It's as expected -- Great

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2002)

The beauty of the risk taken by the producers of these three movies is how seemlessly they mess together. All the characters are in place, look the right way and so it goes. This is, perhaps, a signal of a paradigm shift in the making of multi-installment movies. Just think of the problem facing the Harry Potter people with the death of Richard Harris.
It also takes the risk out of coming to episode 2 and 3. We know what to expect. There will be no disturbing surprises due to deaths, contract disputes, etc. You also can know the cinematography style, music and such not bounce off into left field.
To me, the most stunning part of this movie was Gollum. The state of computer animation art is growing at an incredible pace. Gollum was so lifelike that it was eerie. I understand that much of the polishing of his character was done between movies, but it was worth it.