after the Fellowship, this was a bit of a disappointment

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2003)

This could have been as good as the first part, if Jackson had more respect for Tolkien. Those scenes of Aragorn dreaming of Arwen or utterances that may appear good in script but sound stupid on the screen (running heavy breathing Legolas speaks to himself: red sun rises, blood has been spilt this night) have pretty much harmed this otherwise good film into something that one can't watch without a very unpleasant shivering sensation down one's spine. Fortunately, there are still more good parts than those bad ones, so this is more or less a fine movie. Hope that the Return of the King ends up better.