a definite step down from part 1

Rating: 6/10 (15 September 2005)

People often worship this part of the trilogy but it was effectively ruined by the grossly unrealistic portrayal of the battles. A bit of rudimentary research could have prevented that up but Peter Jackson, who otherwise has a great eye for detail, clearly didn't respect his material or his audience enough to do his work properly, or, he was badly advised.
spoilers follow
For example; One does not launch mass cavalry charges down steep slopes. Anyone who has ever rode on a horse would know this. Historically, people have not been so crazy as it inevitably would lead to a mass pile up at the bottom and a complete disaster. One also does not charge cavalry directly into a well formed pike formation even on flat terrain, let alone down a slope. It is suicidal and skilled, experienced soldiers would avoid such tactics as a matter of routine.
There were other very badly handled scenes but I won't start listing them all but they are there for anyone to see.
It is really disappointing to create such wonderful costumes, bring in lots of motivated extras and state of the art SGI effects and then neglect to do even the most rudimentary research on the simple physics of battles (let alone intelligent tactics). It is also disappointing that the viewing public accepts such incompetence as justifiable "artistic license".
As an analogy, think of an otherwise well produced WW2 movie that portrayed soldiers and equipment doing things that were physically impossible or downright crazy. Wouldn't that hurt any film that set itself up to be an epic?