Nicely done, but way too long

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2005)

The story is interesting and has some merit, but its not the greatest story. As ring stories go, the Islandic Sagas (Tolkins source for some of his ideas) or Wagner's Rings of the Nibelung are much more interesting stories. Why personify evil and divorce it from human nature at all? Albrect's ring (in Das Rheingold) is not evil, but the lust for its power drives gods, giants, dwarfs, and men mad and turns giants into dragons. Its a much deeper story philosophically than Tolkins version.
Both Tolkin's book and the movie could have been shortened considerably.... with each new ending of Return of the King, the audience audibly groaned.... not another anti-climax.... Get on with it.
I made the mistake a buying the extended version on DVD... A movie that is already too long, made even longer.... I suspect there is a good reason that directors aren't normally allowed to make the final cut -- they like to drag things out too much.
and those boring scenes about human / elf love... yawn... Why must we suffer through them! The special features on the DVD -- yawn.