Obligatory TTT comments

Finally got to see TTT. Not squeeing quite as hard as might be expected - but the same applied after the first time I saw FotR. I'm sure that'll all change after the second viewing. I really can't point at any particular flaw, just a vague feeling that it was less than the sum of it's parts - but what parts ;-)

• Aragorn: Why the fall off the cliff? What was that supposed to show - that he's Captain Scarlet in disguise, or something? He should really stop smooching horses, too. Still not King (except in flash-forward).
• Faramir: I'm of two minds about the character changes here, certainly very different from the book, but on the other hand I can see reasons why it was done, and in the end he does let it go, in contrast to Boromir. It also makes him more interesting than the book character who passes on the ring even before he knows what it is.
• Frodo: I liked the additional influence of the ring, some of this is along the lines of stuff from RotK (which may not appear in the film - the Frodo and Sam stuff carried forward from TTT would obviate the need to show much tramping across the barren plains of Mordor), Although the confrontation with the Nazgul seemed too easily ended.
• Gandalf: Nice bit with the Balrog at the beginning, but he was just so posey on a rearing Shadowfax near the end there ;-)
• Gimli: I felt rather sorry for him, being used largely as comic relief throughout the film, and even if we did get to see him kick some butt, he kept having his arse saved by the others. Plus we didn't get to hear that his final tally beat that of Legolas.
• Gollum: easily one of the finest CG characters ever done, a few mildly flaky moments but by and large thoroughly convincing. The Gollum/Smeagol scenes were very well done - although the audience laughter during the first didn't really help. The final one takes was great done as a single shot (although the lack of reaction from the environment didn't help sell Gollum here).
• Grima: Suitably slimy, but why anyone ever trusted somebody so dodgy-looking, I'll never know.
• Legolas: Still the prettiest (or, at the very least, "You look terrible!"). The whole leaping-onto-a-moving-horse got a mention from Mum ;-) And as for sliding down the stair shooting arrows...
• Merry & Pippin: Gimli having relived them of the comic relief burden, they got to show a bit more brains (in particular Pippin, who was the more ditzy in FotR), although we didn't actually see that much of them.
• Sam: Go Sam! That is all. Except for the obvious Great and T00by Love.
• Treebeard: Another impressive-looking creation, although not quite how I imagined Ents. Suffered also from sounding too much like Gimli (why didn't they find somebody different to voice him?).