It was the night of the premieres over here on Wednesday and unfortunately it sounds like LOTR wasn’t the winner. While Peter Jackson’s opus debuted in George St, it had some stiff competition down the road as Nicole Kidman turned out for the premier of Cold Mountain.
Nicole received the best news coverage too, though there was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald speculating on the Rungs’ Oscar chances.
Now I suspect there’s no comparison between the films themselves, but the LOTR premier was a bit subdued. I didn’t notice any stars at all, only a guy that looked a lot like David Wenham but wasn’t. There may have been a few Orcs hanging around, but with all the Australians you couldn’t really tell.
The after-party down near Darling Harbour was pretty good, mostly because I got to imbibe a few Monteiths, but hardly a gala occasion. Which leaves us, as it should be, with the film.
And the film really is magnificent. I was unconvinced by the first two LOTRs, didn’t get into them at all. So this is coming from a bit of a sceptic. The final film is superb. The battle scenes are so huge, the tension so high you really do forget how very long this film is. Yes, it does wallow in sentiment a bit, especially at the end. But by then even this seems well judged.
There was just one advertisement before the film, the 100% pure ad, which in its own way was great to watch, with “Don’t dream it’s over” ringing out gorgeously. But I can’t help feeling the occasion was underdone. The major sponsors were acknowledged in a brief address before the film. But where was the signage? There were big empty walls all around. A tiny model of an Air NZ 747 to the right of the screen was the only visual evidence this was something other than a standard screening.
Branding guys.