Not too shabby, from a "Newbie's" point of view

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2003)

I have not read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor have I read the Hobbit. However, I am still able to follow (somewhat) the plot outline of TTT and its predescessor, The Fellowship of the Rings. Still, I did not like this movie as much as the one before it. It seemed to be slower, and the Hobbits, who, as I understand, are supposed to be more of the lead characters, are largely ignored as the adventures of Aragorn, Legolas (-swoons!-), and Gimli are followed.
I think that Smeagol/Gollum was done pretty well, but to a newbie like me, much of his turmoil and incentives fail to make much sense, rather than to get some laughs from the audience.
The battle scenes are pretty nice, with good special effects, but much of it is hard to follow because of the whiplash speeds the camera changes when going from shot to shot. Some humor is put into the battle scenes, to lighten the dark mood, and in the theater I was in, it was appreciated.

Overall, a good movie, but lacking in the diverse scenery the first one had (the environments in this one are a little dull, mainly on the grey and brown side) and some of the things I had a little trouble taking seriously (Fear the mighty Ents!) 8/10 stars.