Rate the Cast's performance.

[Eowyn Wenhamir]

Aww, poor Billy Boyd. I liked Billy as Pippin, mostly because he managed to pull off the adorable naivety that only Pippin (and Sam, a little) seemed to have in the books. I would give him at least a 7/10.

I was extremely disappointed with the way Merry's character was written. Dominic Monaghan managed to pull off the scenes with Eowyn in ROTK well, and his anger in TTT at Treebeard was well-done. I think Dom's problem was a problem of bad writing, because he's an actor of considerable, untapped talent, as far as I'm concerned. I give him a 9/10.

As usual, I give my David Wenham a 10/10.

[Ainaserkewen]

Hugo Weaving (Elrond)- 8/10

Ah, I will beg to differ from your lack of a perfect ten my dear Boromir.

Of course I do agree with you that he did a superb job as Agent Smith, however I disagree and add that he was one of the strongest actors in the Lord of the Rings. Elrond as a character has always seemed to me the most difficult to grasp. The books offer many detailed descriptions of his personality and experiences, but the character he could've been if acted by someone else would have been extremely hum-drum. Mr. Weaving has the extreme ability to make characters his own. After the Matrix, he certainly wasn't what we were expecting as Elrond, but through the dialog and facial expressions he re-defines our vision of the Half-Elf. He has made this character into the entirely-different-than-anything-we've-seen-before guy that he ought to be. Just as he played the Agent program run amuck, he's added life to an otherwise mysterious role. Hats off to you Mr. Weaving.

Just a quick note on Orlando's performance: Mr. Bloom was exactly what he needed to be to play Legolas. He was unknown, had great fan potential, and a good actor despite some set backs. The Movie Legolas was created without the actor, but the actor made it work.

[Fingolfin II]

I apologise in advance for this long post.

It's actually harder than I thought to rate the performance of the cast; I mean after all, they were only doing what the script said. So in that sense, I suppose their acting was superb. But in actually emulating the real characters in LotR and capturing their 'essence' as best they could despite any disparities between book and script is where the real judgement lies. Like Boromir, I'll group my thoughts into the categories of Men, Women, Elves, Hobbits, Dwarves and Wizards.

Men:

Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen): A pretty solid performance by Mortensen here. He didn't really capture Aragorn in those rare 'kingly-mode' moments however, as commented already in this thread, and at some points in the movie some of his lines were soap opera-ish. He did well though- 8/10.

Boromir (Sean Bean): Excellent, excellent, excellent. PJ did extremely well here with both the casting and script for Boromir's character. There have been some grievances about little things like his hair colour etc., but Sean Bean really made the character of Boromir something special. He captured Boromir's pride, his fears, his knowledge (and lack of), his love for battle - his everything - superbly: 10/10.

Theoden (Bernard Hill): Another brilliant performance. The transformation of Hill from a weak, doddering man in his dotage to a strong and glorious king was particularly notable. Hill really seemed to fit the character of Theoden and acted it- well. 9.5/10.

Faramir (David Wenham): He acted well for what it was worth. Though he seemed to have the old 'boy trying to win father's love' feel about his character, he did well and put up a strong performance. However, once again, I feel that PJ and that Wenham didn't really bring out his majesty and humility as well as it could've been and that damaged his character. I much prefer the book version- 7.5/10.

Denethor (John Noble): Noble performed brilliantly, despite the fact that the movie didn't really bring out Denethor's character as I would have liked. His expressions were priceless and he had exactly the right face for the part (weird as it might sound). He played the part of the despairing, yet still cunning, Steward of Gondor impeccably and I really loved the way he said the line in the EE- 'You may triumph for a day....'- 9.5/10.

Eomer (Karl Urban): The character of the Second Marshall of the Mark was really hard done by in the movies, I felt. However, Urban performed well, though he seemed to come across as an overprotective brother and seemed like a common Rohan man, as opposed to a more exceptional one. What really irked me was that Gamling had a greater part in the movies than he did in the book, and that time could have been spent on Eomer, who's sister definitely gets more of the plot. Urban still did well though- 8/10.

Grima (Brad Dourif): Hmm......Dourif played the part of Grima pretty well. It wasn't a stand out performance, but that was probably because his character was overshadowed by the rest of the superb cast in the movies. He suited the character of Grima well though and his acting was a credit to the story; 9/10.

Women (inlcuding female Elves):

Eowyn (Miranda Otto): Otto did very well. I regretted that there weren't more fighting scenes with the character of Eowyn, as did she, but as this is about the perfomance of the actor/actress and not about what the producers did, she had a great outing. She had the 'steelsheen' quality about her and yet showed some of her more gentle sides too. Could have showed Eowyn's unrest a bit better I suppose, but she didn't really have much scope through the script. 9.25/10.

Galadriel (Cate Blanchett): Hard to say really. Blanchett did wonderfully well as PJ's Galadriel, but she didn't quite capture the book version's character. Then again, who can be expected to capture the daughter of Finarfin's character perfectly? . She did well though- her voice especially amazing; 8.5/10.

