Sorry, I can't go with you guys on this. The first movie had the cool factor for the newity of it, the second movie was good for extending the story with more of the cool stuff while it was still fresh enough to make the rough points forgivable, but the third movie just didn't do that for me this time, so I can't really say I thought it was all that great. Normally I'm a big lotr fan too, and I've read all of the main books, including (most of) the silmarillion, so I'm not just tossing my opinion out of the blue.
I think the main reason for my dissapointment was a few things: First, I was expecting a rematch between Gandalf and Saruman, like was in the book (sorta). Second, and going along with it, both Saruman and wormtongue kinda disappear from the story, along with the shire insurrection at the end, the encounter with Sauron's leutenant (known as the Mouth of Sauron, in the books), and wtf happened to Denethor's hidden palentir, the essential plot tool for explaining his kinda ridiculous insanity? (in the movie, I mean). Lastly, and most prominent, and I'll say this for all of Peter's lotrs, is that he gets too carried away with certain parts, like Denethor was not THAT crazy in the book, "the dead" were kinda exaggerated from what they were in the story, not to mention sorta abruptly inserted into the plot, though thats just my opinion. And last, and as with the previous movies, how is it the heros can tumble around, engage in mortal combat, strenuous journeys, and the works, AND NOT BREAK, SPRAIN, OR STRAIN A SINGLE GOD DAMN LIMB THE ENTIRE TIME?!
Personally, I think even I could have thought up better ways to translate some of Tolken's stuff into a movie, but I suppose until I put the money where my mouth is I'm just ranting, so I'll just say regardless of my opinion it definitely was a good movie, if only to see the artistry and a great literary work translated to the big screen for the first time! (and no, I refuse to acknowledge those god-awful cartoon translations)
