Peter Jackson seems to have mastered the art of making movies about running away from things, stopping and having a bit of a fight then running away from things a bit more and stopping and fighting a bit more; see his pointless and trite remake of King Kong. Much like the chase sequence at the end of The Benny Hill show but with ponderous bombastic music.The lord of the rings trilogy is seven plus hours of effects driven tedium masked in sheen of cod spirituality. That it received such acclaim at the academy awards is baffling. These movies are also lauded by the UK’s leading film magazine Empire. Recently part two was voted the second greatest film of all time by its readership. Now seriously, any magazine that is committed about its intent to discuss cinema has to be having a laugh if it gives serious critical plaudits to this overblown piffle.
The differences between fantasy movies and science fiction are pronounced and Sci-Fi has rendered such movies as Blade Runner, Alien, Planet of the apes, 2001: a space odyssey and Metropolis, whereas fantasy needs a lighter touch. The Dark Crystal, Snow White, Jason & the Argonauts and Time Bandits are all good examples of Fantasy movies in that they are not cloaked in pomposity.
Jackson is looking to cast for a remake of Battleship Potemkin
It’s this slavish adulation to Peter Jackson’s sensibility of over elaboration and unfettered overindulgence that allowed the general consensus of what makes an epic to become one of over wrought showing off and reliance on effects. Spartacus, Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia are epics where character comes first and unfortunately, post Jackson we now have such unedifying attempts at the epic movie as Avatar, Clash of the titans and Prince of Persia.
Look what you’ve done Jackson and your acolytes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cFucXYlw94
Jackson casting his next movie-Joan of Arc