[Kalimac]

I thought it was very good - it might have worked in TTT as well, but it made a good opening for ROTK because it was a quick and vivid refresher course on what the Ring is capable of doing to someone; it makes you look at Frodo's disintegration in a new light, once you've seen Gollum as a (vaguely) sympathetic character. It certainly started the movie off with a bang.<P>The duration was actually what I thought was most effective about it - strangling doesn't happen in a second, and if you've ever been attacked, time really does seem to slow down. In a way, it emphasizes the Ring's power - that Smeagol could start doing this, and *keep on* doing it, instead of just having one rash moment and regretting it afterwards. And having Deagol's heartbeat as the soundtrack - gaaah! My own heart was going pretty fast, I can tell you.