nice epic but makes no sense

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2005)

+++++++++may contain spoilers+++++++++++
First of all i saw all 3 movies, but I have never read the books. So the the fact that it wasn't 100% like the books didn't bother me at all. And unlike most people who felt like the Gollum Frodo Sam parts in the movies where the best, i found them the most boring. My problem with this movie is the fact that it doesn't make sense
Moving to what bothered me in return of the king now The Orcs attack Minas Thirith, and then the Rohirim arrive with a cavalry army. now we know that those kind of armies can be very deadly to any army just look at Crassus defeat in Parthia (Crassus a Roman consul who's army got ambushed and slaughtered in Parthia by a cavalry army), Temujin (Djenghiz Kahn as most of you probably know him), Atila the Hun etc... but they sure didn't win by foolishly charging their enemy! A cavalry charge can be devastating against any infantry based army but only until the charge is stopped and the real melee is started in that case the cavalry will get butchered. but i guess for epic reasons we can accept the heroic but foolish charge. then the Orcs response is the most logic one spears in front and archers behind them. when the Orc captain gave that order i expected a massacre with loads of dead Rohirim but..... then i saw just how short those spears where :( i have seen tootphicks that where more useful in that battle then the sorry excuses for weapons the Orc spearmen had. then the battle goes as it should go in Hollywood and everyone thinks: good they win (and i really did like Theoden so i was glad) but then the huge elephants show op. and change everything. now here is what i don't understand. Armies that deployed elephants always had to worry about the animal panicking so handlers had a tool with them to split the skull of the animal when it would start panicking and causing havoc whitin the own ranks. we all know that trumpet sounds, javelins and arrows that are on fire causes elephants to panic. so why didn't the Rohirim use their bows and spears more effectively. You don't take those kind of animals head on! you fire at them and when they come closer to you, you retreat using the speed of your horse to fire more arrows at them and after a while the elephant no matter how big panics because of all the noise and the pain of the arrows and it WILL turn and stampede trough anything in it's way (hence the handlers in the ancient world being able to kill the beasts)
these are the things that bothered me most about this film. because it would have made a lot more sense to combine the strength of elves who had their elite archers, Gondor with heavily armored troops, Rohan and it's massive cavalry armies, the dwarfs (apparently strong fighters) and march upon the black gate, build some siege weapons or wait for the foolish orcs to just come outside (since they obviously had no sense of war and strategies) and destroy Saurons army then just simply stroll to mount doom while whistling a jolly tune and throwing the ring into the fire. that is what any wise person would have done. i guess though that since this movie is based on a book i should blame Tolkien for being an idiot and not peter Jackson.
the whole Frodo and the ring b.s. never had to happen in the first place if they had been a bit more wise. give me a fine army and Sun Tzu's "art of war" and Caesars "the Gallic wars" for advice, and i'll take on Gondor, Mordor, Isengard, Rohan and all the elves any day.
other then these flaws and all parts with Frodo, Sam and Gollum i did like the movie, the fights where good, there where some nice speeches, and most of the dialog was good and some of the epic shots where: epic!
This was my first review i hope you liked it (after re reading it it kind of sounds more like a rant sorry for that)