[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

It's an action-movie way of showing something that's handled much more subtly in the book. Saruman doesn't physically possess Théoden because he has Gríma to reinforce in the old king's mind the certainty that he's become decrepit. This scene was made as it was purely and simply because the film-makers didn't consider Tolkien's version to be sufficiently attention-grabbing.<P>Now what makes this worse is that Théoden in the novel is an old man who has been beguiled into early senility; but, given a prod in the right direction, realises that he is still able to do his duty. He dies fulfilled because he stops sitting around letting other people tell him that he's useless. That's a lot more profound in my opinion than some showy battle of wills between Gandalf and Saruman, which we could have had anyway if they hadn't cut the Palantír-hurling scene.<P>For me this is a perfect example of how a lot of the subtlety and intelligence of the source material has been lost in the films; presumably lest they should go over the heads of the mentally disadvantaged. Some things have been done well, but most of it I find over-simplified and too reliant on spectacle. This wouldn't normally upset me much, but this was <I>The Lord of the Rings</I>, a story with huge potential for a classic big-screen adaptation, and I for one am sick of films boring me out of my mind so that a few assorted cretins can follow what's going on.<P>Rant over. Normal service may now resume.