I don't know where to begin...

Rating: 1/10 (28 December 2002)

This movie was horrid. I think that's the best place to start. This movie was the biggest disappointment I have ever had. The worst part was that for the first hour I actually thought they were going to follow the book. Then the pain began. By adding and changing scenes from the book, they completely ruined a good movie. Some people argue that if the movie exactly matched the book, people should just read the book. I argue that if they want to make up there own story don't try to remake a book by someone else. The things added to this movie were not put there to improve the story anyway. They just added a level of badly acted drama that the film did not need. Why they felt the need to change the story to emphasize the plight of Frodo and Middle-earth with bad drama I will never know. The whole movie is already bent on these ideas, so why they felt like shoving it down our throats is a mystery. Maybe they want to try for Oscars... I've got an idea let's do another close up of Merry's face full of determination...
Another problem is the fighting scenes. These were insulting. There is a difference between unrealistic fantasy fighting, like in the first film, and in your face crap that wouldn't even be shown on MST3K. If you can just run over 10,000 orcs with 5 horses and be fine, why didn't they just do that in the beginning? Obviously, the orcs have no momentum and no ability to even hold a spear up against a horse...
I could go on about the problems of this movie for much longer but instead I'll just say this. If you have invested any time at all into this series, do not watch this movie, because it is horrible and will only irritate you.
1/10