It's funny to see Peter Jackson's transition from Bad Taste to Lord of the Rings. (1 Viewer)

[StephenA]

The movies are so different. Sometimes I have a hard time believing the same guy made such movies as Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Braindead, and then went on to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I know filmmakers all gotta start somewhere, but I'd never of thought he'd go on to making such an awesome and hard trilogy as Lord of the Rings. I thought he'd stay in the horror and gore genre, and maybe stray into comedy, but not make sci-fi or fantasy movies. He did a great job in his transition though.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Between Braindead (Dead-Alive in the U.S.) and the magisterial Heavenly Creatures, Jackson pulled off one of the most breathtaking artistic transformations in the history of modern cinema. Which is not to say that he went from "bad" to "good" (I'm a fan of his earlier stuff, particularly Braindead), but rather that he went from one kind of "good" to an entirely different (and to me, more satisfying) "good."

I'll never forget my first viewing of Heavenly Creatures. It was as if the traits of all my favorite directors had somehow been incorporated into a single artist - the dramatic rigor, musical sense, and facility with actors of Scorsese; the visual exuberance and impish humor of Gilliam; Spielberg's compositional eye and comfort with FX; and a dash of Sam Raimi's over-the-top spirit thrown in for good measure. Instantly one of my favorite films of all time.

The Frighteners almost seemed like a hybrid of the old and new Jackson - the comic grotesque married to the dramatically intense. While admirably ambitious and technically astonishing, it's a mix that doesn't entirely work for me (though I'll still snap up that special edition in an instant if it's ever ported to DVD). Despite its relatively lackluster box office performance here, it clearly proved to Hollywood that Jackson could organically pull off a complex, FX-laden movie on his home soil, at a fraction of the cost of a comparable production in the U.S.

And without that example, New Line would certainly never have backed The Lord of the Rings - a film that I suspect, when all nine or 10 hours can be viewed as a unit, may end up being my all-time favorite.

As for his next project, all signs are pointing to King Kong, although I've also heard Jackson say that he'd rather take a relative breather with a smaller, New Zealand-focused story for his next film. Rumors of a WWI project have circulated as well, although I don't know if there's any truth to them.

It's been a weird, wonderful ride for Jackson, and I just feel lucky to be able to watch.

--Jefferson Morris