Bleh (SPOILERS)

Rating: 5/10 (25 May 2004)

After being disappointed with the first film, then enjoying the second enough that I actually bought both extended DVDs, I find myself back to disappointment with number 3, for several reasons.
1) ROTK suffers from the same thing as FOTR: trying to cram too much story into too little time (can you believe Jackson originally wanted to do LOTR in *two* movies)?
2) The CGI effects, which were never as impressive as they were cracked up to be, are now just boring.
3) Jackson has finally given in to his previously (mostly) incipient I-know-better-than-Tolkien-itis. The Paths of the Dead sequence now plays like a bad horror movie (think Stephen Sommers), and the Cirith Ungol-Shelob's Lair sequence has both Frodo and Sam behaving entirely out of character. Worst of all is the Cracks of Doom scene, where Jackson for some reason feels it necessary to gild the lily by adding a (literal) cliffhanger. Also, the Scouring of the Shire is *not* (unlike Tom Bombadil or the parley with the Mouth of Sauron) dispensable. Dropping it alters the whole character of the ending.
4) What was the point of having Denethor go over the cliff in flames?
5) Gandalf explains to Pippin what happens after death? Tolkien must be turning in his grave. And the explanation isn't even interesting.
6) But worst of all, I reread the novel between TTT and ROTK. This was a grievous error; it merely pointed up the inferiority of the films.
So, anybody want to buy a couple of extended DVDs, cheap?
ROTK 5/10; full series, 6/10.