[Rina]

I just saw TTT for the first time last night. I'm not really sure what to think about it. It was certainly different from FotR. I was most disappointed by the scenes with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. The wretchedness expereinced by these characters was a bit in your face. And to have Sam leading a choking, grovelling Gollum by a rope quite so early in the movie was a bit more than I could handle. Also, Frodo goes a little too psycho, a little too early on. I have only read TTT once so far (I'm definitely going in for a second read), so I wasn't as offended as some by the elves at Helm's Deep. I did, however, miss some of the comic relief that was in the book, as provided by Merry and Pippin's conversations, and even between Gollum and Sam, a bit of which was seen in the movie in their debate over raw or cooked conies.<P>There were many things I liked in this movie however. The battle scenes were monumental, and I liked seeing Gandalf in his new glory. Part of the fun for me was seeing it in the theatre. If you aren't from a small, slightly backwards town, you may not appreciate the guys in the back row hollering "Ahh, yeahhhh!" when the title comes up on the screen, but it's kind of nice knowing your fellow viewers are as excited as you are. Overall, it is a movie I will watch many more times, and I am looking forward to RotK.