Very, very good

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2003)

Overall, this was a very, very good ending to the trilogy. Sam was just great! However, a warning to those who get easily motion sick (like me): don't sit close to the screen.
Some very mild teasers, so watch out! And don't take these comments too seriously, because it was a very good movie.
However, I will say I was vaguely disappointed in two areas. First, I dislike jerky or fast whirling camera moves in any movie. I know it's a chaotic battle, okay?
Next, Gondor seemed kind of emotionally flat for me. I probably wouldn't have noticed, but they played Helm's Deep so perfectly that I did notice it here. That, and pretty much every other scene in the movie plays out so well! Anyway, we personally know quite a few Rohan, so you root for them. You love the heroes, so you root for them. (Though every time they survive an impossible situation, the harder it is to truly worry that they will die.) But, in the final attack on Gondor, the city itself was populated almost exclusively with unknown, helmeted people you had no emotional investment in. I only rooted for them because our heroes worried about them. Also, I kind of wondered why they so willingly followed Gandalf's orders and, later, follow Aragorn 'to certain death.' We never even see them question who these guys are. LotR usually takes the time to answer these questions a little better. (It might have been obvious that Aragorn was the king, but no one comments one way or the other.) However, I do understand that they already had a 3.5 hr movie and couldn't add much more new character development. Probably the extended version of this film will take care of this problem. I think the movie would all around be better if it was.