Which Movie was best overall?

[CSteefel]

Yes, apples and oranges to some extent, but to me, The Fellowship of the Ring mostly did a brilliant job of capturing the spirit and excitement and the historical setting of the book. As a book, even, I prefer this one, but the contrast was even clearer in the case of the movies. The flight from the Shire might have been handled a bit better (it was flat out brilliant in the book), but the flight from Bree with Aragorn was quite good. And the scenes in Moria were great...

I thought that The Two Towers spent too long getting to Helm's Deep and then in the battle, especially with those frequent cuts to the women and children huddling in the caves. And the gratuitous fall of Aragorn over the cliff (although I did like the battle scene with the Wargs).

Return of the King did have some great scenes as well, but also way too many ridiculous ones, as pointed out above (the cascading skulls, the complete failure to capture Faramir as a character, the descent of Frodo into a Gollum like creature too early in the book, essentially robbing him of most of his nobility, and the garbled treatment of Gandalf, who is the all-powerful White Wizard in one scene, a de-staffed has been in the next).

[ArathorofBarahir]

Personally, I think that all three of the movies were great. But if I had to choose which was the best overall it would be Fellowship of the Ring, followed by the Return of the King and then the Two Towers.

[The Might]

ROTK definitely...
I mean, I know the others were nice as well...but the Battle of the Pelennor alone makes me chose ROTK
The Two Towers is interesting since you have 3 storylines going on - Merry, Pippin and the Ents vs. Isengard, The Three Hunters and the Rohirrim against the armies from Isengard and Dunland, and Frodo, Sam and Gollum continuing the quest...but overall I would definitely choose ROTK where is all ends

[Azaelia of Willowbottom]

Tough choice. All three have their merits. Fellowship of the Ring is unique in that its tone is noticeably lighter than the tone in either of the two later movies. It's not all fun and games, but over all, it's a much happier, relaxed movie. I like it a lot for just that reason. That's not to say I don't like intensity (the complete opposite is true, but sometimes, it can get relentless, and it's nice to take a break). I think that in Fellowship, the characters were all much truer to their book selves, another merit. I don't necessarily mind that they change a little, but it's just another nice thing about FOTR. The material added in the EE just serves to make it a better, stronger, more complete movie.

The Two Towers, while still an excellent movie, is perhaps the weakest of the three, if you look at it with the eye of a movie critic. It's bound to be like that, though, since it's the middle piece of the trilogy. It has no definition in terms of beginning and end, unfortunately. They did the best they could with it, and the emotional arc follows a good path. But I feel like after seeing the EE, both versions could have been stronger. The scenes with Boromir, Faramir, and Denethor were critical to the plot and to audiences' understanding of Faramir and his changed motives, but were left out of the theatrical edition. And there was a lot of fluff that could have been left out of the TTTEE...they effectively messed up the emotional arc of the story (at least, for me) by lengthening battles and adding things in after Sam's monologue instead of letting the movie end the way it did in the theaters. Not to mention, there were a couple distinctly terrible scenes, particularly the infamous "nervous system" courtesy of Gimli. In fact, now that I mention it, I think much of the problem with TTT is the change in character for Gimli. In Fellowship, he was the gruff, serious dwarf we all know and love...but by TTT, he had completely lost that role, and was instead made into comic relief. It's just one character out of several, but the change is remarkably significant to my enjoyment of the movie overall.

Now that's not to say I don't like TTT, because I do...It's still a very good movie, and it has a lot of emotional worth.

Return of the King EE is the only extended edition that I have never seen, mainly because of my feelings about the TTT EE. I didn't want to risk the disappointment in what was an excellent theatrical release (and after reading about some of the scenes here, I think I made the right choice). The comment I made before about relentless intensity really applies here. That's not a bad thing at all...ROTK is an excellent movie, both cinematically and from the point of view of someone with real interest in LOTR. It is intense--it doesn't really let you recover much in between big emotional scenes, particularly as the end approaches. It is my favorite of the three, though I watch Fellowship more frequently.

[Knight of Gondor]

I believe one of the actors (I'm thinking Sean Astin) was once asked which film was his favorite. (Maybe it was Dominic Monaghan.) And he replied "That's like asking which child is your favorite?"

I think all three contain a scope of grandeur and wonder that surpass anything we've seen before. If hard-pressed, I would have to admit (based almost entirely on in-theater opinion just after the movie ended) that Return of the King is my favorite.

Fellowship of the Ring: Started us off, introduced us to the happy times before the Shadow clouded the sun. I think Amon Hen is one of my favorite scenes; it has the most close-up shots and quick-take action bits. (Many other battles used Massive technology, but I don't believe Amon Hen did at all.)

The Two Towers: Introduced us to Rohan, but also spent a whole lot more time in the dark. Helm's Deep was a great sequence, but somehow, I must admit that The Two Towers is on the bottom rank of all three. (Which is still pretty high...) I must vote TTT at least had the best beginning of them all.

Return of the King: The awe-inspiring conclusion which all the movies, characters, events, themes, plots, battles, story lines and music were leading up to. This was the first movie that ever inspired me to tears; the horns of Rohan, arriving to save Gondor. And then again when Aragorn leads his troops against the host of Mordor whilst Sam and Frodo are at Sammath Naur. Every moment of the film, from the horns of Rohan on (with the few pauses, such as the Last Council) were breath-taking, soaring far beyond the expectations already set impossibly high by the first two. The end too was flawless; a perfect way to conclude not just the film, but the trilogy.

Wow, I think I just talked myself into watching them again.

i would say the best movie was ROTK

[Tar-Meneldur]

I would have go along with The Failed king, I say the Return of the King was the best.