The little humorous exchanges centering on Gimli are a deft touch, lightening the mood without undermining it. They bring the highfalutin heroic language back down to earth and makes it palatable.
While Ian McKellan steals the show among the movie's human cast, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Miranda Otto (Eowyn), Bernard Hill (Theoden) and a host of other little-known names all do outstanding work in clearly delineating their characters in such a sprawling and complex canvass. The only fly in this reviewer's ointment is the exaggerated presence of Liv Tyler, who plays Arwen, the elfish maiden who loves Aragorn, a mortal man. Jackson tries to flesh out the whole matter of the relationship between elves and men in a number of rather ham-handed dialogues, which are the only real yawn in the movie.
The long lingering close-up smooch shot -- de rigeur in glamour productions -- really feels out of place and you really just want to get back to the adventure. The intrusion of Hollywood-style romance is rather at odds with the chivalric tradition in which the rest of the movie is set. While Tyler manages to look like she just walked off the set of a shampoo commercial, Aragorn's other love interest, Miranda Otto, is much more alive and contributes a genuine strain of romance that is definitely much more in keeping with the tone of the original.
Such a huge project is bound to have flaws, but these are minor when measured against the totality of Jackson's achievement of bringing one of the most complex and beloved works of 20th century literature to the scene in a version that is able, for its imaginative splendor and tight narrative, to stand on its own feet. The only disappointment at the end is that it will be another 12 months before one can watch the final episode.
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