Breaktaking action with slow bits

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2003)

For the first half an hour I was getting worried, all the messy plot elements that needed advancing put forward a rather confused start to the film. Furthermore, leaving out the death of Saruman was a crime. Jackson claimed that it would have required a seven minute section unrelated to the rest of the movie, but to me the first 40 minutes seemed just as much of an "add on". Also grating was the constant harping on how all hope was lost, we're doomed etc.
Once the action started it was a real fairground ride running almost non-stop to the climax. There were a few deus-ex-machina type escapes, but that is only to be expected in the fantasy genre. After this there was a lengthy "climb down" section which involved all the characters saying goodbye and farewell. It was all a bit much for me. Frodo looks in Sam's eyes, Sam looks mournfully at Frodo, Frodo looks a Pippin. There were about five or six times when I thought the credits would start to roll, but no, there were more goodbyes, more characters to get married and live happily ever after.
Still it was a fitting end to the best adaptation yet of Tolkien's weighty tome and probably worth a second viewing sometime.