A visual treat yes, but a classic???

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2003)

Cutting to the chase, I am not a fan of the book and will admit to not having read a single page of Tolkien in my life. This puts me in the position of being able to judge the film not as an adaptation but as a cinematic experience in its own right, and to this extent the film is far from being the classic that most claim it to be. Strip away the mind blowing SFX and you are left with a movie which is absolutely predictable from start to finish, a lead actor who on many occassions persists on annoying the hell out of me with his overly camp glances at his best mate, a fight scene that to the uninitiated seemed rather too similar in plot (SFX again excepted) to the battle scene in the previous film, and that ending........why? I would have rated this film an 8 if it wasnt for the fact that it delivers possibly the most disappointing half hour of cinematic history at the end. Slushy? Cheesy? Fluffy? Call it what you will, but it was cringingly bad and caused me to leave the theatre thinking "thank Jehovah it eventually finished" - never a good sign. A landmark piece of moviemaking, yes, but will I have cause to watch this in 15 years time when the SFX have been improved upon? I think I will be quite able to find a better way of spending half a day. 6/10