[Val]

I saw it yesterday afternoon with 4 of my friends (that are actually a rather diverse group from a die hard gamer to someone who had no real interest in the movie) and everyone of us loved it (though there were some comments on it being a little too long).

It followed the books pretty close, though I don't actually recall one of the characters (the female elf - Tyler's character) in the series, but I haven't read it in forever.

The special effects were superb, and the fight scenes are vicious. The opening fight reminded me a bit of the beginning of Gladiator, but it didn't have that weird 'stepping' effect during combat scenes, it was more fluid.

The characters are true to Tolkein's books and are a thrill to see on the big screen. The monsters are well done and the way the made all the characters the 'correct' height was unreal.

Even though the movie was 2 minutes shy of 3 hours, I would sit through it again gladly.

Hope you enjoy it!