Arwen (Liv Tyler): Tyler did well. I didn't like the way she said 'You saw there was a child, you saw my son', nor the 'Come and claim him!' lines, but that wasn't her fault. Her beauty, smooth voice, and wonderful acting more than made up for these occasional lapses by the producers: 9/10.

Elves:

Legolas (Orlando Bloom): Legolas is potrayed very badly in the movies. Nonetheless, Bloom does have a rich voice and to his credit he gave Legolas some respectability. Very graceful- 7/10 for what it's worth.

Elrond (Hugo Weaving): Yes. He acted superbly and was brilliantly cast for Elrond. His slurs on Men were the fault of the scriptwriter/s, but he really carried Elrond's character well- 9.2/10.

Celeborn (Martin Czoskas): Negligable. It's not Czoskas' fault- Celeborn just didn't really have much of a say and didn't seem as wise as he was in the book. I won't rate him, as we didn't really get much of a chance to see his character; or rather what we did see of it wasn't much.

Hobbits:

Frodo (Elijah Wood): I would (get it- Wood?....bad joke) have liked to see and older Frodo, though Wood portrayed him admirably. His pain and suffering, his inner strength and his wisdom were all brought out by Elijah Wood in his role as Frodo. Particularly brilliant in the latter parts of The Return of the King. He had some vestiges of the cliched handsome hero and to some audiences, seemed weak, but his performance was anything but- 9.5/10.

Merry/Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd): Both wonderful. Light-hearted, funny, spirited, yet also strong and brave were what these two hobbits were. The increasing maturity of Merry and Pippin was really brought out through Monaghan and Boyd, especially with their growth through both physical and emotional battles. Their parting in Meduseld, Merry pledging his sword and begging to be taken into battle to Theoden and Pippin's song in Gondor were especially good. The song especially was a wonderful addition by PJ. 9.5/10.

Sam (Sean Astin): Astin dropped his 'American-ness' to pull off a stunning rendition of Sam in the movie edition of Lord of the Rings. He really was great and once again, was a good example of the examplary casting by the producers. Another 9.5/10 for this sturdy and loyal hobbit.

Dwarves:

Gimli (John Rhys-Davies): Davies was excellent. The comic relief forced upon Gimli's character aside, he really played the part magnificently. He looked exactly like the sturdy Dwarf he is in the books and his gruff manner was harsh, but oddly pleasing. I especially liked him when the Dark Tower fell- his change from jubilation to grief was particularly notable- 8.75/10.

Wizards:

Gandalf (Sir Ian Mckellan): He deserves the 'Sir' title in his name, let me assure you. Along with Sean Bean as Boromir, they were the most brilliantly played characters in the movies. The scene in TTT in Fangorn is particularly moving and wonderful. I won't say anymore, as it's already been said about him, but has definitely earned his 10/10 for me.

Saruman (Christopher Lee): Wow. His deep voice and sudden change from charming to deadly was brilliant. Especially in The Fellowship. Unlike many people, 'The Voice of Saruman' didn't hit it for me. His attempt to charm Gandalf and Co. with his smooth and subtle talk was nowhere as near as good as it was in the book and was really only one or two lines. This is partly attributed to him standing on the top of a very high building, so the voice wouldn't have as great an effect as it does when we picture it in our minds, but he just didn't nail it as I would have liked him to. Strong perfomance though- 9.75/10.

And there endeth my long and boring brief analysis (I know what you're thinking; is this is brief, then you'd hate to see an in-depth analysis ). The movies were brilliant, and overall they get a 9.9/10 for me- I mean, just compare them to other similar movies. Especially fantasy ones. The casting in Lord of the Rings was wonderful and each character brought something to their role. Some were hard done by, but I enjoyed every moment of it.

EDIT: Oh. Guess the post wasn't as long as I thought it was.

[Lathriel]

One thing that I liked about LOTR was that most of the actors weren't big stars at the time. I don't think some of the more famous actors could have pulled it of because they are too well known and then you might see the actor instead of the character he is trying to portray.

I think you should give Orli a break. I think he did well for the start of his career and I think he will learn a lot. So I give him an 8/10

Of Course I give David Wenham an 10/10. I know it is slightly biased but after seeing the EE... Those scenes in the EE made it for me cause I think that Faramir gets closer to the character he is in the book.

I think that Elijah's acting actually got better throughout the movies. In Fellowship I was like...okay. Then in the Two Towers I thought Hey... And in ROTK I thought he did very well.

I Like all the actors especiall Vigoo, Bernard, Karl and of course the rest of the actors.

The one actor I don't like is Hugo Weaving. As someone said earlier, he seems to grave and grim all the time. Plus he reminds me of the Matrix too much. But I think it shows it is really difficult to get the right actors for elves because they are so different form humans and so perfect.
Which is another reason why the guy who played Celeborn failed. (shudder) He si just not the way I pictured Celeborn at all. To say the least!!!!

[Assasin]

I agree with Lathriel, I didn't have a clue who the actors were, so it was refreshing to see new faces.
Viggo was really good, he fit the part very well.
Cate was equally good, one of my friends totally freaked when she got tested by the ring.
I think that Elija did well changning Frodo on his way to Mordor, because, he did go through quite a bit of change. Such as, partial insanity?
I LOVED Sean Astin, he was GREAT!!!!!!!
SEAN BEAN ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[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) ).

