[Sir Kohran]

Yes...Gollum and Smeagol's 'conversation' was brilliant. It's a great mixture of humour, with their petty-looking squabbling, and also sadness and horror, as we see Gollum bullying Smeagol, and you get the idea of how mentally destroyed this creature is. And I always smile when he shouts "Smeagol is FREE!".

I thought Smeagol actually visually tearing a raw rabbit apart with his teeth was bit grotesque, but it keeps up Smeagol's image and leads to one of the few funny scenes in the films - I always used to annoy my friend's little sister with 'Stupid, fat Hobbit!"

I really like the appearance of the Oliphaunts, and the Men of Harad - very desert-like, similar to the invading African warriors in the old El Cid movie. I also liked the ambush - as you see the first arrows zip over the screen, you wonder if you're just imagining things, but then you see the garbed soldiers screaming and the falling slain tumbling down from the Oliphaunt towers. It's also neat to see Faramir for the first time - stringing his bow and shooting down a Haradrim rider. The kit for the Rangers is also good - all that brown and green would blend in well with the trees, as we see.

I don't understand why Smeagol sneaks off, though. There's no real reason given in the films - it's left as a bit of a mystery.

Whilst I know that Frodo and Sam didn't meet Faramir exactly like that in the books, I do think this way is more dramatic than them just running into him and a few other men in the trees.

I love how Faramir speaks Sam's thoughts from the book on the dead Haradrim soldier, and how he probably didn't want to be in battle far from his home. It's a great moment that reminds us that people on both sides suffer in war. In our age, where kids play wars on computers and video games for fun, I think it's a message that we'd all do well to remember.

Anyhow, a good chapter, with lots of stuff from the books. Looking forward to the next chapter, alatar.