Viggo Mortensen has been reflecting on the Lord Of The Rings saga in a new interview with The Telegraph , and has been fairly critical of Peter Jackson's handling of the trilogy.
Mortensen's view is that the first film was the best of the series, as it was less preoccupied with CGI and grandiose battle sequences than the next two instalments…
"The first script was better organised," says Mortensen. "Peter was always a geek in terms of technology but, once he had the means to do it, and the evolution of the technology really took off, he never looked back."
"In the first movie, yes, there’s Rivendell, and Mordor, but there’s sort of an organic quality to it, actors acting with each other, and real landscapes; it’s grittier."
"The second movie already started ballooning, for my taste," continues Mortensen, "and then by the third one, there were a lot of special effects."
"It was grandiose, and all that, but whatever was subtle, in the first movie, gradually got lost in the second and third. Now with The Hobbit , one and two, it’s like that to the power of 10."
Fairly scathing stuff, then. In the meantime, those who agree with Mortensen's views can enjoy him in something altogether more lo-fi, with The Two Faces Of January opening in cinemas today.
