My Lord! (of the rings)

Rating: 6/10 (11 January 2015)

That's the polite version of what I was thinking while I sat through this. The rest of the thought was "Will it ever end?".
The kicker is, there's some very good acting and it's a classic story with some truly touching moments. But the endless repetitive and exaggerated action scenes, unnecessary subplots, ridiculous added material and alterations to the plot distract mightily from the main. Personally, I'm hoping for a directors that culls all three movies down to the three hours total that's required for the story.
Less is more, keep it simple stupid.. Choose the phrase. I don't know if it's bloated because of Jackson, or bean-counters, but rumors indicate the latter and it's a shame. Greed.
Martin Freeman is brilliant and could have carried all three films (which should have been two at most) by himself, but wasn't really given the chance. Really frustrating.