When you read the book, read all of it

Rating: Null/10 (21 December 2002)

All right, it deviates with the book, but it's not as bad as some people apparently think. My only problem is that the people who made this film seem to want to emphasize that men are weak and stupid, and I think Faramir and Theoden suffer unfairly in their characterizations for it. That aside, I found this adaptation just swell. Really, that's all I have to say about the film itself.
I wasn't going to review this film, but I read something saying two things that show less knowledge of the book than the writer apparently believes to be in possession of.
1. Return of the King is the longest book of the series. It has 544 pages if you count all of them. The appendices and index at the back of that volume, though, amount to about 144 pages, and the story portion of The Return of the King comes in at more like 400 pages. It's actually a lot shorter then The Fellowship of the Ring, which clocks in at 527 pages. I also don't mind leaving the business of Shelob, and Gandalf's confrontation of Saruman at Orthanc to the beginning of the next film. After thinking about it a little, perhaps keeping them in The Two Towers would have been somewhat anti-climactic. Leaving those bits until the next film, however, will not expand its length over much. It may even balance out the timing a little. We'll see.
2. The business about the love of Arwen and Aragorn is nowhere in the book. Check out appendix A from the abovementioned sections. It's all there. It's just that Tolkien places it happening before all the business of this story gets started. I suppose it could have been handled in flashback, but that might have been intrusive. That's a judgment call, and Jackson's choice didn't bother me.
In fact, there are numerous references to the appendices, as well as occasional nods at The Silmarillion, throughout both films, and I expect the third will have many more. Don't assume the filmmakers made them up unless you've read those sections. There are deviations from the book, but they are no worse in this film than the first. If they bothered you overmuch in the first film, then you probably want to avoid the second. If you think the second has a lot more departures, then you probably stopped reading when you hit the appendices, and you should read them before condemning their use.