Too many unanswered questions

Rating: 10/10 (21 March 2002)

I had been eagerly awaiting the cinema release of Lord of The Rings since I was a child and cannot hide my disappointment in the movie. Part of my anticipation was due to the fact that the books seemed so heavy going and difficult to endure, so I felt that the movie could succinctly sum it up - albeit at 3 hrs I initially felt this too was unnecesarily long. Imagine my surprise when the credits rolled up to find that most of the story was left up in the air? After a bottom numbing three hours to find that the situation with the Ring still hadn't even been slightly resolved was infuriating to say the least. To say that the movie only seemed to paint only half (or indeed less) a picture would be an understatement and I'mpositive no book would have been left with so many questions unanswered. Now I understand much money can be made from sequels, but such blatant abuse of cinema goers intelligence and integrity to leave them so uninformed and hanging in the air is an insult. At least with other movies where there have been sequels (which I can only presume this one will lead to), the makers have ensured that each movie can almost be a stand alone piece and that the ending of each one only hints at a sequel e.g. an overlooked dinosaur egg, an escaped spider etc. This does neither and I am frankly appalled, albeit the impressive Welsh landscapes did make me wish I was their and not in the cinema.