Battle scenes beyond compare... but not the best film ever made

Rating: Null/10 (19 February 2004)

The battle scene for Minas Tirith is unquestionably, no matter what one thinks of the film or indeed the trilogy, one of the greatest ever committed to film (or digital) in terms of scale, realisation and tension. For the second hour of ROTK my jaw dropped as Peter Jackson's vision was realised in a field battle of awesome scale and terrific tension.
But (currently) the 4th best film ever made? In a poll that has Godfather at 1 and Shawshank and 2 who really cares, except that it's not. Too many characters, too little explanation - as at least one reviewer has commented, the director has, if anything, not been ruthless enough with Tolkien. Denethor is the worst example, a pointlessly depressive king - but by no means the only one. Poor Liv Tyler has to manage Arwen through 3 films, for barely a snog at the end (not even THE end, just one of 10 in the last half hour that were badly paced).
The dialogue was cloying and soap-operatic at worst. I lost count of the number of times someone cried out "FRODO!!!" - who in himself became a whining, annoying character, unlike the book.
A great cinematic achievement in many ways, primarily for Minas Tirith. And a great night out. But hey, so was "Attack of the Clones". Or "Die Hard". In 10 years I do hope not to see the 3 LOTR films in the IMDb top 10.