How can you review 1/3 of a movie?

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2013)

I gave this a five just because I won't know what to think until the trilogy is completed. This movie doesn't even try to stand on it's own. The movie ends on a cliffhanger and hardly apologizes for it. Nothing is resolved. To contrast with the 2nd installment in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, "The Two Towers" ends with the victory at Helm's Deep as well as Frodo and Sam escaping Gondor and the Nazgul to continue into the next chapter of their journey. The story's not over, but there is some resolution. That's what I was somewhat expecting out of this movie. What's worse is it's obvious what's going to happen in the next movie because they already set it up in this movie. The more time there is to speculate whether or not our redemption story human (forgot his name) will hit his mark with the black arrow the less suspenseful it will be.
Now that the ending is out of the way, this movie was enjoyable although it suffers from slow pacing. although not as badly as the first one. Some scenes would have been really good if they were just cut shorter. The barrel scene could have been cut in half and be just as funny and action packed. Legolas's role extends far beyond a cameo. There is a unnecessary love triangle between Legolas, an Elf girl, and a dwarf (forgot their names). Gandalf's journeys are pretty interesting for the most part and are what gets me most excited to see the third movie. Again it's hard to say what's good about this movie because if the final part in the trilogy isn't good it will all be for naught.