Very overrated

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2013)

I like the first movie of the trilogy the best, especially the extended cut. The Balrog was awesome, and as a whole it captured the feel of the book. I missed the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs, though. Both as events in themselves, but also the mythological value that part of the book adds. Saruman was terrific. 8/10.
The second was the worst of the three, with the extended cut recapturing only a bit of the lost ground. Theoden was indifferent and Eowyn was downright awful. Gollum, though, was amazing and Saruman was once again terrific. 5/10.
The third was a slight improvement over the second, again with the extended cut being better the than the original cut. It had some very bad passages, though. Paths of the Dead, The Dead Army and Denethor was terrible, and so was the grotesque orc leading the assault on Minas Tirith. Also, that Peter Jackson chose to omit the Witch King riding up to the gates of Minas Tirith, one of the most powerful scenes of the book, is just unforgivable. 6/10
Overall, Peter Jackson misses the mark by quite a bit. He transforms Gimli into a comic sidekick and Legolas into a pretty boy surfer dude. His depiction of the orcs is just so off target. They should die in droves at the sieges of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, as the undisciplined rabble they are, their numbers and their savagery being the threat, not their fighting prowess.
The work as a whole lacks any connection to Tolkien's mythology and that is the greatest sin of them all.