Good, but...

Rating: Null/10 (29 May 2003)

Let me start out by saying I like this movie, it was engrossing and entertaining.
There was one big problem I had with it however...
(Spoilers)
The combat scenes are too arcadish for my taste. "My score will be higher than yours!" or something to that effect was actually said by Gimli at one point during the battle for Helms Deep. I realize this is somewhat true to the book, that the protagonists killed many orcs, but there was no real sense of danger. Legolas sliding down the stairs on the shield while machine gunning with his bow, then rocketing the shield into another orc defies belief. The Uruk-Hai acted more like bowling pins than heavily armored, savage warriors. When you're going to base half of a 3 hour movie on combat it really needs to be done well, and I don't think this was.
I also predict slower sales for the final movie of the trilogy. Despite characters in the movie assuring us there's a lot left to do, I think it's pretty obvious that The Return of the King will be a mop up operation.
That being said I'm still looking forward to it.
Rating - 8.2