Good points, GUEST, Nerd. I agree that the book would be best done as a lengthy (20 hour or more) TV miniseries, preferably by the BBC. Then the entire nature of the books could be brought forth, with the proper buildup and pacing to the more dramatic events.

At least this movie is a respectable attempt (aside from those damned murky fight scenes), which lays a hopeful foundation to build upon in the future.

I was particularly annoyed by the Boromir fight scene with the Orcs. Instead of a milling crowd of outmatched Orcs finally falling back and showering him with arrows, since they cannot defeat him sword to sword, we have SUPER-ORC (or is it Osama-Bin-Laden Orc?) firing arrow after arrow in a painfully deliberate manner...like Shredder taking on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something.

Then, of course, SUPER-ORC gets his, being beheaded shortly after. Boromir should die surrounded by heaps of his smaller adversaries, filled with arrows like a porcupine, and those enemies should be an anonymous mob who leave the moment they've got the halflings. That's the way it was in the book. No particular need there for SUPER-ORC at all.

- LH