Visually i thought the films looked amazing. The Balrog looked better than i had imagined him to. I thought Minas Tirith was stunning. The armour, weapons and all the props were perfect. I don't mind at all that they changed some roles around (eg Arwen and Glorfindel) I can see why they did it, there's alot of characters to introduce.
For me it's the timing of the film they got wrong, which i guess is down to editing. Two scenes immediately spring to mind;
- The first is the weathertop scene, up until Frodo puts the ring on i like it. Once the ring is on and the Nazgûl are shown as Twilight Wraiths the film slows down. The Witch King shows us his best side, does a twirl. Fair enough they want to show off the CGI, but these Nazgûl have been searching for the ring, that's why they exist, it's all they do. They are fast and ruthless, and surely they know their prey is physically weak.
- The second is when the fellowship is fleeing from the Balrog, and they go down those stairs and spend a long time leaping a gap, Gimli does that "Nobody tosses a dwarf" line. When i first saw that in the cinema everyone laughed. I remember thinking "that's removed any tension the film had trying to escape this big demon. What's the Balrog doing? waiting for them to cross over?" Yes you could argue the Balrog is taking another route, but for me it ruined a tense and dramatic escape scene.
But saying that, i did enjoy the films overall. Hopefully the Hobbit will be great