I recently received the following very interesting review of the footage shown in a sneak preview in Sydney Australia. Someone who wants to known as Big-Mouthed Drongo sent the following report.
Hi Jim,
I was lucky enough to be present today at a sneak preview in Sydney of 20 minutes of footage from THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Don't ask how I came to see it, I can't tell you cause I can't dob in my mates. Just let me tell you that after seeing it I was so RAPT!!
There are quite a few scenes that I saw which were shown and I didn't take notes or nothing like that but here's what I saw.
IMPORTANT NOTE - I don't know the books very well, seeing as I can't read or stuff (I got my Mum to write this) but this stuff was koo-eee-ool!!!!!
The Big-Mouthed Drongo
From what I remember, there is a Ring or something that was stolen by a clan of hobbits and the leader of the clan, Frido (played by Tiger Woods) keeps the Ring safe in an envelope in a fire.
The acting from this Woods guy was pretty good, he's like some kind of little Vulcan with pointy ears and big feet. On the downside, he had a pommie accent. I bet those Hobbits are crap at cricket too. The make-up on Tiger Woods was brilliant. He looks totally different to when he's playing golf.
This Wizard-bloke, Gahndalf arrives in Frido's cabin to tell him that the Ring is magic or something. Bear with me here - there was long words and stuff that I didn't catch but it was like really good. This Gahndalf galarr was really good too - for a pommie. Anyway, they had some kind of argument because the Ring was in the fire and stuff and Gahndalf said that you shouldn't get it hot but Frido said it wasn't. It turned out that there was writing on the Ring and it's a poem about rulers and stuff which freaks the old guy out. Then Gahndalf says that he's wasted his life or something but he doesn't seem too put out about it.
Frido and some other hobbits are walking through a wood when some bloke on a horse in black clothes comes along the road. I'm guessing that this guy is after the Ring cause he keeps saying things like "The Ring! Wherre is the RINGGG?" and stuff. Anyway the hobbits jump into a hedge or something and this guy rides past them. Now a lot of the people watching this were like really scared and stuff but I wasn't. I'm not a poof. Anyway some other guys on horses rode past then and they looked really scary. I wasn't scared though.
The Hobbits all arrive in some town and go into a pub where Gahndalf works or something but he isn't there. The guy who runs the pub says that Gahndalf isn't there so I guess he must have been lying or something. Then some guy comes out of the back of the pub and he must have been fighting cause his sword was broken. He said all sorts of stuff but I didn't catch most of it.
Theres a load of beds in a room and then the guys in black come in and start stabbing the people in the beds. But I guess the wizard did some of his old magic or something because the people in the beds have turned into sacks of spuds. Or maybe the swords these guys in black had were magic and turned them into potatoes but I don't think so because they didn't seem too happy. And then we see Frido and the guy with the broken sword talking and they are talking about "rates" and witches and the "undead" or something so I guess that there's some vampires or zombies in there somewhere as well.
I didn't understand this one much. Some old guy with a beard was talking to an evil blue dwarf with big teeth. Didn't seem too pleased about something.
Some people and hobbits talking on a mountainside. Pretty dull.
The guy who had the broken sword was in this and he was worked up about something. He was talking to the hobbit and then told him to rack off. Then a load of demon-type things ran up a hill.
Some vulcan sheila on a horse with a hobbit on the back. They're getting chased by some guys in black hoods on horses (maybe the same guys from the other scenes)
A big battle by a castle with loads of knights fighting some demons with swords. Not as gory as Braveheart or Gladiator, sadly.
Yeah it looked good but a bit too realistic for my tastes. I've seen a trailer for the first Dungeons and Dragons movie and that looked far better - I think anyone who liked that is gonna be a bit disappointed with this follow-up. Too much talking and stuff and not enough special effects. Bummer.