Damn good battle scenes.

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2002)

I'm one of the three people in the world who watched this movie without having first seen or read the Fellowship. The film is unsympathetic to this possibility, as it launches into the story with no explanation of anything. Through the course of the next three hours of dialogue and action I got the gist of the plot down, and felt the epic nature of the story. The movie was very good, with the siege as a highlight. Easily the coolest siege I have ever seen, it was lengthy but exhilarating throughout. Also, the mood of the movie, though grave at times, was lightened by humor sufficiently to make me ignore the fact that I just saw 10000 people dying by sword or arrow. There is a subplot with the conscious trees, and while essential to the overall plot, it was a nuisance and totally broke up the action of the rest of the movie. As a whole, a very good movie.