One of the Best Films ever Made

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2005)

In my review of the first installment in this trilogy, I wrote:
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It has been tossed around in Hollywood for a long time. The very idea of making a big-budget feature film of the timeless novels is intoxicating. But how do you create a film that is true to the stories (and thus not going to upset the legions of rabid fans that can practically quote the books from start to finish) and still make a film that will attract the non-rabid fan who has vaguely heard of the existence of these books by some author from World War I?
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Well, once again, I do not claim to be a rabid fan (I read the books, I liked the books, and have felt for a long time that they could make a good movie). I also do not claim to be some sort of insider that can give someone the secret to the process that lead to this masterpiece. Just as with the first installment, the cast, crew, writers, producers, and very talented director managed to tell a very good version of the second book's tale...
...as an adaptation, and as a stand-alone movie, I give this an "8/10" -- but as the bridge between Fellowship and Return... this movie is nearly flawless.
The only faults I found in the movie deal with the story of Faramir. Had the story of Boromir been actually told in the Fellowship, then this butchering of the Faramir tale would not have been needed. Still, it manages to recover in the end from this failing and tell what is an engaging (if not a bit confusing) story of the path that the ring takes...
Despite this one small shortcoming, the film is a fantastic piece of work that I highly recommend to anyone and everyone. But: I recommend that you watch the extended cut DVD version, and that you plan to sit down for all three films -- because this is not (technically) a stand-alone film. It is just Act 2 of a 3 Act screenplay.