A good movie, but a bit over-hyped and over-rated though.

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2002)

I honestly don't know what it is, but I'm really not all that impressed with these movies. Don't get me wrong, I think they are good movies, and the special effects are nothing less than mind-blowing, but there is no way I could put either "The Fellowship of the Ring" or "The Two Towers" in my favorite 50 movies or so and they're both in the top 10 highest rated films on this site (at the present moment). Maybe it is because I've never read the books, but then again I have a number of friends that haven't read the books and absolutely love these films. So, I'm at a loss for answers.
The cast in the film is very good and everyone included deserves some notice. Most notably: Ian McKellan, Christopher Lee, Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett, and Bernard Hill. They all did great jobs and pulled off great performances. Director, Peter Jackson, deserves a great deal of praise too, you can definitely tell that a great deal of work went into this film.
I must say that Gollum looked truly impressive, in a special effects sense. But, I have to get something off my chest. He was SOOOOO ANNOYING!!! I wanted Frodo and Sam to just kill him or leave him somewhere. If I hear "My Precious" one more time I'm going to scream!!!
The high points for me in the film were the different animals and beasts in the film. Some of them looked really cool and were done quite well, where other had some serious problems (if you ask me) and could have been done much better.
Another complaint I have about the film is the length. I'm sorry, but this movie is just too long. There are a number of things in the film they could have easily cut out (although I'm sure they didn't to please the hard-core fans of the books)...but I guess you can't please everyone, so I'll just shut up and deal with it.
On last thing I have to complain about that just didn't make sense is: How on earth did Gandalf and the Balrog end up fighting on top of that tower? One scene they're falling through the mountain, and then they're on top of this tower? Did I miss something? Oh well, maybe when/if I read the books it'll make more sense.
All in all, I thought it was a good film, but not as spectacular as everyone makes it out to be. I'd still recommend seeing it though, but only if you've seen "The Fellowship of the Ring" first. You are going to REALLY lost if you don't see the previous film first. In any case, I hope you enjoy the film. Thanks for reading,
-Chris