[aelithes]

I agree with a lot of what people have already said, but just a couple further comments (I'm treating almost exclusively vocal delivery and close-up acting, but I in no way claim full comprehensiveness!):

Orlando Bloom (Legolas) - (7/10) Indeed he did a satisfactory job for a first film, and I particularly liked his physical acting, but his facial expressions in the close-ups leave much to be desired. He seems not to have much control over his facial movements at all - the spontaneous scrunching and un-scrunching up of his eyes in nearly every close-up shot is rather distracting and takes me right out of the emotional headspace.

Ian McKellen (Gandalf) - (10/10) With Bloom as a foil, I think it's quite easy to see how controlled and masterly McKellen's performance is. E.g., in his speech to Pippin inside the second gate of Minas Tirith ('all turns to silver glass') required very little preparation.

Bernard Hill (Theoden) - (9/10) His argument with Aragorn in the Hornburg before the battle and his death scene are spot on, and I thought his rallying cry to the Rohirrim easily trumps that of Aragorn to his men outside the Black Gate.

Sean Astin (Sam) - (10/10) He really doesn't come into his own, both in terms of his character and his acting prowess, until the final film... and there were definitely certain instances in which halfway through an otherwise cheesy line, I would think, 'Surely he's futzed this up' and begin to cringe; but then he'll deliver the last of it and totally clinch it (e.g., '"Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee." And I don't mean to. I don't mean to,' and 'That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for').

Christopher Lee (Saruman) - (8.5/10) I would've given him better score had I not seen his death scene at the beginning of ROTK EE. I was not feeling his performance at all, it felt very contrived and self-conscious, and quite anti-climactic. In all of his other scenes I thought he was wonderful, and his characterisation coalesced quite well with Tolkien's vision (of course, being the Tolkien nerd he is :o) ).