For rest of scene see extended edition

Rating: 8/10 (2 September 2004)

Did I cry? Not really, actually. I thought I would cry a lot but I didn't. I got tearful three times, but not all out crying. Those times were when Merry and Pippin are seperated, the look on their faces is heartbreaking. When Pippin sings over the Osgiliath scene. When the Rohan fight the Mumakil.
Did I like it? Yes. And then again no. It wasn't the experience that Fellowship was for me and I don't think it ever could have been. I'm too tainted by behind the scenes footage and technical effects explanations and knowledge of the actors to see the movies the way I saw Fellowship. When I see them I still tend to think Dominic before Merry and Orlando before Legolas etc. I know too much.
OTOH I think this will be similar to the way TTT was for me, I will settle into the DVD much more easily than I did to the movie in the peace of my own couch in the dark with a cup of tea and no pressure.
I am inclined to say that Peter Jackson has one main weakness, an occasional lack of subtlety. This manifests itself sometimes as excess schmaltz (especially present toward the end of the movie) and sometimes as inappropriate humour (see Gimli) and sometimes in his over-enjoyment of gross-out gore (less of an issue but a few scenes are a bit more ridiculous than they should be).
Major props to Bernard Hill who impressed me hugely in this and Two Towers, I never failed to be amazed by how well he hit his character. I loved every second of Pippin and Merry and crave more of them, one of my favourite scenes was their first one at Isengard. And yes, Shelob was very cool and I did unexpectedly rather enjoy Legolas downing the Oliphaunt.
I can't quite get the hang of Hugo Weaving, he always seems to be slightly on the outside of a movie looking in. At least he was in the Matrix, especially the last one, but I felt it in this too. Eg.

Scene - Rohirrim Camp - a tent Elrond: I can't believe how much better than the Matrix this movie is! And check out this rad costume! Aragorn: Huh? Elrond: Oh right, sword, plot, thingy... Aragorn: *brandishes sword in manly fashion*
The focus remains solidly on Sam and Frodo, but their story was actually the least interesting, it felt a bit like the same thing over and over again. A little bit of plot and then a break to see Sam and Frodo trudge some more and Gollum talk to himself.
The editing was choppy especially towards the end, I suspect the extended version will flow better as no matter what they say about the film version being the real version in this case I really don't think it is.