[Linnahiril Tinnufinwen]

I would have to say that my favorite actors were John Rhys-davies and Sean Astin. It is amazing to me what Rhys-davies was able to accomplish, despite the fact that often times he was standing by himself in front of a blue screen. Since he was six feet tall, his scale double would be on set with the other actors, and then they would film Rhys-davies in front of a screen and then put him in later. They even made a comment in on of the "making of" programs that the audience's understanding of the Dwarven culture (for those that have not read the books) comes entriely from Rhys-davies' portrayal of Gimli. There are no other Dwarves in the LOTRs Trilogy, yet one feels as if they know the entire culture because of this actor's performance. At least, that is what I think. 10/10 for John Rhys-davies.

As for Sean Astin, his portrayal of Sam is very touching. Both in look and in manner, he embodied almost everything I ever pictured Sam to be. Astin portrayed Sam's loyalty, determination, and pure heart without being overly "gushy." He was brave at the proper times, and would cry at the proper times. Everything he did made sense to me, and I really believed he was Samwise Gamgee. My one and only little complaint, and it is a rather petty one, is that Astin's accent would occassionally slip, and he would speak in his normal American accent. For this, I take off only .01. Therefore: 9.99/10 for Sean Astin.

Call me crazy, but my least favorite actors were Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen. Liv Tyler is a beautiful young woman, and very Elf like in appearance, but for some reason she simply did not seem like Arwen to me. Perhaps it is her voice, which at times can be a little weak and breathy. I really cannot pinpoint exactly what bothered me about her performance. It just did. Still, I think she did the best she could do. 5.5/10 for Liv Tyler.

Viggo Mortensen, although his portrayal of Aragron is "servicable", simply did not have the power and kingly-ness that I thought the true King of Gondor ought to have. His voice lacked command and often times sounded frog-like. His "British" accent would go in and out, and sometimes he didn't even pronounce words very well. Now, perhaps this is the result of poor writing, I'm not sure. Characters such as Theoden, Eomer, and Sauruman had much more command and presence than did Mortensen's character. Again, however, I think Mortensen did the best he could. 6.3/10 for Viggo Mortensen.