Despite popular opinion, this is fairly appalling

Rating: 4/10 (27 December 2002)

I am fairly disgusted at the level of near-godly praise this film has had. While The Fellowship of The Ring was a fairly decent (even better on the extended DVD), this film is actually mostly awful. After the opening explaining more-or-less what happened to Gandalf in his battle with the Balrog, Peter Jackson treats us to 90 minutes of incomprehensible drivel. The camera swings in his trademark "sweeping" shots so much it feels like a spoof of the first film, and then randomly lurches between the three groups of protagonists. There is little congruence, and the story is not even attempted to be told in any clear fashion.
Then there is the acting, which fails to live up to the standards of the first film. And the Ents. Ah, those tree-creatures that I could not visualise when I read the book, their appearance remains a mystery still. They look terrible. Like the worst kind of stop-motion they do not look natural or tree-like, and they are not even produced very well on screen. They look appalling. As if to make matters worse, Mr Jackson has insisted on expanding the parts of the elves to give them roles in this film when they were barely even mentioned in the book. Why, I do not know.
Fortunately the film gets better as we get to the centrepiece: the battle at Helm's Deep. Yes, this does live up to what you have heard, and will undoubtedly go down as one of the finest cinematic battles to date. Shame that it is intercut with scenes of the ents.
Then, the worst thing about the film: no ending. The film just seems to stop, and it does so a full SIX chapters before the book. This is unbelievable. The Return of The King isn't THAT short a book to warrant getting a third of The Two Towers tacked on the beginning of it. I really cannot understand the reasoning behind why Peter Jackson expands some parts, but then misses out nearly a third of the book. And why were Frodo and Sam taken to Gondor? That never happened in the book either.
I really think Peter Jackson should actually read the books to the end. What's next? FOUR LOTR films?