...Disappointed to no end...

Rating: Null/10 (5 January 2003)

Yes, you could classify me as 'one of those Tolkien losers', but my opinion is just as valid as anyone elses'. I tried hard to blame my disappointment with this movie on me being disoriented when I saw it, or in a drunken- or stoned-like state somehow, but I have come to the conclusion that this movie really blew, especially if you have any clue what you're talking about. People, who I can only assume are too lazy to read the books, call this 'a great masterpiece of our time' and 'an instant classic', but I must negate that resolution. True, it is a subjective opinion, and true, it is an adaptation of the book, but honestly... that doesn't explain away anything in this, and people that say that 'it's jsut nerds who pay attention to that stuff' are probably insecure, and have a baseless argument. Read StumbleBee's comment on the movie to see my main issues with it, I really don't feel like repeating what's been said before. I will say what I liked about the movie, however. 1.Gollum was so-so. Much better than the Jar Jar v2.0 I dreaded when going into the movie, but not an incredible job done here. 2. Theoden and Faramir. Well cast, badly portrayed. Not the actor's fault. 3. There were parts of the movie where it felt they had strayed back on track. Some of the scenes in Itilien, before Frodo and Sam get captured, come to mind; i.e. the stuff about whether they were going to be in any songs or anything. I thought that to be very much in the spirit of the books. Patches of actual Tolkien a movie does not make. It isn't that Jackson made changesto the book, but the changes he made are what sadden me. He COULD have skipped adding in the Warg attack, Aragorn's adventure, the debate between Arwen and Elrond (though this wasn't really awful), and the trip to Osgiliath in favor of more Ent time, Entmoot, etc. Also the breaking of Saruman's staff, Shelob battle, and Frodo's capture were glossed over. Jackson's only screwing himself in ROTK... Dunno where to rate this. Maybe a 5/10, just can't trust Jackson anymore