Personally, I prefer OT Star Wars. I find Star Wars setting and universe just more interesting to me; the world is even bigger than in Middle-Earth, and I am just far more pulled to the semi-sci-fi worlds than classical fantasy, just a personal preference. So in terms of the world itself, I just love Star Wars more.
As far as movies go then, LotR is better directed, characters are more unique, and the acting is on a far higher notch. So in terms of usual qualities of a movie, LotR.
It has unrivaled world building included in the films (where as with Star Wars you have to buy a bunch of books and other outside media to get the most out of it).
It is structurally similar but superior with more mature themes and ideas, more unique and varied tones, that despite varying from moment to moment at times, still feels very cohesive (What I mean by this is that there are moments where it is spooky and feels almost like a horror movie, and then there will be a comedic moment, and then a huge war segment and so on, all while still feeling structurally competent and not spastic at all, which speaks to Jackson's immense talent for filmmaking) and imo better characters.
The only thing the OT really has on LotR is probably its villain, since the LotR villain shifts largely from movie to movie, with the one constant overarching villain being off screen throughout.
Also LotR is, on a technical level, much superior. It is better made, has better acting, stronger special effects and still to this day, unrivaled large-scale battle scenes that are just staggering to watch, with an unmatched scope to them. This may be somewhat unfair since it had a larger budget and came out decades later, but much of it is based on the innate talent of the filmmaker, and imo, Peter Jackson is simply a more talented filmmaker than George Lucas or the other directors of the original trilogy.
There are also just individual scenes in LotR that are artistically brilliant. In Star Wars, the one that sticks out in my mind is the scene in the beginning of ANH with the two suns rising, giving an incredibly potent sense of wonder. But that's really the only one that stands out to me, where as with LOTR there are several that I can name off the top of my head.
Indeed, but even when contained to comparing it to its contemporaries, LotR has it beat imo. LotR has some absolutely incredible special effects that still look better than a lot of CGI of today, those people worked some magic.
That's not to say the Star Wars effects were bad or anything, obviously for their time they were also excellent, but they weren't as good as say 2001 A Space Oddysey or something. Star Wars did a lot with a relatively small budget.
I have to agree about Lotr special effects. I actually brought this up the other day. My point was the later Potter films to me have better special effects than Crimes of Grindelwald to my eye despite being close to a decade prior to. I then said Lotr still looks awesome to this day. Eye test matters so despite massive budgets sometimes the quality is not equal based off the money the company spent.
It's the same with LotR. The LotR trilogy has better looking SFX than The Hobbit films despite being like 10 years older. For that, I think a lot of it is the fact that the LotR trilogy had a lot of really good practical effects, like the orcs were people in really good costumes. In The Hobbit it was all pretty much CGI, and practical effects will usually best CGI.
I agree. Crazy thing for me was how much I loved Lotr after the first one. I saw it four times in the theatre and the big action sequences are still top notch to this day but my point is this. It never got close to the first film for me whereas Harry Potter was nothing overly impressive until I saw Ootp. That duel caused me to fall in love with Voldemort. After that movie I was hooked and both series ended in the complete opposite direction they began. Deathly Hallows 2 was my favorite Potter film and ended on the strongest note. Lotr ended on a weaker note since neither sequel came close to Afotr to me.
I know a lot of people feel that way, lot of people think the series went downhill after Fellowship, and I understand why. Fellowship has a wonderful sense of adventure that the later films don't really have, they are for the most part war films set in a fantasy world. Fellowship is my favorite overall, though, particularly the first half. Love the segments in the Shire and Bree, but I really love all three films.
My favorite character of the entire series is Azog. He won me over in the Hobbit trilogy. His commitment to kill Thorin is something I cannot help but admire. Dedication, obsession, the unwillingness to alter his own wants even when Sauron is making demands of the great pale orc. Just as I do not let things go neither did this exquisite orc.
He was a good character, but he's an example of what I'm talking about, the CGI for him was just not very good, he would have been much better if he was as the other orcs in the LotR trilogy were - people in costumes.
Oh I loved how he looked but I understand what you are saying. I felt he looked more impressive as the films progressed but I love that arc. I enjoyed the films but they lacked the magic of Afotr. Thankful we got the hobbit trilogy since I still greatly enjoyed it.
I bet it is human nature to try to cut angles with cgi than that many extras. This is more Star Warsey out of the medieval magical franchises while to me Harry Potter is more Trekian. Star Wars emphasizes the epic battles and magic that just kind of jumbles all around whereas Potter tends to focus on a certain fictional set of rules more clearly defined than Lotr.
Gotta side with SW OT again. Just a much easier and light hearted Watch the LOTR. You gotta set aside a but load of time and put in some effort to watch those things.
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The OT for me. Better story telling (the Journey of Luke Skywalker from farmboy to Jedi Knight), and superior imagination (not that LOTR didnt have plenty of imagination itself).
Not even close for me, but tbf I was never big on LOTR. Actually prefered the Hobbit series.
LOTR was the biggest thing from December 2001 to December 2003. But its not had the long lasting hype effect the OT had Imo.
And im not even talking about Prequels/Sequels. Im talking about things like the special edition re-release 14 years on from the end of ROTJ and 20 years on from ANH. And the Crazy merchandise sales. Star Wars basically made movie merchandise a thing.
The massive pop culture effect and popularity of the OT has never been replicated by another trilogy.
Last edited by Darth Thor on Dec 4th, 2018 at 10:41 AM
For someone like you who prefers superficiality and light hearted(you just admitted the films are not dark in this thread.. Concession accepted)I see where your kiddish opinion prefers now. It all makes sense. I think the Lotr trilogy is far better than the Ot films.
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Dec 4th, 2018 01:16 AM
