eisoj5 | So...(spoilers ahoy! What about, you ask? See yesterday's post. Then come back here.) (Reply)

Legolas DIES.

*coughs* Okay, clearly I've been reading far too much fandom_wank or something.

Seriously, Return of the King was great. I haven't seen the first two lately, so I can't make any comparisons there, but it was very, very, very awesome and good and spiffy and made me *glee* at Linzee repeatedly (sorry, I was gleeful!). And...oh yes, I have read the books, so there are spoilers for specifically for them as well. And...okay, yes, I have serious slasher leanings, so that may come through a bit. Just a little, though.

Basically (all IMO, naturally...(pardon the list format, it just worked itself out in my head this way)
Aragorn: rocked. When he takes just those few steps towards the Black Gates, turns and says "For Frodo..."...ahh. Perfect delivery.
Arwen: Okay, so...why exactly is she tied to the fate of the Ring, again? Legolas and Elrond seemed not to have any such withering issues.
Eowyn: *glee!!!* Happiness. Glad they cut her lines down from the book when she actually kills the Witch King, though; I don't think that in the middle of a battle anyone has time to deliver a paragraph full of lines about how one is a woman, hear her roar. She said it clearly enough in the movie. Will be getting the DVD in no small part because of the Houses of Healing, though.
Faramir: I didn't particularly give a damn about him one way or the other from TTT (or from the books *cough*) but he won me over this time around. His face when Denethor (more on Denethor momentarily) essentially tells him Boromir was his better...just...*sniffle* Also, see Eowyn, above.
Denethor: I, like Ronnie, didn't like that he flung himself off the cliff instead of burning up on the pyre. What with the thrashing and the popping sounds and whatnot. Oh well. He was much more clearly insane than I'd been expecting him to be. But it was all right that he was a dick right off the start; made Faramir more interesting than the way he comes off in the book (with the whole loving Boromir, them being equals in their father's eyes, blah blah, happy goodness).
Theoden: Shit, dude, I so did not expect to be really, truly upset when he died. That was the first time I cried. His story is one of the reasons I really want to watch all the movies together, because he changes--has to change--so far from who he was in TTT. It's pretty neat.
Shelob: AAAAAAH!!!! GAH, I HATE GIANT SPIDERS!!! *twitches* Also, I thought Sam actually killed her...hmm. Must consult books later.
Gandalf: Sweeet. I love that in Middle Earth wizards aren't these omnipotent, omniscient beings; Gandalf still has to fight with his sword and staff (the thwacking of Denethor was especially priceless) and still has serious, serious doubts about what he's done in sending Frodo into Mordor.
Legolas: *refrains from having a squealy fangirl moment* *fails* Eeeee! He was so cool, so cool, on the oliphaunt. (Those were oliphaunts, right? *thinks*) He's an elf! That's what he does! It rocked. ...Okay, yes, he did have some blindingly stupid "I'm an observant elf" lines, but oh well. *random* I wish there was more in the books about the friendship between Aragorn and Legolas, because I went through and checked out the appendix of ROTK and it doesn't have much on them together either pre- or post- War of the Ring. */random*
Gimli: When did Gimli become Scottish? *blinks*
Merry: Awwwww, Merry! He wasn't supposed to be at the Black Gates, though. Should've been in the Houses of Healing; wonder how PJ handled that with the extra clip. (He totally loves Pippin, btw. Just so you know.)
Pippin: He got quite a substantial part of the action this time around. Which was all very very good. Plus, the scene where he sings as Faramir leads his men to their deaths? Excellent. Might have to get the soundtrack just because of that. (And he totally loves Merry. *g*)
Gollum: I thought the transition from Real!Hobbit to Creepy!Gollum was really cool, really well done. There was just enough Andy Serkis left in there that it wasn't totally clear where the CGI started (okay, to a point). And his demise was very...oh, man. I hadn't expected to actually see him fall into the fires of Mt. Doom but it was worth it to see that look of horrible, terrible joy on his face.
Sam: SAM!! He never was shown actually wearing the Ring, interestingly. I think that's a pretty crucial bit of the books, but perhaps we are to understand that he was able to resist the Ring as it just hung around his neck--something Frodo couldn't do, and something that Boromir couldn't do when it wasn't even in his hands.
Frodo: Damn. Frodo. I think that's all I got. ...wait, no, it's not. I think the age of Movie!Frodo does help a lot in allowing the audience to see the effects of the Ring. Book!Frodo, since he is much older than Movie!Frodo, could be perceived as more worn down, more exhausted, purely from the effects of the journey itself, not just the Ring's corruption. Movie!Frodo shows Ring effects much more simply because he is much younger and seems to have more innocence (although yes, Book!Frodo is innocent, too...just older).

General stuff:
I agree with

kristenk2 about the lack of resolution with particular characters. I mean, since I have read the books it's easier to put the pieces together, but it would have been nice to see Merry and Pippin returning to the Shire, too, or making it clear what Legolas and Gimli were up to (I'd thought they sailed to the Grey Havens at the same time Gandalf, Frodo et al did and so was disappointed to not see them there but it turns out I was wrong about that anyway). But overall it was very well done; I can even forgive the reforging of Narsil at the wrong time; it was perhaps more appropriate for dramatic purposes to not let Aragorn have it until he actually was returning as King.

Hokay. Long-ass post. (Longer than usual, anyway.) I'm done for now. Maybe I'll post more later or put up a collage or something. We'll see.