This SHOULD have been the greatest movie ever...

Rating: 3/10 (14 February 2006)

I went to see this movie at midnight the day it opened in the cinemas, just as I did for the first two LOTR films. The first two movies were both excellent. This was going to be IT--finally, a good film version of the greatest story ever told--Tolkien's lovely tale, perfectly written over the course of more than a decade of writing and revisions, excellent actors cast perfectly for their roles. All the film needed to do was stay the course--stick to the story, let the actors keep up their good work--and it would have been the single best movie of all time.
BUT NO, for some reason, Peter Jackson could not stand to do this. I'm not one to whine about a few mundane details altered by the transition from book to film--I expect and sometimes enjoy such differences. However, I could not help but be disgusted when I saw Jackson's Saturday-morning cartoonish depiction of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. For those of you who did not read the book, just believe me when I tell you that battle contained the most pivotal moment in the entire trilogy, and Peter Jackson decided to make a joke of it.HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?? In the real version, the onslaught of the Riders of Rohan slows down after the attack of the giant elephants, and things begin to turn against the good guys. Just when things seem like they can't get any worse (the Lord of Gondor is insane, Theoden is dead, Aragorn & co. are nowhere to be found, the sky is dark, etc.), they do. The long feared fleet of black ships floats up the river, and the strong south wind that the good guys first blessed now bears their final curse. Just as Eomer prepares his people to die in their last battle before the end of the world, Aragorn's flag, that of the line of the kings of Men, unfurls from the Corsair flagship, and thus came Aragorn to Gondor, the rightful king. This IS the Return of the King. The entire book is named after this moment, and it is glorious to read, and would have been glorious on film as well.
Instead, we have some evil-looking black ships float up to the orc-dock. the ugly harbor-master complains about them being late, and then 3 guys jump out of the ship looking ready for a fight. The orcs get the joke, and begin to attack, BUT WAIT! an undead army is hiding in the ships! How clever and funny! GIVE ME A BREAK! HOW much more lame can it get? I know! instead of including some other very valuable scenes (Gandalf v. Lord of the Nazgul, a decent portrayal of Denethor's more complex character, the parting of Arwen and Elrond, etc.), we can add 5 extraneous ending scenes! Disappointment after disappointment followed the tasteless portrayal of the Pelennor battle. I was heartbroken to see this film, as would be anyone who knows and appreciates the masterpiece that Tolkien conceived.