As if once wasn't enough, [1] Spring [2] and I saw Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring [3] with Mark [4] and Kelly [5] in a larger theater with much better sound and way more people.
Just as impressive.
But the movie ends and Mark is visibly disapointed. “That's it? It's over?”
“Um … yea,” I said. “Didn't you realize this was the first film of a trilogy?”
“No. I never read the books; I don't even know what the story was about!”
“Oh,” Spring, Kelly and I said.
But Mark did enjoy the film.
[WARNING: Movie/book spoilers ahead—if you don't know the story, stop reading unless you want a surprise spoiled for you] The entire audience got into the film to the point where Boromir gets shot with the initial Uruk-hai arrow—the background music and noise is cut and you hear the thunk of the arrow and the entire theater is silent. The silence is broken when someone in the theater goes “Shit!” An epithat that this just can't happen! This isn't happening. But it is.
A very powerful moment in the movie. And both times I've seen the movie my eyes tear up. The death of Boromir is a painful thing to watch.
[3] http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120737