First off...when I got to the theater it wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be...which was surprising...considering that even weeks after the release of the 2nd movie, the theater was always filled.

Secondly, I had to sit through EIGHT COMMERCIALS!!! Not PREVIEWS of movies...I only saw one of those...but I SAW EIGHT TV COMMERCIALS!!! Body wash, car, pop, SOAP commercials!!! I was furious that I just spent money to watch commercials...I thought that was the BEAUTY of paying for something like that...not having to listen/watch commercials or see ads...<sighs>I was/am mad about that...

Anyway...to the movie:

I had favorite parts of the movie...I was a tad bit let down in some places...<shrugs>

parts I thought ruled:

-any and every time Gandalf whipped out his cane and beat somebody around the head with it

-we saw Legalos and Gimli...we hardly saw either...and when we did it was usually when Legalos was spouting something stupid that was meant to be passed off as deep or mysterious...and Gimli was acting drugged out... But it was still fun to see these two together, I liked the exchange at the end:

Gimli: To think, I am going to die side by side with an ELF!!!
Legalos: How about dying side by side with a friend???

-Seeing Gondor...omigosh that was beautiful...

-Peppin when he thought he wouldn't see Merry again...

-the wedding(s)/coronation

Parts I thought sucked:

-the ending(s) it really was dragged out and disjointed...it was not smooth and gave off an awkward feeling...

-the ending of the battle of Gondor...for as much as it was built up...it really let down real quick. I mean, I know it's kinda hard to fight something already dead...but it felt rushed. And I thought the "I am no man" line said by Eowyn was kinda corny, I don't know if that line was in the book or not, but I thought it corny and I saw it coming from a mile away. Also, because that guy she killed was NEVER MENTIONED BEFORE I didn't care a fig about him and I didn't see him as any huge hurdle to jump.

-Actually, the whole movie felt rushed. Perhaps this movie would have been better off being split up; have 2 parts to it. The battles felt canned...especially the battle at Mordor...it didn't feel special and it didn't feel like the triumph of man. Perhaps the filmmakers set the bar too high with the battle of Helms Deep...that battle was paced just right and showed everything that needed to be shown and it was perfect...I was drawn into the battle...I even cried a bit...

but in this movie all I could think of was getting it all over and done with so that I can see who lived and who didn't...

If the movie truly did follow the book...and if i had read the books...I probably would have been let down. I mean...every one of the main characters survived??? And everybody was miraculously saved??? Theodin died but he wasn't a *main* character...and the heart breaking of Eoywn's wasn't as real as I would have liked it <shrugs> I thought she took it a lil too well...and the movie even suggested that she ended up with Farimir...so...everybody lives AND everybody is happy??? Except Frodo leaves...that was cool, I liked that part b/c it was REAL...but it was still...too GOODY-GOOD...<sighs>

the battle was supposed to be about the rise of man...but men were saved by ghosts...okay, they were the ghosts of men, but they were still supernatural beings and no longer men. They were also saved by other non-human beings...

bah...yeah...just a tad bit disappointed...perhaps the DVD will be better :\

Sure he is. he even appears in the first movie :blink:

and if the ending felt disjointed, you should have read the book. that ending was even more drawn out and disjointed. the movie got it done with more practically. As for who lived and died... do you really think they could have killed off main characters who survived in the series and claimed to "stay true to the books"?

Just about everything you complained about was an inherent problem with the books they were working off of. it's not like the film makers could go and change anything of the sort without drawing massive criticism. I bet they even took a little flac for making the scene where the ring gets destroyed more exciting :ohwell:

the love triange with eowyn / aragorn / arwen is worked out in the books, but they cut that part as the movie was long already, will be in the extended dvd im sure, as for the movie feeling rushed, well there was alot to put in so ya a rushed feeling could be expected...

everything you mentioned is part of the books, you should really read the books, they blow away harry potter~

Eowyn killing the witch king rocked...

Well, my complaints about characters dying and such are also complaints about the books...

I should have made that more clear. If I had read the books I'd be saying the same things. So wherever in my post that you see a complaint about the story, assume that I would be saying the same of the book.

And when did that guy show up in the 1st movie??? He was not the same human who did not destroy the ring when he had the chance...he was just some human princeling of the underworld...other man like things that rode those flying lizards were some of the 10 men who had the other rings. This guy had no ring...at least none that I saw.

the witch king is the ring wraith that stabbed Frodo :s

They even mention this in the movie :ohwell:

:hmm2:

alright, I'll give you that...

but he wasn't very well developed :s

I had absolutely no fear of him and I knew he would be destroyed in some way so there was no point of me fretting about it.

It was kinda like Star Wars: Episode 1 where they introduce Darth Maul and you're supposed to be scared of him but you knew he'd die by the end of the movie and that it wasn't really going to be nifty...or it would be over-hyped...

and that was what this death was like. At least with the death of Sauron it was a well developed death...it was a moment where you could literally see the fate of man teetering on the sword's edge.

that's true of virtually every movie villain out there :hmm:

yeah, but as I said...the way the fear and dread of that villain was built up just right that on some level you could really see the hero not succeeding.

That the villian's power was so great that even though you knew it HAD to end well...you still doubted. A villian should only be portrayed so that you can be fooled into thinking that they will succeed. Otherwise they are just a waste of plot space.

Whatshisname...um...Fred...could have easily been replaced by Dark man #2 and never been shown in the 3rd movie without detracting from the story.

How was he portrayed in the books??? Did the film add or take away from his character???

Tolkien never spent much time developing his evil chars, so he wasn't developed anymore than in the movie really.