Brilliancy messed up, Extended Edition to the rescue?

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2003)

What should have been the peak of the trilogy got butchered (on the cutting floor?), and left me with mixed feelings.
Some people here already summed it up:
*SPOILERS*
* The opening scene (Deagol - Smeagol) should have been part of TTT, as it is unfitting for this late stage in the story. * 'The Voice of Saruman' should not have been cut. * Too many things left unexplained, like Denethors behaviour. * The lighting of the Beacons took too much time. * Ill-pacing of the movie in general. * The battle in front of Minas Tirith should have been in a dark(er) setting, just like in the book. And it should have appeared to last (much) longer, as it did in the book. Now it feels rushed. * Frodo and Sams journey through Mordor should have taken more (screen) time. * Viggo Mortensen's performance at Aragorns crowning looked to be very poor. A great waste, because he had been doing so well before. * The movie should have ended with the crowning scene, and several farewells, preferably mixed with naration (showing in short images the future of each main character). The current endless endings if anywhere belong in the Extended Edition.
That said, I think this movie has at least 1 1/2 hours of brilliant stuff in it. The climbing of the stairs, and the preceding departure of the witch-king from his castle are probably my favorite scenes.
Hopefully the Extended Edition will fix many of its flaws, as I rate ROTK well below the first two installments.