A 6/10, missing alot even as a film

Rating: 7/10 (6 January 2004)

This movie could really use an EE -- BADLY. Characters are just picked up and discarded (Eomer, in particular), Eowyn's battle with the Witch King will, with luck, be expanded. It was over before I knew it and the editing was shabby. Too many oliphaunts and CGI, atrocious battle tactics on the part of the Rohirrim (sure, charge into a head of 10 story beasts even though we have bows and arrows and can shoot from a distance - sounds good!), meaningless inventions (Arwen's life tied to Ring, the Arwen "to leave or not to leave" flip flop, the Lembas Conspiracy, and that stupid Legolas-Oliphaunt trick), a limp confrontation scene with the king of the dead, no resolution to Saruman (the main bad guy of the first two films, if you've forgotten), and the worst hatchet job on an established fictional character (Denethor, Denethor, Denethor). Horrible, horrible. Plus a cheesy bed-jumping scene and coronation where the cheddar flowed in abundance. It was a mess that I hope the EE will mend somewhat, but there's a lot to fix. A LOT. A disappointing end to a trilogy that began with a masterpiece in FOTR.
On the plus side, David Wenham, Billy Boyd and Sean Astin. They were brilliant and made it worth spending the money to see it once. Their performances were true and heartfelt, though Faramir sadly dropped out of the picture because PJ unwisely cut the Houses of Healing sequence.
It's not worth the hype and I didn't think this once in a lifetime film event would end so sadly.