Another roller coaster of a ride, exhilarating moving and emotionally draining. Wonderful!

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2002)

I sympathise with contributors bewailing the changes made to the original text; I too am not completely happy about that! I accept, however,the film maker's right to make changes for technical and practical reasons. I have been most worried so far by the decision to radically alter the story line, vis a vis Frodo and Sam's dealings with Captain Faramir (my most favourite character in the book!); his character has been much diminished. More importantly maybe, I dislike the supposed need for Faramir to decide to send the Ring to Minas Tirith; and the scene which has Frodo actually offering the Ring to the leader of the Nazgul seemed ridiculous,I thought! I've read Peter Jackson's thoughts on the subject but am not convinced! Having read the book each autumn/fall for at least twenty five years, I confess to settled attitudes to the story, and gradiose plot variations do take some swallowing! Having griped, I must compliment all the actors, and production team on what is a truly wonderful film. Aragorn and Gollu seem particularly well realized. It seems unfair to pick ANY characters from so many, but I thought those two particularly splendid!