Still great, but not superb

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2003)

Ok, so RotK was still wicked but it felt a bit flat. Here's why:
(spoilers ahead!)
They didn't build up the Witch King enough. Him vs Eowyn could have been stupendous, but they didn't give him enough PR beforehand (hello?! I'm f*****g unkillable over here! oh.. now I'm dead). Aragorn suddenly appeared in Gondorian armour without actually meeting any men from Gondor. Everyone forgot about Faramir, Eowyn and Merry after Pelennor Fields. I'm not saying they should have actually filmed the Houses of Healing scene (which is quite frankly awful), but a little closure would have been nice. In fact, the entire film left some massive holes, in favour of some expendable hobbit scenes at the end: no Saruman (major mistake); no Faramir and Eowyn love-in (sorely missed since they're two of the few characters who get enough sympathy to care about them - much more than Aragorn and Arwen!); what happened to the Orcs that didn't fall into the pit?; what the hell happened to Legolas and Gimli at the end of the film?!; no funeral for Theoden, who deserved one.
The battles seemed a lot more like set-pieces than in TTT, with way less emotional involvement.. there was nothing near the TTT charge of the Rohirrim, and the only thing that came close was the.. well.. the charge of the Rohirrim. Theoden was very well done, till he got squashed without a fight. Too many CGI Oliphaunts, not enough hand-to-hand from the Gondorians. Not enough build-up to the arrival of the Haradrim ships. Shelob was a big anticlimax.
Did I get everything? probably not. Frodo/Sam/Gollum was done pretty awesomely (I liked the changes they made, although I question the need for a 10 minute Smeagol flashback) and they improved the Mt Doom scene a lot from the book. The battle scenes could have been awesome too(making the rest of the film more awesome), but I think they just needed a bit more emotional oomph behind them.
Having said all that, I felt a bit disappointed after seeing Two Towers, too, but it grew on me a lot. So I suppose I'll have to watch it a couple more times. Plus, the extended version has a lot more scope for improving the film than with TTT. So there is hope, even if it is just a fool's hope.
Oscar chances: middling. A lot of other people (probably less fan-ish) have thought it was excellent, so it might get a big following. Sean Astin could be worthy of Supporting Actor; Elijah Wood would probably deserve a nomination for Best Actor, but I still don't like Viggo Mortensen and he'd probably get nominated for it too. Gollum was much more one-dimensional in this one so no hope for Andy Serkiss. Sir Ian was good but didn't really have to stretch himself in such a hammy role. Miranda Otto could have got a nomination for Supporting Actress on the back of TTT, but she didn't get enough screen time here. If Tyler or Blanchett get something and she doesn't, I'm gonna burn things. I think the film (and the trilogy as a whole) was very well-shot and well-written, but sadly I didn't think RotK was actually that well directed or cut (see above rant for examples) so if Peter Jackson gets Best Director I think it'll be out of respect for what he's done rather than his actual directing talent. Oh and the soundtracks have got progressively worse since the first film.
Final grade (after one viewing): wicked, on a scale from pathetic to absolutely awesome . In Arabic numerals, this may equate to 8/10 (where TTT and FotR were 9)