Third one is the best one!

Rating: 9/10 (6 September 2014)

When movies based on novels are done right, they allow readers to see on screen what they could only imagine in their minds. One of the biggest problems I had with Tolkien's third novel was not being able to visualize Frodo and Sam's adventure concurrently with the stories of Rohan and Gondor. This, of course, is a limitation due to the characteristics of a book and not a criticism of Tolkien. The movie has elongated scenes which focus on one side of the story, but there are critical moments when the stories are totally intertwined (i.e., Aragorn and the rest drawing out the orcs from Mordor to free up Frodo and Sam's passage). And of course, since a movie can tell a story in a shorter time, one does not forget events that occurred at an earlier time.
Even though the release dates of the first and third movies were only two years apart, the advancements in technology are clear. The improvements in CGI over the previous films are tremendous. The fantasy creatures like trolls and oliphaunts looked like a natural part of the battlefield. The Army of the Dead looked like they could come and kill some bad guys for us in the 21st century too (although, their duty was completed, so we should leave them alone... even though they were total bad-asses). And all those battle scenes were executed perfectly! I can't imagine the amount of man- hours that must have been put in to accomplish them.
Just as the third novel was my favorite of the series, the third film was the best and my favorite of the three. As always, changes were necessary for making this Lord of the Rings film. Happily, however, there were less extreme and damaging changes to the plot as in The Two Towers.
The worst offense was Frodo ditching Sam in the film. It showed weakness and lack of trust in their friendship, something that was never a quality in their relationship in the novels. And the Witch King breaking Gandalf's staff served to portray Gandalf the White as mortal. The novels showed he could feel challenged and was not capable of saving Middle Earth by himself, but his staff, one of the major endowments representative of his otherworldliness, was never broken. They did a good job with killing Saruman and Grima earlier on in the story, since the whole ruffian affair in the Shire at the end was (rightfully) omitted.
A job well-done adapting the novel for the screen. Watched (Extended Edition) 09/05/14, written 09/06/14.