Spent time with Sarah this afternoon and evening. We had agreed to wait to see ROTK together and tonight was the first night since it opened that we were able to go and not to tired to sit through a 3.5 hour movie. I'll make comments on ROTK in a second, but first I have to say I don't think I've ever come so close to freezing to death inside a movie theatre before. By time I left the place it seemed warmer outside and Sarah tells me my finger tips were blue.

As far as ROTK itself, I was definately happy with the movie overall. But I do have some thoughts on it. ( WARNING: Possible spoilers for those that still haven't seen the movie. I'm sure I'm pretty close to the last one though.)

When I watched the last two movies it had been awhile since I had read the LOTR book. However, I did notice differences between the books and the movies. Afterall, some where pretty prominent. However, I definately wasn't upset, like many people I know, about the treatment of Faramir and other more minor issues.

However, I had a chance to read LOTR again before ROTK came out, so I went in with things much fresher in my memory. So, while I'm happy with the movie overall, I'm much more inclined to side with the nit-pickers this time. (No offense guys). I know there's no way to keep everything in the movie that was in the book, but there's some key points I felt that were left out and some things that were changed that I think has an effect on the story overall.

First, after Ewoyn kills the Nazgul captian, didn't she almost die. How about the hobbit, didn't it hurt him too? I think their near death and recovery, along with her falling for Faramir merited inclusion. Faramir continued to be mistreated in this movie, and Denethor just appears to be a madman with no reason given as to why. Would it have hurt to take the extra minute to explain why he'd lost it? It really wouldn't have taken much longer than that.

I am pleased that they kept with the book in that Frodo didn't destroy the ring of his own free will. I'm not happy about how they handled the scenes at Mt. Doom though. Frodo, to my recolection, wasn't fighting for the ring after Gollum bit his finger off. Gollum just did a happy dance off the edge.

Also, while I understand the depressing nature of the end of the book, I felt it was an important way to end it. The destruction of the Shire and the reactions associated with it where important to the final meaning of the book. However, the movie overall ends on a much better note.

I have more that I could nit-pick this time (the crowning of Aragorn, leaving out a few key "speeches," the battles, etc...), but I should end on a better note.

Unlike some, while the special effects weren't the best I've ever scene when it comes to CG film, I felt it was far better than most. Legolas taking down the Oliphant was done 10 times better then his mounting of a horse in Two Towers. The movie overall was superb, and while the ending did effect the meaning to some degree, it was overall very true to the original work. I eagerly await the extended release of ROTK to see how the added scenes flush out some of the issues I had with the movie.