[gorthaur_cruel]

I'm a harsh grader.

Men:

Sean Bean (Boromir)- 8.5/10. Good performance, I guess. I don't know why I didn't give him anything higher, but he somehow never reached out to my heart.

Bernard Hill (Theoden)- 9.5/10, Not bad. He had a very commanding air about him, as he's supposed to.

John Noble (Denethor)- 6/10. As somebody mentioned above, he overacts. You don't quiver with hate like he does, normally, no matter how much you may not like that person. I don't think Denethor ever wanted to actually strangle Gandalf to death, but John Noble makes it seem like that. The script de-characterized Denethor enough, but I believe the actor took it even further. He also shouts too much. When he's hallucinating, his acting looks like it could have been done by anybody. Not the greatest performance here. But of course, if PJ made him act that way, then it's not his fault, I guess. But the same could be said for every actor

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)- 7/10, He did a good job as a warrior, but as a king, I don't think he had the nobility and majestic air that he should have had. Viggo the Ranger was the best, followed by Viggo the warrior. King Viggo just didn't seem good to me. Anyway, that isn't to say that Viggo the Ranger didn't have faults. He mumbled too much, and I had a hard time understanding him many times.

Karl Urban (Eomer)- 9/10 - He did a good job as Eomer, but there wasn't enough scenes with him in it for me to judge properly. From the little that we did see of him, I have no complaints.

Brad Dourif (Grima)- 7.5/10, He does a fairly decent job of acting the vileness that he's meant to, but not anything superb. He would have got an 8.5 or so if it weren't for two little scenes that really make me think "What a bad actor". When Gimli steps on him saying "I would stay still if I were you", his look of "fear" and his shudder is too fake. The other scene is where he says "Send me not from your side" to Theoden, which also sounds fake and memorised.

David Wenham (Faramir)- 8/10, Not bad, but not outstanding either.

Women

Miranda Otto (Eowyn)- 8.5/10,

Cate Blanchett (Galadriel)- 8/10 I never minded her. She just feels like Galadriel...but she didn't have anything outstanding either, so no 9 for her.

Liv Tyler (Arwen)- 6/10, Talks, no whispers in the same annoying tone throughout 99% of the movies.

Elves

Hugo Weaving (Elrond)- 7/10. I personally think they chose the wrong person for Elrond. Not only because the script made him out to be just a plain Elf-father who doesn't like Men, but he never striked me as Elrond. His face is not ageless. He doesn't seem calm and serene as I always imagined Elrond to be. He gives absolutely no sense of wisdom in the movie. This is half due to the script, which is why I gave him at least a 7, but the other half of the reason lies with him, I fear...

Craig Parker (Haldir)- 6/10. Also not good.

Martin Czoskas (Celeborn) 4/10, Worst actor in the entire movies, IMO. I don't think anybody felt that Celeborn was "wise" here. His voice is even more annoying than the other Elves. Every single one of his lines sounds memorised.

Orlando Bloom (Legolas) 7/10. Gah...does he ever say sentences more than 6 words? (Okay, he does, but too occasionally) His portrayal of Legolas makes him seem like a portable arrow-shooting machine: one that is handy and useful, but nothing more.

Dwarves

John Rhys-davies (Gimli)- 8.5/10, He plays out well the roles that were given to him. Can't blame him for the idiocy of the script. Yet, as he had no particularily memorable moments, whether due to the script or not, he can't get anything higher than this, m'afraid.

Hobbits

Andy Serkis (Gollum)- 8.5/10. I don't know...sometimes he striked me as the perfect Gollum. Sometimes, he overdid it. His "gollum" noise also sounds fake. Tolkien describes it as trying to make the "g" sound while swallowing. Serkis just coughs "gollum", which doesn't sound realistic at all.

Sean Astin (Sam)- 9/10 Meh...running out of time. I'll just give a detailed analysis on characters I have something to say about.

Ian Holm (Bilbo)- 9/10 Great job as Bilbo.

Billy Boyd (Pippin)- 8/10.

Dom Monaghan (Merry)- 8/10,

Elijah Wood (Frodo)- 6/10, Rates hardly better than Celeborn. His whimperings make me want to just reach out and choke him. I never sensed any wisdom out of him. He does the same scared acting throughout the movies, without any change. I think he's one of the actors of LotR that should've been replaced.

Wizards

Christopher Lee (Saruman)- 10/10 - I was just stunned by him. Notice how he's the only one that got a 10/10 on my scale. His look of pride as he looks at his new Uruk Hai is priceless. His voice just has a commanding air. I often wonder whether he and Ian McKellen should've swapped roles. In the books, Gandalf has the more commanding presence, and is stronger (as Gandalf the White at least), while Saruman is just this coward who isn't supposed to have as much charisma as Lee shows.

Ian Mckellan (Gandalf)- 9/10 - He seems to be the perfect choice for Gandalf the Grey. But as Gandalf the White, his quality falls quite a bit.