Wow!!

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2003)

SPOILERS
I have just seen the film for the second time and was just as overwhelmed as the first time. A grand piece of cinema both in conception and execution which I feel will never again be lived up to. Taken as a trilogy the Lord of the rings is I feel one of the great masterpieces of modern cinema which will live on after those involved are gone. This is not to say it is flawless. In fact as a big fan of the book I am not completely happy with all the changes, but this film I feel changed least, and in nearly all circumstances the changes are necessary.
Set pieces/cinematography: breathtaking with painstaking attention to detail, much love went into these set pices. Minas Tirith blew me away. and the beacons being lit(altho seemed to go all the way across middle earth instead of the hundred odd miles ditances needed) was beautiful. and Mordor could have been darker dingier and more barren. Despite that however I feel it was almost Faultless. 9.5/10
Costume/props/make up: Perfect. 10/10
Special effects: Great to spellbinding in quality. Battle scenes were tremendous altho i feel that the tension in Helms deep was much stronger the actual battle is grander than anything seen on cinema before. Breathtaking. Shelob could have been hairier with redder eyes but was impressive none the less. The flying Nazgul were particularly terrifying when they picked men off and smashed them on the ground below. Mount Doom was splendid. and One of the scariest things were the people riding the massive "oliphunts"! And when the heads are catupalted over the wall(straight from the book) was so simple yet so gruesome and affected me more than looking at hundreds of orcs. And when Smeagol became Gollum was fantastic and he was much scarier when in between charactars I feel. And the charge of the Rohirrim!! WOW!!! 9/10

Script: On the whole a good strong script with some brilliant lines(from the book!). and Tolkiens tone was kept very well. There were also a few conrny lines but in a three hr 20 min film this is hardly a major flaw! 8/10
Direction: wonderful! Peter Jackosn has brought to life an entire world and epic for us on the cinema screen and his vison was amazing. Incredible, and this film I feel shows us particularly his strengths as a film maker. admittedly a few edits werent seamless, several moments could have been dealt with more subtlely and the film did seem to end a few times, but he deserves an Oscar. Conception: 10/10. Execution: 9.5/10
Acting: Hard to give a mark to overall acting it ranged from good(altho will come back to Orlandos performance) to fantastic. Most noteworthy were: Bernard Hill as Theoden who seemed ezact as in the book, Elijah Wood as Frodo who really came into his own and showed immense suffering, Sean Astin as Sam who was the hero in my opinion, Ian Mckellan as Gandalf as great as always, and David Wenham as Faramir who was brilliant showing great depth of emotion and perfect delivery. I really sympathesied with him and Sam most out of all the charactars. Also Miranda Otto was very good. Viggo Mortensen looked as handsome as ever but I must say I preferred him in the first film. He is A very intense thoughtful actor and turned in a good performance but his accent did waver(did anyone notice he sounded Irish in his speech before the black gate?). I liked the despair of Denethor and Pippin also(showed great charactar development). So many great performances!
Dissapointments: The cutting of Saruman(in the EE) and the scouring of the shire are my biggest gripes but I can understand why they did it. Perhaps Shelob could be improved as I mentioned.

No houses of healing(also EE)
Oliphunt creatures too big
friends Meeting at the end seemed forced and cheesy (until Sam came in. that was nice)
THE ELVES: I feel Elrond and Arwen were changed from the book, and it wasnt the acting(which was pretty average) so much as the script and directing here. They weren't at all bad scenes(the reforging of the sword was great) i just feel it a shame that Aragorn ever doubted Arwen. But it did add some further interest for the audience and allowed a bigger part for Liv tyler. It doesnt bother me very much but I had to mention it! And Cate Blanchett made me laugh, when you least expect it she pops up!! Completely unnecessary that you see her in between Lothlorien and the grey havens. She got a good voice and looks fine but speaks too slow. Orlando Bloom...hmm. I think hes good looking but thats it really! If we're being honest hes very average - not awful but nothing special and he has so few lines. One of his lines was rubbish too which didnt help! But you did see the friendship between him and Gimli which was nice.

Despite my few dissapointments I absolutely loved this film and cant wait for the EE next year!! I advise anyone to go see this film - one of the best of all time.