Actually, I'm not typically a person who cares one way or another for battle/action scenes in films, so it's funny that I point to them as amongst the best bits of this last installment. That said, I did think these were impressive, especially as I felt there was so much lost in terms of the "quieter" parts of the book, especially the sense of fellowship amongst the group as they travelled on the road...that sort of thing is subtle & difficult to show on film, and to my mind was one of the major casualties in these movies (particularly the first one).

Again: difficult or impossible to please everyone, but I do feel it was a respectable if deeply flawed effort. I will say that I'm in serious doubt whether this story "needed" to be made into a film at all, considering the very personal impressions so many people have of the former.

D.


PS--Merry Christmas; hope everyone's had a nice holiday!