Right, lets get this straight before I begin. I LOVE film. Film is my life. Film, art, and film as art. I loved FoTR.
It seems that in most cases, the audience going to see TTT had made up their minds before actually going to see the film. People wanted to love TTT, and understandably, my own opinion is that people are looking to re-create the experience surrounding certain "classic" movies when they were younger (not forgetting how high the original film raised the bar). So I'll begin *takes deep breath*
The fake Aragorn death sequence/Warg attack felt totally out of place to me, tacked on, interrupting the flow of the film. Jackson's continual portrayal of characters supposedly falling to their doom is growing a little tired already, and it is as if he were influenced by huge musical number in the middle of Big Idea’s Jonah, and decided the God of second chances rules over Middle-Earth also.
I keep hearing talk of the film requiring an extra hour, this is non-sense, the film could easily have been 45mins shorter, in fact this may have been beneficial in its current state. The climax took way to look to reach, the characters continually moving around the key issues, seemingly forever was taken before any sort of decisive action was reached (there are other ways to portray arduous decision making on film, opposed to Peter Jackson's method, dragging out the story).
Actually, the amount of material left out of TTT suggests to me that several crucial parts of the book will not make it into RoTK. The scouring of the shire for one, this imo being one of the most important parts of the story, showing how evil can exist in even the smallest of entities.
Faramir was also heavily short changed in this film (Faramir was one of Tolkien's most respected characters; for his nobility and courage ... everything that saw in Boromoir and not him). In this adaptation he appears as some sub-Boromir, simply letting Frodo go as he has a bit of a scare with the Nazgul! He should've been presented as the anti-Boromir, a wise strong warrior with an understanding of the corruption of the ring.
Other things I didn't like; I loved the Ents, yes, however Treebeard felt too focused, taking Merrry and Pippin to see Gandalf. What!? Sam and Frodo's story was well done, although I still don't think Sam was given justice. He's such a strong and important character, and I don't believe such a light was cast on him (perhaps the only indicator being the "Samwise the Brave" moment). Although I believe Frodo's "change," corruption by the ring, has been shown perfectly. The Legolas shield-slide just felt wrong, as did the fact that during the Rohirrim encounter he rode a horse with a saddle! Gandalf's exorcism (?) of Theoden didn't sit right with me, the fact that there was a bar room style brawl taking place in the background felt, wrong (I've been saying that a lot, lol). I also wish Arwen would stay on her spot, as in the books, instead of getting a role boost just because she's Liv Tyler.
Yes, Helm's Deep is indeed one of the best battle I've seen on film, comparable even to such classic works as Akira Kurosawa's Ran. TTT's appeal is more in the sense of a visual epic than a narrative one I believe ...
I wait patiently for the SEV, as although this film is fundamentally flawed, it is still part of a landmark cinematic project, and I did want to LOVE it, lol. It left an empty feeling with me at the end. Visually it is stunning, and performances by the actors great, however for me it just felt ... disjointed. Alot of the sequences, as individual set peices were stunning I admit, but it just didn't *feel* like it worked for me, as a picture overall. I've only seen it once, so my opinion my sway on repeat viewings.
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above i mentioned one of the reasons i prefered the bakshi version of fellowship. i also liked the way it looked better. i think that movie has generally been given a raw deal by fans. dig?
. I saw it at my theater on the midnight showing. The best time I ever had !!! 
