I think the scene that sums up my dislike of Jackson happens during the attack on Minas Tirith. In the books, which often are not particularly cinematic, the gate is broken and then all falls silent. Tolkien keeps it simple and focused on an unmoving Gandalf just talking to the Witch King as he rides alone through the gate. The stillness heightens the potency, which is only broken as first a rooster crows to greet the morning, and then by the horns of the riders of Rohan.
Jaws is a classic example of how stillness and pacing increase the power of moviemaking action and suspense. Spielberg knows how to structure movies to take advantage of contrasting scenes.
But Jackson doesn’t do stillness, and he doesn’t understand pacing. His confrontation between Gandalf and the Witch King is just more of the breakneck speed scenes happening before and after, one incident of chaos among many, all filmed with Jackson’s frantic cuts – his shots rarely last for more than five seconds, with a two minute scene often chopped into 30 separate pieces.
It’s a style designed to whip the viewer into a state of nervous excitement, but it’s all surface jitters. It’s a McMansion made up of a long checklist of isolated pieces stitched together without an understanding of how to put elements together in an organic way.
