Fantastic, and still it could be better

Rating: Null/10 (12 January 2004)

Hi there,
I have long read in this fantastic DB and now joined to be able to comment some films too. I have read the book three to four times throughout the last 20 years, so I was VERY curious how Peter Jackson would stem this massive task. Overall, he did very well. Especially the Return of the King and here the battle scenes were mindblowing. This time, unlike when seeing The Fellowship and The Two Towers, I had the same feeling as I had when reading. The only drawback is this terrible Arwen-Elf thing. I found it a pure box-office/Hollywood lovestory-thing to cast Liv Tyler - threading the figure Arwen to the story until its very end did the film no good. To explain this away by having to attract the expectations of the average viewers who did not read the book is far too simple. Especially in The Two Towers, this mortality bla-bla between Elrond and Arwen caused several yawns in the audience.
Back to the Return of The King, I also share Viggo Mortensen's view, that too many scenes of Aragorn were left out. But then, it leaves hope that again we will see a much longer DVD version. I can't wait to do a long Lord of the Rings night...