about to watch this on theaters but I have no time and nobody wants to watch with me. Good thing it arrived in local video stores this October. The US Release will be on January so I think we’re lucky to have the original video first.
This is a star-studded movie. Brad Pitt (lahat ng babae, lalo na yung mga katulong, itanong niyo kung sinong Hollywood actor ang crush nila, they’ll say either Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt.) stars as Achilles. Eric Bana (the ill-fated ‘The Hulk’) as Hector. LOTR stars reunite with Orlando Bloom (Legolas) as Paris and Sean Bean (Boromir) as Oddyseus and of course Dianne Kruger as Helen.
Wolfgang Petersen is the director of the movie and based on his previous movie ‘The Perfect Storm’ (which made me hate all other sea adventures such as Master and Commander), I can say that this movie could be just another star-studded film that will attract Orlando Bloom’s fans and Brad Pitt’s butt! (He showed his butt about 3 times here)
As for the cast, all of them were quite good except for Orlando Bloom. I just can’t leave that Legolas character in him. Either he did good in portraying Legolas or this is really how Orlando Bloom acts. No matter what character….same acting. (Same in Pirates of the Caribbean). And even though he’s part of LOTR, I just hate the idea that so many girls are Lord of the Rings “fan” just because of this guy!
Diane Kruger (not the sister of Freddy Krueger), may not be perfect for Helen (being the idea of the most beautiful woman in the world), but she’s just right. And beauty is relative isn’t ? And I don’t believe that she is the most beautiful woman if she was described by Homer (which was blind).
The story should be familiar to all. The script is weak. Many changes from the Iliad. No gods and goddesses because Petersen said that it is ridiculous and not essential to the plot. What? That’s what Iliad is all about! The glory of war and DIVINE INTERVENTION! And the 10-year Trojan War just happened in days here! Yes, there are few reference about the gods but they are not really portrayed. Maybe they just can’t combine these elements since their approach is h istorical and not mythological.
Special effects are great. Big battle scenes. Vast army. High walls and bloody. Too bad it doesn’t have battering rams, catapults and high ladders. Hindi pa kasi uso noon. My brother said that it’s better than the Helm’s Deep sequence because the battle took place in daytime and Helm’s Deep at nightime. It could be true because you can see more details when the battle is at daytime. But I can say Helm’s Deep is still better. It has emotional aspects than this one.
The score? Irritating. Parang sinasakal yung babaeng kumkanta. The vocals are e xcessively used. Composer James Horner (Titanic, the upcoming The Da Vinci C ode in 2005) could have done better…
Verdict:
6.5/10

I was studying my report in Computer Achitecture at 1:30 midnight while listening to the Return of the King soundtrack with my earphone earphone connected to our main radio. When my favorite track (The White Tree or ‘The Lighting of the Beacons Theme) started to play, I closed my eyes for a moment, tried to relax and play the Lighting of the Beacons scene in my mind while the music is playing.
After the 3 1/2 minutes of awe-inspiring music, I opened my eyes and all of a sudden, I found myself staring blankly at the paper I was holding for about a second!
In that one second I thought I’m in Middle Earth few seconds back. It was a wonderful feeling. I realized the great effect of Shore’s music to me as well as the LOTR movies.
I just wish na hindi na lang ako nagising….I’m back to reality….

Although December 14 is so far away and I just plan to buy the pirated version (for the meanwhile, unless some miracle happen) of the LOTR Extended Edition….my excitement just can’t get away. I can’t? get enough of LOTR!
I have to convince my mother to buy a DVD Player for me. She should buy me now because I have another reason to make her buy me one (kahit imitation lang basta kaya magbasa ng DVD) Now that I’m a scholar of MSF again (for the 6th time (6 more sems to go…)), she should buy me this time…..
And if that happens, this will be the most unforgettable Christmas for me…ever.

Here are the latest screenshots that I’ve got:

Aragorn is seen with the palantir. He is revealing himself to Sauron.

 

 

Another scene of Frodo and Sam in Mordor.

 

Ewan ko kung anong part ‘to. It could be on the House of Healing…where Aragorn heals Faramir and Eowyn tapos nagkainlaban yung dalawa….(Kaya nga ang sweet nila sa coronation ni Aragorn? e)

 

One of my most anticipated scenes! The Witch King confronts Gandalf and Gandalf lost his staff!
Remember when Gandalf rescues Faramir from his father Denethor from being burned? Notice that as he enter the door, wala na siyang staff. This scene comes before the fight of Gandalf and the Witch King.

I’m excited with this one too.
The Mouth of Sauron is seen coming from the Black Gate. He is the spokesperson of Sauron.
Remember when Gandalf, Aragorn and co approach the Black Gate and said “Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth. Let justice be done upon him!” tapos bumukas lang yung gate tapos umatras na lang sina Aragorn (parang walang sense di ba?), eto yung lumabas sa gate…sayang hindi close-up.
He shows Aragorn the mithril vest that Frodo is wearing and makes Aragorn and co. believe that Frodo is dead.The line from Aragorn “For Frodo!” will have a sense this time.