Spoilers. This was not what I was hoping for.

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2003)

Spoilers!!!
I have never seen a film so badly rushed before. I know that only so much can be done with three hours and that the extended DVD will be better, but that doesn't make up for the fact that much of this movie was done in a poorly thought-out and hurried fashion. (I love the books. I may be a creepy Tolkien fanatic. Keep that in mind.)
The acting was all very good, when considering that the script was a hodgepodge of modern language and humor thrown into together with the wonderful and beautiful language that Tolkien originally wrote. Viggo Mortensen was a much more compelling Aragorn, but then, he didn't seem to talk as much. The four actors who played the Hobbits were terrific, especially Billy Boyd (Pippin) whom I thought seemed out of place in FotR. David Wenham deserved more screen time -- there is a large section of the book that would have given him this. His portrayal of Faramir was spot-on in my opinion. I never expected Miranda Otto to be a good Eowyn, but she did very well with the role, if only her parts had not been oddly and badly edited. Andy Serkis (Gollum) was brilliant as ever, and since he was really in the film this time, maybe he'll get that Academy Award (though his voice performance was better in TTT). Hugo Weaving (Elrond) gave a stellar performance too. He breathed a life into his role that may not have been there in the books, but certainly looks good on screen. No one acted badly in this movie.
The real problem was trying to stuff too many things into too short of a time frame. Something will inevitably be lost. But many of the things that were lost ('the hands of a king are the hands of a healer' stuff) were so interesting (in the book) while stuff that was dull (the fall of Osgiliath) took up too much time. I enjoyed a lot of the unnecessary stuff, but was it worth it to see Smeagol kill Deagol if it meant there was no time for Faramir and Eowyn to fall in love? Gah! That just sucked for me because they were among my favorite book characters. The animated version of RotK gives a more accurate picture of the book.
All of that to say, when you leave the theater you will feel as though you have seen a three hour trailer for the real movie (which will be out of DVD in November, I guessing).
Additionally, a lot of the battle scenes seemed shoddy compared to the bar set by Helm's Deep in TTT. It goes without saying that the most irksome deviations from the book were found in these scenes (the Oathbreakers helping to free Minas Tirith from the siege).
There was also a serious and consistent problem with stupid and inappropriate humor. It was a distraction from what would otherwise have been a much better movie. A lot of this centered around John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) whose character was never supposed to be a source of amusement. And there were also scenes that were humorous and shouldn't have been (Denethor on fire, for instance; Denethor being pummeled by Gandalf's staff; Denethor eating ... you get the picture).
The worst moment in the entire film was when Gandalf (Ian McKellan) hit Denethor (John Noble). I think that was when everyone should have got the idea that the director has/had no understanding of the books (if Haldir at Helm's Deep didn't do that already). It was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen, which now, unfortunately, also includes Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Celeborn (Martin Csokas) leaving Middle-Earth together. Read the books!
The best moment was when Arwen (Liv Tyler) asked Elrond to reforge the sword of kings (which is so far from the book that ...) and he starts to walk away. That was wonderfully done, mostly thanks to the caliber of the actors involved. Wonderful scene. Eowyn and Theoden (Bernard Hill) did a similar, far more book-consisted scene, though with far less ... something. I think the uncle-niece chemistry was wrong.
It was not a heinously bad film. It was not exceptional either because of how it was edited and directed. Some of the effects should probably win awards. Some of the actors as well. But it just isn't as good as it could have been.