The most highly anticipated film of the year...did it live up to expectations?

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2002)

Well, it's a question not to be answered lightly. It leaves one feeling as though they are stuck in the middle...did we like it better then the first or didn't we? We can't answer! We don't know! TTT is so different to FOTR yet at the same time is so the same. The tone of the film is different and some characters are developed more eg Frodo & gollum. while many are not eg Saruman. New characters were introduced and all were acted brilliantly yet unfortunately we didn't get the chance to form a bond with them as we did with the fellowship in the first film as there just wasn't enough time to get to know them. The 2nd book is undoubtedly the hardest of the 3 books to translate into film. It is also the hardest to read. There are three different stories to follow and though the film interchanged between characters seemlessly unfortunately the story seemed to stray a little from it's main focus: Frodo and his quest to destroy the ring. Yet The film was brilliant, don't get me wrong. Everyone went in with very high expectations which is never a good thing when seeing a film, yet none left feeling very disappointed. The opening scene was one of the best, with the camera panning over mountains with whispers of dialogue from the first film to be heard in the background and then the reply of Gandalfs "death" but from different angles to keep fans from feeling cheated. The music was also a huge highlight keeping old themes and adding new ones. The actor who developed the most in this film and who is also terribly under-appreciated was Elijah Wood. His character changed so much from what it was like in FOTR. He is obviously and believably falling ill to the ring and his evil spells were very disturbing to watch as was the relationship between himself, Sam and Gollum - perhaps the best ever CGI character to date. It would have been nice to see a little more of them and also a bit more of Merry and Pippin. Bilbo's complete absence was also a down point. A little less Arwen to make room for Bilbo wouldn't have gone astray, yet the flashbacks let us learn the true depth and strains of Arwen and Aragorn relationship. Over all TTT is a brilliant film though I seem to have focused on mainly the bad points. It is alot funnier and darker and more unsettling. The beautiful scenery in still there looking wonderful and all the actors were magnificent. Peter Jackson had done a marvelous job translating the hardest of the 3 books into film! I give it a 9/10 and I will certainly be going to see it for the 4th time tomorrow!