Excellent presentation, but rewritten by orcs. Garh!

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2004)

We must be very happy that such a monumental effort was put into a (fairly) faithful presentation of the written version. However, there are some aspects which cause discontent. First, the "rewriting" of a classic, especially this one which was so masterfully told in the first place by J.R.R.Tolkien, is the work of orcs. Related to this is a diminishing of the character of Aragorn. He is presented as somebody who rises to leadership more by accident than by anything else. His faithfulness, and the dominance of his character, are dragged in the dirt by the limpness of his presentation in the movie. It isn't because of Viggo Mortensen's acting - that is first-rate. Rather, those who prepared the script for the movie caused awkward damage to a masterpiece of creation. Did they not believe that a character like Aragorn could be believed by innocent moviegoers? Halbarad of the Dunedain has also become the captain of a troop of elvan archers (and an Elf himself), which doesn't arise from the conditions of Middle Earth presented by Tolkien - the Elves all had work enough to defend their own homes! In short, many of the scenes of the movie have been "written down" to a limper, less-interesting and less-inspiring story which contains inconsistencies that the book does not. However, in spite of that, I enjoy the chance to SEE Middle-Earth and some of its stories.