stuff i think

If you read this with any regularity (bran eaters, you know who you are) you know I'm not a huge movie buff. I don't actively dislike them, but the amount of time it takes coupled with the chunk of change it takes leaves me spending my time and money elsewhere. In addition, it's my own personal backlash against pastors who could not preach a message to save their lives were it not for the ever-present video clip. (I use clips occassionally, but if a guy uses 3 clips in a 30 minute message, he probably can't tell a story for squat.)

Now that I've alienated a significant portion of my readers, I will admit that seventy six million bucks is nothing to sneeze at, so I wandered over to the theater tonight to see The Lord of the Rings: The Return of th King. Allow me to say: Wowser.

I'm not worried about ruining it for you, because chances are you saw it before I did...but it was phenomenal. I have only seen the parts 1 and 2 for the first time in the last eight weeks or so, so the storyline was fresh in my head (at least as much as I could keep straight...3 hrs 20 minutes and I still can't remember those names). It is late, and I am tired, but will condense my comments to this:

1) I am now a convert to arachnophobia.

2) As creepy as he was, I found myself feeling deep pity for Gullom/Smeagol. He surely is not the first nor last being to be tormented by his passions. There are a lot of things stirring in me about this - I'll blog it later.

3) I'm sort of ambivilant about Frodo, but I sure could use a Samwise Gamgee in my life. When Sam says (paraphrased) "I can't carry your burden, but I can carry you..." I wanted to cheer.

4) The scene of Aragorn's crowning is some of the best eschatology I've ever witnessed.

Enough fawning over it. It was a good movie. I won't even gripe about the length (oddly enough, the second half seemed to move more quickly than the first). I am glad I didn't bring Jackson though. There are a whole lot of freaky images that would have kept him up all night.

Seeing this epic battle in living color has reminded me of the nature of spiritual warfare - how it happens on so many levels at once. It really reinforced some stuff I heard in church this morning. Having war waged against us is a given. Engaging in the battle is a choice. Kelsey and I have been talking about how dangerously domesticated we could become if we don't take radical steps the other direction. The Return of the King - both the film and the reality - spur me towards great exploits in a battle that none of us can escape anyway.