Yeah, very good, but ...

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2002)

There is no doubt that TTT is amazing. It's epic. It does everything to flesh out its characters. It continues the story with a faithfulness to the spirit if not the storyline of Tolkien.
But is it better than FotR? I think not.
TTT does an amazing job with fleshing out Gollum, for example. He is an accomplishment, but hardly perfect. His subtle facial changes and manic schizoid monologues are worth watching a second time. Serkis voices him with a creepiness that I could only hope for. But he's still CGI, and it's too apparent at times.
Where Gollum is close to perfect, Faramir is a step in the opposite direction. For those who recall, Boromir was a complex character in the movie FotR. Faramir had even more opportunity to be fleshed out, in acts of pity or a look in the face. Instead, Faramir is a bully, little better than his brother. I never got the impression that he was a good guy. And that is not true to the character as Tolkien wrote him.
Aragorn's story is ... eh. A SF Guardian review said that the film is wonderful when it's faithful to the written word of Tolkien. The subplot of Aragorn and Arwen was not in the original story for a good reason, and it shows in this film. Even though it is well acted, it is such a showstopper. Its only moment of excellence is when Elrond really hammers home to Arwen what choosing Aragorn would mean for her. For that reason, I do not trash this part of the film mercilessly. But it could have been handled SO much better.
TTT does NOT have enough Legolas. Period. He is easily one of the most amazing characters to come out of fantasy movies, and he is underutilized. Gimli is wonderful, but little more than comic relief. It's criminal that he has pathos and drama in the extended version of FotR but is really two dimensional in TTT. Ah, but for just one hour more.
Overall, TTT will be remembered many years from now. But better than its preceding film? Not really. It's about the same, which is not faint praise either.