epic battle of helms deep makes this a winner

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2002)

If you are a fan of the first movie, don't bother reading any reviews, just get down to the theatre.
PJ takes more liberties with the second installment of LOTR but you'll get over it.
My point of view is that of someone who has practically memorized the books, and who liked the first movie, especially the extended version. My comments will be most useful to those who have already seen the second film and also know LOTR well. SPOILERS!
One thing I've learned: it's important to see the movie twice, because the first time around I'm distracted by the changes to the dialogue and story.
The film opens with a fantastic vision of Gandalf's battle with the balrog, and it never lets up except for some slow flashback scenes attempting to pad out the Aragorn/Arwen romance.
I never rooted for Eowyn's chances more.
A big change from the book is we see Arwen apparently head off to the Grey Havens. In the books, plenty of pressure has been put on Aragorn already by Elrond, who tells Aragorn his daughter won't be marrying Aragorn unless he can make her queen of Gondor. Ain't that enough? All the scenes of Elrond and Arwen seem to take place in some type of Elvish livingroom, making them feel static.
The battle of Helm's Deep makes you forget all about these problems. Not only is the story closely followed, it is simply the best battle scene ever in any movie.
The Ents are delightful, but they get short shrift. This section feels disjointed and undoubtedly some scenes were cut. The same disjointed feeling happens with Faramir. I expect the extended version will be far better in these areas.
Gollum is so good he is just as painful as he is in the book. He speaks a great deal of unaltered dialogue to great effect.
Frodo is getting on my nerves. Nothing wrong with Elijah's performance, I'm just tired of his eyes glazing over and almost blowing the quest by handing off the ring to a passing Nazgul.
The movie ends before the book does. No Shelob, alas! But I'm okay with it because a great deal of book III can and should be trimmed for the movie [the very long journey of the Riders of Rohan, the trip back to the Shire, etc. I'm guessing PJ is going to have Frodo hop straight on a boat after a much abbreviated version of the scouring of the Shire.
I am wondering how Arwen is going to get back on track. And where the heck are the sons of Elrond?