THE BEST THAT COULD BE DONE AND IT WAS DONE WELL

Rating: Null/10 (19 December 2002)

wow! this movie is great!
many hard core book fans are disappointed. and many don't like how the three stories flip back and forth. but i think it was the best style to take.
at first i didn't like the opening with Gandalf fighting the balrog. i thought jumping into immediate action wasn't a good idea, but since the Two Towers is the middle story it makes sense. I LOVED GOLLUM! i saw the animated version of the Hobbit when i was a kid and made my parents buy a copy because he was my favorite character. around middle school i read the Lord of the Rings and loved him even more. so i went to see this film anticipating the growth of his character. when this film was being previewed in the big cities i heard critics bare their fangs into Gollums digital make up, but i thought he looked good. and i had high expectations. i really enjoyed his self vs. self scenes. the battle of Helm's Deep was spectacular. i was afraid that it would look incredibly fake, but thankfully it was wonderful. as were all of the fight scenes. and all the CG characters were amazing.
my only real complaint is the new character Eowyn. her part is incredibly small(as it should be like the book), but is hyped up as Aragorn possible new love. they didn't explain her position in the story at all. she's just walking around the screen glancing at Aragorn each time. she has zero personality. if i hadn't read the book i would wonder why her character even exists.
of course these movies will never be as good as the books. any Tolkien fan will never be completely pleased no matter what appears one the screen. that's fine, i love the books too, but that doesn't mean movie versions aren't good at all. everyone has to remember that these people dedicated 2 and a half years of their life to this film. this is the best that can be done folks. this is what they have to offer. Peter Jackson deserves more credit then he already has. he himself is a HUGE Tolkien fan and he wanted this story brought to the screen. it's not some Hollywood studio who went looking for a director and handed Jackson the script. in fact most of Hollywood said no to Jackson. so for those of you want to hate this film take these facts into consideration. this film is good for what it's suppose to be good for.
i give it a perfect 10